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Gaining new knowledge of our vertical world
The Petzl Foundation supports conferences, exhibitions, debates, advocacy groups, and scientific research projects, which aim to improve our understanding of the mountains and the vertical world. The new insights and exchange of ideas resulting from these events and projects expand our knowledge base and strengthen the vertical communities.
FRANCE - The 4th SUSTAINABLE SUMMITS CONFERENCE
This conference is, first and foremost, an opportunity to get together, a desire to work together for our high mountains, one of the last areas on the planet where human presence is merely transient (...)
NICARAGUA - IN THE DEPTHS OF THE MASAYA VOLCANO
In 2015, an active lava lake opened at Masaya Volcano, Nicaragua, providing scientists a rare opportunity to study volcanoes and their impact on our lives by examining the volcano’s gas (...)
FRANCE - THE EFFECTS OF SLEEP MEDICATION ON MOUNTAINEERS
A team of researchers from Grenoble University Hospital has studied the impact of sleep medication on the vigilance and motor agility of mountaineers when awoken in the middle of the (...)
LEBANON - REFUGEES FROM LEBANON: FINDING HOPE IN CLIMBING
The non-profit organization ClimbAid aims to foster the physical and psycho-social development of refugee children and teenagers through climbing. In 2017, over a three-month period, they (...)
FRANCE - PROTECTING ICE MEMORY
Studying glacier ice allows us to anticipate future climate changes. However, with the glaciers retreating at such a fast rate, this scientific resource (...)
UNITED STATE - INSIDE THE ICE CAVES OF MOUNT RAINIER
Mount Rainier, in the northwest of the United States, is an episodically active volcano rising to 4,392 meters at its summit. This little-known, high alpine glacier-fumarole cave system (...)
GREENLAND - IN SEARCH OF LOST CLIMATES IN GREENLAND
During the summer of 2015, a team of scientists and cavers explored caves in Northeast Greenland to collect samples of calcite. The analysis of these fragments is already helping researchers to anticipate (...)
FRANCE - THE MOUTAIN COMMUNITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE
On Wednesday, November 11, 2015, the Grenoble mountain community held a conference to explore ways of ensuring that the mountains were taken into account in the COP21 (...)
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO - NYIRAGONGO, EXPLORATION INTO THE HEART OF A AFRICAN VOLCANO
At the beginning of July 2015, two researchers and a team of highly-motivated volcanologists descended to the bottom of the Nyiragongo crater (...)
FRANCE - CHAMONIX CELEBRATES THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF MOUNTAINEERING
During the eleven years from 1854 to 1865, modern mountaineering was born in the Alps. In 2015, Chamonix has chosen to pay homage to this golden age of mountaineering (...)
FRANCE - INTO THE HEART OF WATERFALL ICE
How are waterfalls formed? How does this very specific type of ice react to a climber's progression and temperature variations? All climbers have asked themselves these questions at one time or another (...)
FRANCE - DIALOGUE BETWEEN MOUNTAINS AND SCIENCE
Les Rencontres Montagnes et Sciences (The Meeting of Mountains and Science) is an event designed to present the wealth of scientific careers through mountain films for the general public. (...)
AMERICAS - EXPLORING THE CHACHAPOYA WORLD WITH UKHUPACHA
The Ukhupacha association is active in several South American countries, helping scientists to explore places that are difficult to access, (...)
CORSICA - THE SECRETS INSIDE CORSICAN PINES
The National Botanical Conservatory of Corsica and the CNRS of Montpellier have observed unusual fungi growth on the top branches of Corsican pines, which may have been triggered by forest fires. (...)
NEPAL - MONITORING THE MORAINE LAKES
In Nepal, at least twenty glacial lakes pose a significant danger to villages downstream. Moraine dams can collapse under the weight of the water and cause catastrophic floods, (...)
FRANCE - STUDYING PERMAFROST TO UNDERSTAND ROCKFALL
Permafrost is ground which has been frozen for at least two years. Its formation, thicknessand eventual disappearance are closely related to climate change. (...)
MOROCCO - BIO-CAVING EXPEDITIONS
Every year since 2001, the Association Catalana de Biospeleologia has organized a caving expedition in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. The objective is to collect specimens of rare cave fauna (...)
FRANCE - WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR OUR MOUNTAINS?
"Imagine the mountain of tomorrow." In spring 2011, a group of climbers and mountaineers looked into the future and set about organizing the "Mountaineering Assizes". (...)
COLORADO - ENCOURAGING SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES ON MOUNTAINS EVERYWHERE
Supported by the Petzl Foundation, the 2014 Sustainable Summits conference was led by American Alpine Club members and Denali National Park staff who brought people together (...)