Morgan Baduel, Alpinist: When Performance Is Built on Awareness

For UNESCO, alpinism is the art of climbing peaks and high mountain faces, in every season, on both rock and ice.

For Morgan Baduel, a 38-year-old alpinist, it is above all a practice where performance is built on awareness.

First, awareness of the body and the mind. But also of the environment — and the transformations that are reshaping it.

Portrait of a mountain lover who has turned his passion into the voice of his convictions.

“The mountains are my backbone”: Alpinism as a way of life

Morgan Baduel was born in Cantal. His first encounters with the mountains came through his parents — hiking at first, then skiing. But it was in his teenage years that he experienced a true revelation, when he discovered ice climbing. He then trained in alpinism with high-mountain guides. First in the Massif Central, then gradually on more ambitious peaks, from the Mont Blanc massif to the Écrins, the Oisans valleys, and the Pyrenees.

Although he was not able to become a high-mountain guide, alpinism has never left him. To the point that he chose to redirect his career, settle in Chamonix, and organize his life around the practice.

When asked how his passion was born, he is candid:
“The tricky thing with alpinism is that what motivates you at first is ego. You want to prove something to yourself or to others. What drew me to alpinism was a lack of self-confidence. Little by little, I managed to do things others couldn’t. It allowed me to move forward at a time when I needed it.”

He adds:
“You don’t persist in alpinism by chance — you need to find meaning in it. It’s a discipline for the long haul. The mountains are my backbone. They set a course for my life, constantly.”

Alpinism: A Discipline of Time

Alpinism is a rich practice. It ranges from glacier hiking to high-altitude speed climbing, and even steep-slope skiing. Some alpinists approach it in a contemplative spirit, while others seek thrills in the thin air where oxygen is scarce.

Defining what performance means in the high mountains isn’t simple — especially since commercial expeditions have become widespread, much to Morgan’s dismay.

“Climbing an 8,000-meter peak as part of a commercial expedition, with fixed ropes set by a team of Sherpas and supplemental oxygen, is like mountaineering on an e-bike. Doing the same route without a track, without fixed ropes, and without oxygen — that’s a completely different sport.”

Over time and through experience, Morgan has crafted his own recipe that aligns with his values

“For the past two years, I’ve been combining climbing, trail running, and paragliding,” he explains. “Gear has become so much lighter. My wing weighs just 1.3 kg. Living at the foot of Mont Blanc, I know a circuit that takes me to the summit. I run up, and once I’m at the top, all I have to do is take off and fly back home!”

He recounts this with the lightness of a seasoned athlete, but also with clarity:
“My practice minimizes my impact on the mountain, since I reach the summit on my own two feet. It also spares me the 4,000 meters of descent, which is really punishing for the body. But it requires knowing your limits. When you get to the top and the conditions don’t allow you to fly, you still have to be capable of climbing back down.”

More than the pursuit of performance: the search for balance

Perhaps this is where alpinism transcends sport to become an art. It is a constant quest for balance amid forces that, no matter what, will always have the final word.

“It’s a discipline that matures slowly. You have to accept that only time and experience give you enough perspective. In alpinism, performance is intimately tied to safety — and therefore to your time of exposure. Of course, you need to be strong and fast, but not at any cost. The goal isn’t to set a stopwatch time, but to stay one or two moves ahead, to remain in control. It’s only once you can anticipate that you can start to play. Then you aim to go a little faster, lighten your load, and adopt an increasingly minimalist style. In the high mountains, the weight of your pack is the weight of your fear. It’s a vicious circle: the more precautionary measures you take, the heavier you get, the more exposed you become.”

This search for balance extends everywhere — even into the way Morgan prepares.

“Before, I did a lot of trail running to work on endurance. Now I focus mainly on fast hiking and paragliding. Muscularly, it matches much better with the effort I face in the high mountains. I also practice a fair bit of sport climbing, at a level that allows me to access all the routes I’m aiming for.”

That said, there are some trade-offs. “Sport climbing doesn’t combine well with high-volume endurance. If I push too hard on one side, I drop on the other. My indicator is what I’ve managed to achieve in sport climbing.” Balance — again and always.

As for his training program, the alpinist explains:
“I try to do two to three climbing sessions per week, and two or three endurance outings. Since I started paragliding, everything has changed. I save much more energy. My training is far less punishing on my body, and I recover so much better!”

Morgan builds his recovery time by listening to his body — “by feel,” as he puts it.
“I’m starting to know myself. Ten years ago, I was still getting caught off guard. I used to go on lots of three-hour trail runs. They didn’t train me, they exhausted me. Today, my sessions are shorter, and I work with cross-training. I alternate strength sessions with climbing and endurance.”

Morgan Baduel: Committed to the Mountains

When told that his program requires a great deal of availability, he answers without hesitation:

“Alpinism is a privileged pursuit. It operates on a value scale that’s far removed from what many people experience in their daily lives. It’s important to acknowledge that. We can’t just say that if you want it badly enough, you can do it — that it’s easy, that all it takes is X hours of training per week, X thousands of euros worth of gear, and X free hours to make it happen. Having that kind of time is a luxury reserved for the upper socio-professional classes. Let’s remember the origins of alpinism and the influence of the English aristocracy. In my daily life, I work alongside people in business and industry — technicians and workers from the Chamonix region. We don’t really share the same perspectives or aspirations within this environment. Lionel Terray titled one of his famous works Conquistadors of the Useless. But when I’m face to face with these people, I see conquerors of the useful. I understand them — especially in a region under such intense housing pressure.”

Because Morgan is an alpinist driven as much by his unconditional love for the mountains as by his commitment — to make them more inclusive, and to protect them from climate change.

He is in a front-row seat to witness its damage.
“Late June 2025, I climbed Mont Blanc in just a T-shirt. It was only the very beginning of summer, but the conditions were those of August. In all my years of alpinism, I had never seen anything like it — and it worries me a lot. Some of my mountain guide friends no longer work in summer; they simply can’t guarantee their clients’ safety anymore."

And when it comes to criticizing the practices of his fellow climbers, he doesn’t hold back.

“Personally, I refuse to fly. I think it’s completely contradictory with my practice. For the past three or four winters, we’ve had issues with icefalls, even here in the Alps. Yet every year, I see climbers heading to Canada for their preseason. Or going on expeditions to South America in the summer. Since conditions in the Alps are no longer good enough, they relocate. It’s troubling, because these people are opinion leaders — they speak to the wider public. They are the ones best placed to see what’s wrong, and yet they’re flying around the globe. It’s an axiological issue.”

When Morgan speaks about his love for the mountains and his vision of alpinism, he is really inviting us to a more thoughtful, minimalist, and authentic practice.“Let’s look around us, and not be blinded by the images society feeds us. We’re surrounded by peaks that may be less iconic — but are far more beautiful!”

A wise piece of advice — and one that seems to apply far beyond the mountains.