JOE French’s first brush with death was when he was left hanging by the wrist loop of his ice axe from a rock on the notorious North Face of Ben Nevis.
The second was on the world’s highest mountain when only a change of plan saved him from being one of the casualties when 16 Sherpas were killed in the Khumbu Icefall.
Just one year later, filming again on Mount Everest, French nearly suffocated in the avalanche that wiped out Base Camp following the 2015 earthquake.
In between the two terrifying Everest experiences, his wife Julie was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
Now in a new book, French relives the traumas and details how the woods near his Lochaber home and a tranquil lochan have been key to recovering his peace of mind. Being part of the close-knit Lochaber community has also helped.
“They are very caring, very talented people who quietly get on with things – I’m really proud to live here,” said French, who grew up in Sheffield but moved north to work on an art project in Lochaber where he honed his climbing skills and began his filming career.
In 2008 he took on one of his first filming jobs, filming Dave MacLeod, one of the world’s greatest all-round climbers, as he made a free ascent of Britain’s hardest mixed climbing route on Ben Nevis.
“I followed him with my camera and very quickly found myself out of my depth,” French told the Sunday National. “I got myself in a very serious situation where I ended up hanging by the wrist loop of my ice axe and unable to free myself. That was a very traumatic experience and I was very lucky to survive it.”
Rather than be deterred, French went on to gain a solid reputation in adventure filming, working for the likes of Channel 4, BBC and the Discovery Channel.
'A dream that became a nightmare'
It was for the latter that he was invited to film on Mount Everest in 2014.
“It was a dream to go to Everest but it very much became a nightmare,” said French.
Part of a team making a documentary about the first person to jump from Everest in a wingsuit, French was due to go with a group of Sherpas to climb through the icefall, one of the most dangerous sections of the mountain.
However, a last-minute change of plans meant the team left before him – a change that almost certainly saved his life.
As the Sherpas stopped to repair some ladders on the glacier, a gigantic block of ice broke off the mountain, crushing everything in its path.
Rescuers raced to the disaster and found a horrific scene, with bodies entombed in ice while survivors lay seriously injured and half buried in the shards. Many of the 16 Sherpas who died were from the same village and 28 children were left fatherless.
The shoot was abandoned and French returned home. Although deeply upset, the event left him with an even greater respect for the bravery and skill of the Sherpas who face constant danger guiding people up Everest. One year later, he returned to make a film about these often unsung heroes.
It was on the morning of April 25, 2015 that he went to interview lead climber Lakpa Rita Sherpa, who had dug out many of his friends’ bodies from the icefall in 2014. After interviewing him, French made his way slowly back to the main camp.
It was then he heard a tremendous roar and turned to find a huge wall of ice, rocks and snow heading towards him. French realised he was in grave danger and started to run but was quickly caught up in a churning mass of ice and debris that swept him off his feet. Battered and bruised, he miraculously survived but 22 people died and at least 100 more were injured in the disaster.
Although again able to make his way safely back to Lochaber, the two Everest experiences bookended his wife’s cancer diagnosis and successful – but gruelling – treatment and French found he was deeply traumatised.
“I was very lucky to survive but others weren’t,” he said. “In between those disasters, our family had a very intense time.”
In 2016, French was invited back to Everest to make another series and after “a lot of procrastination” he decided to face “his demons”.
“It was an emotional experience but I am pleased I went,” he said. “When I came back, I started to write about everything, although I wasn’t intending to write a book. I just found the process helped me gather my thoughts rather than have them go round and round in my head.”
At the same time, he started to go for runs in the woods around Lochaber and because it was so soft underfoot, he began running barefoot.
“It was fantastic and gave me a sense of grounding,” said French. “It makes you more mindful about your footsteps and how you are moving and the more attention you pay to where you are going, the more absorbed you become. I found it was a really fantastic way of creating a bit of distance from all the trauma I had experienced.”
In the heart of the woods is a little lochan and French began to incorporate a dip in the cold water into his runs.
“It didn’t matter if it was ice or snow or beautiful sunshine – I would get into that cold water and the shock of it on my skin was really helpful in focusing my mind in a way that took me outside the thoughts going on in my head,” he said.
While French says barefoot running and swimming in cold water may not be for everyone, he does recommend mindfulness, deep breathing and being in nature as a way of dealing with stress and trauma.
“Even gardening and getting your hands in the soil is a good way of grounding yourself and bringing yourself to the present rather than getting caught up in the past,” he said.
However, French added that he had learned that recovering from trauma was not a case of ticking a box saying “healed”.
“It’s about learning to accept what has happened and allowing it to become part of who I am,” he said.
Out of Mind, published by Sandstone Press / Vertebrate Publishing, is available now priced £19.99
