Book Bucket List at the Summit

This cult novel draws on the personal experiences of the authorexplorer and the lives of the mountaineers he grew up alongside. A young Chamonix native reaches for the heights, Pierre’s life should have been nothing but ascents. But the mountain claims his father, and with him comes vertigo — and the long plunge that follows. Supported by his friends, torn between doubt and determination, he finds the strength to become once again the first on the rope of his own life. A classic tale of loss, courage, and renewal.

A timeless pillar of mountain literature, Starlight and Storm takes readers with the poetguide across the great north faces of the Alps — including the Drus. On the page, it is already pure exhilaration. But beyond the achievements lies Rébuffat’s true signature: a meditation on the majesty of nature and a prose as clear, precise, and rarefied as the alpine air itself.

More than an autobiography — impressive enough given the legendary climbs he completed — this book reads as a philosophy of the mountains, challenging the social conventions of its time. “What’s the point of all this? Is there even a hundredfranc note at the summit?” his father would ask repeatedly. To this, Terray answered with an ode to the pointless — a joyous embrace of the climb for its own sake. A profound reflection on passion in its purest form.

The first — and still the only — woman in Chamonix’s elite HighMountain Military Group, Marion Poitevin is now a guide, rescuer, and president of Lead the Climb, an association promoting women’s leadership in mountaineering. In Breaking the Ice Ceiling, she writes frankly about performance, sexism, anger, and perseverance. Yet she retraces her extraordinary path only to open new routes for others to follow.

A Chamonix native, Sophie Cuenot was a journalist for Radio France before devoting herself to writing. She has already published four works, including The Chamonix Novel (recently reissued), and her latest, Samivel. Behind this pseudonym lies Paul GayetTancrède — a multitalented artist (illustrator, watercolourist, writer, photographer) and a pioneering voice of alpine ecology who celebrated the mountains in order to protect them. This richly illustrated biography paints the portrait of a freespirited, committed, and farsighted man — a luminous read and an enduring source of inspiration.