Alain Godet

The Mont-Blanc with its 4810 metres is the dream destination of countless alpinists. When the Valais mountain guide and Everest climber Kilian Volken sets off on this tour with two guests on 12 July 2012, an avalanche breaks out on Mont Maudit and nine people die, only Volken (61) survives badly injured, only his head and hands are still sticking out of the hard snow masses. On his harness he feels the pull of the rope on which the bodies of his two guests hang. Tears wet his face, but he can't wipe them off. Why did he was the only survivor? Volken doesn't see any logic in it, can't sleep without psychotropic drugs - he is the extreme mountaineer who has climbed three more 8000m peaks besides Mount Everest.

On 13 May 1960, a Swiss expedition achieved the first ascent of the Dhaulagiri. The Dhaulagiri (8167 m) was at that time the highest still unconquered eight-thousand-metre peak and, due to its unpredictable weather, was considered a 'mountain without mercy'. 50 years after the first ascent of the Dhaulagiri, the mountaineers of that time return to the place of their great triumph. A DOK team accompanies the three veterans around the Dhaulagiri to the former base camp (4700 m) and to the French Col (5360 m), where one has the most beautiful view of the Dhaulagiri.