Les Parois de la Mémoire - Le Pilier Central du Frêney

Les Parois de la Mémoire – Le Pilier Central du Frêney is a 25-minute documentary film directed by Jérôme Equer in 1994 and broadcast on the FR3 weekly program Montagne. The film highlights the tragic story of the July 1961 attempt to climb the Frêney Central Pillar (on the Italian side of Mont Blanc), during which a Franco-Italian team—led notably by Pierre Mazeaud and Walter Bonatti—was trapped by a violent, multi-day storm of exceptional intensity, resulting in a tragic retreat and the deaths of four of the seven climbers. It draws on archival footage, excerpts from Lothar Brandler’s film Inferno am Montblanc, and firsthand accounts from the participants, including mountaineer and politician Pierre Mazeaud.

Cast

Pierre Mazeaud

Self

René Desmaison

Self

Walter Bonatti

Self (archive footage)

Roberto Gallieni

Self (archive footage)

Pierre Kohlmann

Self (archive footage)

Andrea Oggioni

Self (archive footage)

Robert Guillaume

Self (archive footage)

Antoine Vieille

Self (archive footage)

Louis Janin

Self