Church of Chamonix, 12:43 a.m., Monday 10 April. Without fanfare, two particularly sharp skiers set off noiselessly in the darkness, under the dark mass of Mont Blanc. No spectator is there to cheer them on. Yet it is a page in the history of skiing that Samuel Équy (26) and Benjamin Védrines (30) are about to write, by trying to break the Haute Route record, a mythical ski touring route linking Chamonix to Zermatt via the glaciers.
