Having finally climbed the Frendo Spur two weeks ago, I can now do the next best thing: creating a high resolution topo of the route. This is a giant image, stitched from several 12MP shots, taken two days before our successful ascent. It shows the entire route from the initial ramp at 2600m to the junction with the Arête du Midi at 3700m. It should be noted that this was taken after an unusually warm and dry spell, so there is virtually no snow on the rock buttress (we actually climbed it in rock boots). Most of the time, this is a mixed climb done in big boots.

Click on the image to access the full resolution topo (but please note it is a 5MB file, so it may take a while to load):

Some routefinding and climbing notes:

• Overall, the way is quite obvious and there is little chance of getting lost. Not that this stopped us, of course.

• The initial ramp is easy but very loose without any snow.

• Don't miss the first left turn. It is a fairly obvious slanting ledge, but steeper than I expected.

• The lower crux (rateau de chèvre) is a deep diagonal crack in a giant block barring the way. I thought it was even harder than it looked, but it is well protected.

• Just after the rateau, go straight up the gully above you rather than downclimbing and traversing right, which might look tempting.

• When the long and easy section on the right of the ridge suddenly steepens, traverse left on a ledge for a dozen meters, on the other side of the ridgeline, and head up an easy double gully (marked on the topo).

• The sections with red rock are very loose and of poor quality, I'm pretty sure our gear wouldn't have held anywhere. Thankfully they are quite short.

• After the exposed col, take the dihedral immediately left of the ridgeline, not the one ten meters further to the left. We did, the climbing was quite hard (at least V) and we had to do a tension traverse to get back on the right line.

• From there on, it stays quite sustained, between III and IV+ for several hundred meters. It is also very well protected and super fun.

• There is a new fallen block not mentioned in any topo. There is only one hard move to get above it but it is at least V+, if not harder. Pitons are in place and everybody (including us) pulled on them.

• Just before reaching the top of the rock buttress, there was a short cave/chimney with a high potential for getting stuck. Stay on the outside.

• Unless it's icy, the snow arete is unprotectable until it steepens. We could then place a few (poor) screws.

• We went left of the Rognon which was straightforward and quite easy, even the 80º ice bit. Pro is on the rock on the side but it is fairly loose. Also be careful as falling rocks go scarily fast and could potentially bounce into people on top of the rock buttress.

The Frendo Spur is the buttress to the left of the one below the Aiguille du Midi cablecar.

Our rack consisted of one strand of 8.6mm 50m rope, four cams (Camalot .5, .75, 1 and 2), 8 nuts (the 5 DMM alloy offsets worked amazingly, we didn't use the other three), 7 ice screws (nearly useless in those conditions), 6 quickdraws and a few single and double slings. We simulclimbed everything except for a couple of cruxes and managed to finish in under 10 hours (9.5 from the base, 11 from the hut).

In the middle of a very alpine week (the shortest of the three routes I did was 500m long), some contrast was provided by the first stage of the climbing World Cup, in the big market place of Chamonix. While there was also a speed climbing event, the main thing was of course the lead competition. In the finals, which I attended, 8 men and 8 women tried to onsight F8c+ and F8b routes, respectively. It was extremely inspiring to watch, as they all were incredibly solid and with smooth, precise and powerful moves.

I wasn't ideally placed for photos but made good use of my 70-200 lens. Here are some of the coolest/funniest shots I got from the event.

Read More

I have been in Chamonix for a bit over 2 days so far, but unfortunately have been sick most of that time. I still managed to bag an awesome warmup route in the Aiguilles Rouges with my partner Nick on the first day, the 12 pitches trad classic Chapelle de la Glière. Yesterday was a lazy day but I made good use of my cablecar pass and spent a few hours on the Arete du Midi and around the cablecar station, shooting climbers coming back from Mont Blanc and other nearby summits.

The weather is terrible today but the forecast gets a lot better soon, so we'll probably get on the Frendo spur tomorrow, which would allow us to see the 14th of July fireworks from a bivy on a ledge in the middle of the north face of Aiguille du Midi!

In the meantime, enjoy some of the photos from my first two days. There are more on google+ and facebook.

