Flying at altitudes of over 3,500 meters (11,483 feet) was something they had never done before. Nor had they ever landed an Ecureuil on the summit of Aiguille Verte (4,122 meters/13,524 feet) in the Mont Blanc mountain range. Commander Jean-Éric Vague and Major Patrice Gaillon normally fly in the Pyrenees Mountains, but in the winter of 2009, they made the journey to Annecy, where training courses for elite French helicopter test pilots are held each year. The master of ceremonies in Annecy is René Romet, “Mr. Mission Impossible”, who first set up his base camp here in 1972. With 50 years of experience flying helicopters, Mr. Romet has set the standard for high-mountain helicopter flight, and has seen his share of pilots: For 40 years he has been training the world’s best to spot potentially dangerous air currents and ascents. The “instructors’ instructor”, Mr. Romet has already trained more than 70 instructors, along with some 300 civil and military pilots from France and abroad who have come to visit him in his favorite stomping ground: The high mountains. After 296 combat missions in Indochina, Israel and Algeria, Mr. Romet gained precious experience flying in extreme conditions, which stood him in good stead for the next stage of his career: performing mountain rescues. During his 22 years of service in the French Civil Defense, he pulled off some of the most remarkable exploits in air rescue history. A true “man for all seasons”, he set off in his bright red Alouette III to rescue climbers in difficulty throughout the year. Defying the steep cliff faces and tempestuous clouds of blowing snow, he has safely brought home more than 4,000 people. He and his Alouette III traveled to lands as far away as Langtang, in Nepal to perform missions in extreme conditions at altitudes of 7,800 meters (25,591 feet). His dream was to land on Everest–the “Roof of the World”. All the decorations he has received haven’t gone to his head. “The pilots that I meet are true gentleman: Highly qualified and skilled, but very modest,” explains Mr. Moret, who still cannot understand why civil pilots can fly in the mountains with no special certifications, whereas their military counterparts must be qualified for these types of flights. A youthful 72, with 17,000 flight hours under his belt (including 10,000 in the Mont-Blanc mountain range), Mr. Moret has no intention of stopping now. Since his retirement from the French Civil Defense, he has been running Héli Secours Assistance, the company he created. And he still spends his days soaring over the summits. This master of high altitudes imparts all his know-how to his trainees–pilots who have a great deal of experience, but may be lacking that little something extra which separates the great from the good. “With proper training, an average pilot can be qualified for IFR missions. But mountain flying is something altogether different,” Mr. Moret explained, just back from a two-hour flight over the “Roof of Europe”. “Mountain flying is visceral: You have to feel it in your bones!” The two EPNER instructors, who have each chalked up more than 2,800 flight hours, took turns flying with their venerable instructor over the storied peaks, performing improvised landings and approaches to breathtaking cliff faces. Before heading off to Germany to accept an EC145 for the French Civil Defense, both men got their full share of fresh air in the Haute-Savoie region, and refreshingly down-to-earth instruction from the Master of the Peaks himself.