CHAMONIX VALLEY ECO-TOUR WITH VIVIAN BRUCHEZ

A festive moment took place at the Nouvelles Galeries in Annecy on March 31, 2023 to return to the eco-tour of the Chamonix valley organized by the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc. This original challenge brought together for two days Vivian Bruchez, Mathieu Dechavanne (Chairman & CEO of the Compagnie du Mont-Blanc) and Antoine Burnet (Sales & Marketing Director). Ghislain Pipers, co-founder and CEO of Samaya, gives ODS Radio the underside of the creation of Samaya, as well as a focus on the Samaya ASSAUT2 ULTRA tent chosen by the three mountaineers for their expedition.

ODS : You are the founder of Samaya, a company that offers mountain equipment, in particular tents. How did you come up with the idea of ​​creating Samaya?

Ghislain Pipers : I started working on the project thanks to a study project with a teacher I knew who was also a longtime mountaineer. I had the desire to offer a mountaineering tent that is both ultra-efficient, while maintaining a certain level of comfort. I come from Annecy, I was part of the French climbing team for quite a few years, I practice mountaineering since I was very young with my parents, I have a climbing wall home since I was 7 years old, so I have been in this environment for a long time. It was a project that I liked, because I practiced the bivouac in the mountains since my youngest age. We are two mountaineers behind the project. We wanted to have innovative, less aging products to go on expeditions, then gradually our friends also wanted our tents and Samaya began to grow and today we are a team of twenty people. We go a little less to the other side of the world for mountaineering, but it's still our passion, it's the thing that makes us vibrate. We want to move the lines of bivouac and roaming equipment.

ODS : What do you mean by aging?

GP : There were a lot of things to reinvent in terms of materials, construction, design and the need for a scientific approach for the benefit of the consumer, to revolutionize the use of a tent in extreme conditions at all four corners. of the globe.

ODS : Here we have the Samaya ASSAUT2 ULTRA tent. What is special about it? How is this product innovative compared to the aging equipment you were talking about earlier?

GP : Here we have our favorite product in terms of lightness since the Samaya ASSAUT2 ULTRA weighs less than a kilo for two people. This product is intended for use in extreme conditions, at very high altitude. This is the product that Kilian Jornet chose to take on Everest. Where it makes the difference is that it is very efficient, in addition to being light. When you are at an altitude of 8,000 meters in a bivouac, the slightest defect in the tent can cause death. So it's both a safety product and a place where you can rest to regain your strength and be able to start again. Finally, the comfort is not negligible. The innovation is to combine the three pillars of performance, lightness and comfort under the same "roof", which makes it possible to have an ultimate product.

ODS : Finally, how do you ensure that your products perform well in all circumstances?

GP : We have products that are on the ground all the time, with riders who push back the limits of alpine performance every time. We absolutely wanted to position the scientific approach at the heart of product development and therefore for the benefit of the user. We do a lot of simulation and testing. We have a wind tunnel, a cold room on our premises. It is this approach that has built our legitimacy vis-à-vis our athletes and our consumers, for both extreme and more accessible experiences.