Read More

With my photo career growing, I decided recently that my trusty D90 wasn't quite cutting it anymore, mostly because of its DX sensor format. Since I have an alpine trip to Chamonix coming very soon (I am actually leaving tomorrow), I finally went ahead and got myself a D700, a camera which I have wanted since it was announced back in 2008.

Here are a few of the shots I got in the first couple of days with it, including a bunch taken in the very dark climbing gym of Copenhagen, with ISOs between 4000 and 6400!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have managed to take advantage of reasonably good Scandinavian weather to head out to some rock in southern Sweden (the closest to home, since Denmark doesn't even have proper boulders). One trip to the bouldering hotspot of Kjuge on the baltic coast and the past two weekends in Kullaberg, the natural reserve with seacliffs which offer the best option for trad climbing near Copenhagen, at the cost of having some of the worst rock I have ever climbed on. Yesterday was a milestone for me: I finally climbed a (Swedish) VII trad route, King Kong, in Åkersberget. British purists would no doubt complain about the three bolts protecting the long technical slab section, but since the crux roof is done over trad gear, I'll still count it (especially since I took the big fall at some point, and managed to make a dent in the cam which caught me!).

While waiting for some proper mountain stuff (I'll be alpine climbing in Chamonix next week), enjoy some photos from those last trips:

Read More

If you have been following me in the past couple of years, attended one of my talks or read one of my books, there is one thing you will have heard more than anything else. Over and over and over, I keep repeating that the key to good photography in the mountains is very simple: your camera needs to be available at all times. Keep it buried in your backpack and I will guarantee that you will rarely take it out, certainly never in time to capture the perfect moment that suddenly appeared in front of you.

The job of a good adventure camera bag is simple: it needs to allow the photographer to have all the necessary gear available in an instant when needed, and be as discrete and unobtrusive when not. And contrary to what many believe, it is not its primary role to protect the equipment against the elements - your camera and lenses should be built well enough to withstand most conditions, and if things hit the fan too badly, a real waterproof bag (or the bottom of a backpack) is what you need.

Like every photographer out there, I have a closet full of bags, all of them sort of working but none of them perfect for what I need. Until, that is, I discovered the Thinktank Skin belt system. Let's cut to the chase right away: if you shoot in the mountains, this (or something very close to this) is what you want to use, period. It is hands down the best camera bag for hiking and mountaineering photography.

Read More

At the end of last month, I had the opportunity to attend the famous New River Rendezvous, now in its 9th edition. It is both a climbing festival and a fundraiser for the NRAC (New River Alliance of Climbers) and featured a lot of awesome events (including the legendary dessertapalooza, sugar overdose guaranteed) but also some of the best climbing on the East Coast of the US and of course, a bunch of great people. It was a good opportunity for me to see some of my friends from the AAC International Meet, two years ago in Indian Creek, and also to meet a lot of new people (including Chris Sharma, climbing super star and all around nice guy).

I didn't climb very well, it rained a fair bit - though apparently not too much by local standards - and I was jetlagged the whole weekend, but still had an awesome time! I also taught a one day climbing photography clinic which was very successful, so expect to see more of those in the future.

There is a gallery of images from the event, but here are some personal favorites:

Last month, British gear company Alpkit ran a small competition to celebrate the release of my book Remote Exposure. The deadline for entry was May 22nd and winners have now been chosen (randomly from the pool of correct answers). Here are the lucky three, winning respectively a copy of the book, an A3 print and an A4 print, all of them signed of course:

1. Barry Stewart, from Glasgow
2. Laura Griffin, from South Wales
3. Adam Steele, from Norfolk

Congratulations to all three!

For a few years now, I have been an admirer of David duChemin, who is not only a great photographer but also a very successful author and teacher. His book Visionmongers in particular was incredibly useful to me when charting my future career as a professional photographer. David, with his manager Corwin Hiebert, is also the founder of the ebook publishing house Craft and Vision, with a few releases every year of very high quality, fairly short ebooks for only 5$.

After working on it for quite a few months, I am very glad to announce that my new ebook has been published by Craft and Vision. It is titled "Extreme Perspectives" , is 34 double pages and deals with, you guessed it, mountain photography. In many ways, it can be considered as a very condensed version of Remote Exposure, though the text is 100% new (some of the photos are common to both titles). One of the key differences, beside the obvious size, is that Extreme Perspectives has a number of image studies, telling the story of some of my favourite photos and the lessons I may have learned from making them.

