VIDEO. He played the piano in front of Mount Everest: “I thought about the little boy I was and I am proud to be here today”

A real feat: he played in front of Mount Everest. Nicolas Constant, a young Cadurcien, who now lives in Switzerland, just made his dream come true last Thursday, under a blazing sun and negative temperatures. It takes more to stop this seasoned sportsman and music enthusiast, who taught himself the piano three years ago. Behind this bet, there is a slightly crazy idea. “One day, I was on my couch and I said to myself: ‘It would be magical to play in front of Mount Everest.’ It was mainly to prove to myself that any idea is feasible, that everything is possible”, explains Nicolas Constant, still in Kathmandu.

A year earlier, Nicolas had taken his synth to the Alps to play in the mountains. This time, he’s tackling the roof of the world. And he doesn’t leave without training. The almost thirty-year-old has been running since he was five. At 16, he ran his first 100 kilometers and at 18, he joined the Alpine Hunters in the Alps. “I trained myself to carry heavy loads, to make great efforts for 4 or 5 hours. I carried my piano to 3,000 meters of altitude in the middle of winter to get used to it,” explains the original Cadurcien . And on April 23, let’s set off on this incredible adventure.

The “white sherpa” attacks Mount Everest

Nicolas lands in the small village of Lukla, at the entrance to the Khumbu valley. On site, he asks the Sherpas for advice on how to pack his bag. He draws inspiration from their techniques to carry his 35 kg of luggage. Because yes, Nicolas decides to leave alone. “The Sherpas are not used to seeing someone carrying their equipment. They were quite impressed, even they dissuaded me from leaving alone,” says Nicolas, whose smile we can see on the other end of the line. A gesture that earned him a nickname: “the white sherpa”.

Top start: 100 kilometers and 5,364 meters of altitude. This is what awaits this ultra-trailer until base camp, led by the desire to play wild rhythms for Mount Everest. “When I put the package on my back, I had some doubts. It was going to be complicated. But all the people who were doing the trek encouraged me, they asked me lots of questions about my project,” says the almost thirty years old. Indeed, on the way, Nicolas met people. In the evening, in the refuges, where the walkers meet, the adventurer played little melodies.

The path went without pitfalls, with just an alert at 4,400 meters and a little hypoxia (a mismatch between tissue oxygen needs and supplies). “I woke up all night, out of breath. It was a little stressful,” confides the enthusiast. But the next day, the symptoms had disappeared.

A magical moment “out of time”

Nine days later, Nicolas touches his dream with his fingertips. After the pain, the efforts, the stress, here is the reward and the accomplishment. “Once in front of Mount Everest, I went to the very end of the camp to isolate myself a little and I took out my piano,” recalls the young man. Wrapped up in his down jacket, he let his fingers slide over the keyboard for an hour. “The Crowd” by Edith Piaf, “La Bohème” by Aznavour, “La Passacaglia” by Handel/Halvorsen and “Une Mattina” by Ludovico Einaudi resounded from the highest peak in the world. “I was in my bubble, it was timeless. It was a magical moment, it was quite intense,” describes the Cadurcien. He continues: “On the way back, I was able to think about my journey, from the idea on my couch to this accomplishment. I took stock of my life. I thought about the little boy I was and I’m proud to be here today.” Nicolas also saw this trip as “a quest to raise awareness, inspire and act in the face of melting glaciers and global warming”.

Coming back down, Nicolas lost a few kilos. Indeed, his trusty synth gave out on the return to Gorak Shep’s lodge. If Mount Everest got the better of the piano, it is for this impressive mountain that the instrument played its last notes. Poetic. Nicolas’s mind is already wandering off to other adventures. Why not learn guitar and violin? And why not tackle Argentina and the 6,962 meters of Aconcagua?