With only a couple of days to go, it is time to reflect on a very busy year. 2010 for me has meant moving to a new country - the UK - and back, more amazing trips to places I had never been to before, and a lot of climbing of all sorts, from my first sport F7a+ to hard trad on grit, multi-pitch days, an introduction to Scottish winter, a couple of big mountains, including my second 6000er and even a few alpine routes stolen on Chamonix weekends. This year has also been one where several things became clear: I want to pursue photography as a career, and I want to specialize in climbing imagery and mountain landscapes. Writing my first book (and, later, my first ebook) has been a great experience and made me realize how much I love teaching - something I will probably also pursue in the future.

All in all, it's been busy, and with a few exceptions, it's been great. I enjoyed 2010 more than I did 2009, and the latter included quite a lot of goodies already. Let's hope that 2011 will be even better.

Here then are my 10 favourite photos from the past year, in chronological order. Unsurprisingly, they are all featuring either mountains or climbing, often both. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as me!

Don't forget you can click on the photos to see them in bigger sizes.

Skiers and climbers waiting for the first cablecar to Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix, France.

I am usually fully laden with bags, skis and axes poking everywhere when I take the Midi cablecar, but by some streak of luck, I happened to have free hands this particular morning and was able to snap this quickly, as I was attracted by the heavy mist hiding the mountain and the graphic shapes of the climbers. It turned out to be one of my very favourite images this year, because of its strong story and simple but powerful composition.

Bouldering on grit in Curbar Edge, Peak District, England.

My very first contact with the famous gritstone of the English Peak District took place on the last day of the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival. I was accompanied by local climber and photographer Adam Long whom I had met the previous evening but promptly discovered we didn't quite climb at the same standards. After a while, I stopped trying to break my neck on bold free solos and went back to picture taking instead while Adam and two of his friends, Jon and Simon, worked one of their bouldering projects. I really like this frame because of Jon's expression, which shows what it really takes to climb at this level.

Will Foreman on The Rasp (E2 5b), a classic grit climb of the Peak District, England.

A few months later, two friends from Denmark, Rune and Will, came to visit me for a weekend of trad climbing. I took them to the Peak District and we first headed to Higgar Tor as there was a route I had wanted to climb for a while, The File. Having dispatched it, Will started working on the very steep The Rasp and I rigged a fixed line to photograph him. What made me select this frame out of the dozens I shot of him was the obvious twist in his body, suggesting how overhanging the route really is.

A mountaineer belaying on Arete des Cosmiques in foul weather, Chamonix, France.

On my second trip to Chamonix that year, I teamed up with James Monypenny, a kickass British climber. We warmed up on the five pitches Rebuffat route on the Cosmiques spur of Aiguille du Midi but, unfortunately, as we finished the Arete des Cosmiques to return to the cablecar station, the weather started worsening considerably, and conditions were wintery the next day, putting an end to any climbing dreams. I shot this image just as we finished the climb, with a Japanese team behind us trying to get the last cablecar. What attracted me right away was the big gendarme disappearing in the mist, which combined very suggestively with the kneeling belay by the climber. They got to the cablecar in time, by the way.

A Chamonix panorama, while descending from Aiguille du Plan, France.

For my third and last trip to Chamonix, we attempted the ambitious full traverse of the Aiguilles de Chamonix. With good conditions and a great weather forecast, things should have gone well, but a mixture of altitude sickness, general slowness and a sprinkle of mistakes made us retreat by the time we reached Aiguille du Plan. Just after descending the rock pitches from the Plan, we were treated to this amazing Chamonix panorama. To me, this is what Chamonix is all about.

A participant to an indoor bouldering competition, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Though due to living in Denmark, this is where I spend most of my climbing time, I am no big fan of indoor climbing, and especially not of indoor bouldering competition (three things I don't like!). But there was something special about this image which I took at the Tour de Bloc comp, I like how suggestive and gritty it is, without actually showing much. I also believe it's a highly original rock climbing image, something which I strive for.

Sunset on Khumbu Yul Lha, a Tibetan sacred mountain. Khumbu, Nepal.

The first time on the Nepal trip where I really knew I had captured something special. The way that the clouds, still lit by the setting sun, hovered above the mountain already in the shade reminded me instantly of a similar image by one of my heroes, Galen Rowell (though I think his was taken in the High Sierra). Perhaps my favourite landscape I shot this year.

Lone figure below the north face of Ama Dablam, Khumbu, Nepal.

Once again, it is the suggestive power of this image that really stirs something whenever I look at it. The way that the tiny figure, almost out of the frame, interacts with the giant mountain almost hidden in the fog is simply beautiful, in my opinion. I also like that it's not so much "in your face" like this type of image sometimes can be, but rather very gentle and peaceful.

Startrails over the north face of Ama Dablam from Pokalde Base Camp, Khumbu, Nepal.

It took me a lot of effort to get this image, and I was hoping to get longer startrails, but I still love the final result. The deep blue colours and the lovely contrast from the moonlight are what make this image really work.

Lhotse at sunset, seen from Gokyo Ri, Khumbu, Nepal.

I was really exhausted when I shot this, halfway up Gokyo Ri and having given up reaching its top to witness sunset on Everest, but the real show was on nearby Lhotse. It took me a few tries to find the right composition and the right processing, but I love how the final image combines a feeling of power and hostility with one of pure beauty.