La montagna a mani nude

Written by the great French mountaineer at the height of his career, "The mountain with bare hands" is the first book by René Desmaison and seems to arise from the urgency of capturing emotions on paper , the joy, the freedom but also the suffering of those who have decided to dedicate their lives to the mountains. In a game of mirrors in which diaries, live descriptions, reflections and historic black and white photographs face each other, the most beautiful walls, the first winter ones, the most prohibitive routes in the Alps and the most exceptional mountaineers pass before our eyes. of an exceptional generation, that of Bonatti, so to speak: the West of the Drus, the Walker at the Grandes Jorasses, the Central Pillar of the Frêney, the Noire de Peutérey, the West of Lavaredo. And alongside Desmaison we see Lionel Terray, Pierre Mazeaud, Jacques Batkin, Jean Couzy climbing... great mountaineers and great friends with whom the author dialogues throughout the book, seeking the reason for that common passion so dangerous and so indispensable, capable to offer «an open, immense life, full of exhilarating moments, sparkling with light».
Fifty years after the first edition, The mountain with bare hands confirms itself as one of the most intense and authentic books in mountain literature, written by a great and unforgettable mountaineer.