Not to be that person buh buh but, Fred North did beat the record in 2002, In Cape Town Africa. 42,500ft. The French government wouldn’t allow him the airspace clearances to complete the task in his home country like his predecessor Jean Boulet in his Lama. So yes this record still stands in France. But the world record for Helicopter Altitude was set by Fred North in a As350B2.
Interesting side note. They both flamed out on descent and had to restart their engines.
As well in my attempt in CowanSims H125/As350bB3 I only made it to 31,000ft in the sim.