In 1951, the 3rd French expedition to the Himalayas set out to conquer Nanda Devi (7,800m).
Attempting to cross the ridge between the main peak and Nanda Devi East resulted in the deaths of two members of the expedition. Foreman Roger Duplat and Gilbert Vignes disappeared on the ridge somewhere below the main peak.
Tenzing Norgay was on a support team on this expedition; he and Louis Dubost climbed Nanda Devi East to look for the missing pair. A few years later Tenzing found Nanda Devi to be the hardest ascent he had ever done.
Director
Jean Jacques Languepin
Jean Jacques Languepin was born in Paris in 1924.
His profession was cinema, he figures in the register of directors and operators of short films and television directors. He was president of the "Group of Thirty" for the defense and knowledge of the French short film. He was a member of the G.R.E.C. (Groupe de Recherches et d'Essais Cinématographiques) which is responsible for supporting young directors in their first works.
For his essential filmography, mention is made of his work following the French polar expeditions to Greenland in 1948-49 and 1950.
At the age of 24 he made his first documentary "Terre des Glaces", his second film "Groenland", made in collaboration with Marcel Ichac, received the Special Jury Prize in Cannes in 1952.
With the feature film "Himalaya Passion Cruelle" (Grand Prix in Trento) he opened the way to commercial distribution for the great 35mm documentaries.
He is also the director and often operator of about twenty short films, distributed in cinemas and awarded at various festivals, including "Antoine de Saint-Exupéry", "Des Hommes et des Montagnes", "Verticale Orly" and "Neiges" .
He made with Jacques Ertaud the feature film "Les Neiges de Grenoble", the official film of the 1968 Winter Olympics.
His works have earned the interest of critics such as Georges Sadoul, Jean Luc Godard, Henri Magnan and Roger Boussinot.