You can pick it up on the Craft and Vision website as a PDF (and soon an ipad app). The price is a mere 5$ and if you decide to buy before May 15th at 23:59 PST, you can use the discount code EXTREME4 to get 1$ off. And as always, I would love to hear your thoughts, both good or bad!

In order to celebrate the release of ''Remote Exposure'' in the UK, I associated with the British gear manufacturer Alpkit to offer a small competition with three cool prizes to win: a copy of Remote Exposure, an A3 print and an A4 print of your choice, all signed by the author (that would be me). The competition itself is very simple, you simply have to answer three fairly easy questions to put your name in the hat.

Alpkit is a bit of an oddity in the outdoor gear market, as their business model is to find ways to make cool equipment for very low prices and sell those at very affordable prices. Their headlamps and camping kit have had very good reputation for a while, and I personally love my figfours for indoor drytooling. Definitely check them out if you don't know them already.

As for the competition, it's over there and you can enter until May 22nd. Good luck!

Last week, Ruthie and I headed to Iceland for a quick Easter break. It was the first time that either of us had been there, despite having both dreamed about going for years. The weather was characteristically cold, windy and moody (including snow, rain, 100km/h winds and big sunshine all within an hour) but fun was had by all. In order to make the most of our limited time, we rented a car after one day in Reykjavik and headed up north, first to Akureyri (the second biggest city on the island) and then lake Myvatn. Our plans of going whale watching in Husavik were foiled by the high winds, but the views across the fjords made up for it. Finally, on the last evening, I gave a very nice slideshow at the Icelandic Alpine Club. All I can say is that I really wish to be back soon!

In the meantime, enjoy a selection of my images from the trip!

Read More

Just a quick note before hopping on a plane and trading Danish sunshine for Icelandic rain: I will be giving two slideshows next week. The first one (not fully confirmed, but most probably happening) will take place at the Icelandic Alpine Club in Reykjavik on Monday (25th) evening, details TBA. The second one will be at the Copenhagen Climbing Club hall in Sundholm, on Thursday (28th), at 20:00. In both cases, I will show some of my favourite mountain pictures from the last few years and tell some of the stories behind them, as well as give some advice for photography in the mountains. If you are around in either location, don't hesitate to drop by and say hello!

In other news, Remote Exposure has been getting some great reviews!

One and a half years ago, in a small Indian restaurant in Copenhagen, my friend Rune and I were having dinner after a good climbing session at the local wall. At some point in the conversation, he suggested that it could be a good idea for me to write a book about mountain photography. I had published a long article on the subject on the website Luminous Landscape but it had not occurred to me that I could go even further.

Rocky Nook was a natural choice to pitch the idea, as they are well known for the great quality of the writing of their photography books, as well as for printing them beautifully. Much to my surprise, they liked the concept right away and before I really knew what had happened, I had a publishing contract in front of me!

Read more

In the world of climbing and outdoor magazines often riddled with ads, printed on thin paper and with relatively shallow articles, there is one publication that really stands out: the quarterly American magazine Alpinist, often closer to a thin illustrated book than to a real mag. Not only is it great to keep in touch with cutting edge mountaineering (which doesn't get reported nearly as well as more quantifiable sport climbing and bouldering ascents), but it is also an amazing source of inspiration. I always know that within minutes of picking any issue up, I will be psyched to go climbing something big and scary. As a photographer, I also really appreciate that they promote such good and creative photography and pay special attention to their printing on beautiful, thick paper. It is the only magazine I am subscribed to, and I even went as far as paying good money to acquire some of the back issues (sadly difficult since a fire destroyed most of them a few years ago).

For all these reasons, I am very happy to report that their web editor chose a selection of my images for the wallpapers that they make available on their website. You should go take a look over there: Alpinist wallpapers.

As you might remember, I spent a week last February in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland. I did some mixed climbing myself but mostly shot and filmed Danish badass Kristoffer Szilas as he was making several M9 and M10 ascents. I have finally edited all the footage into a nice 8 minutes movie of him climbing the classic line "Twin Towers" (M10). Have a look over here, or in the dedicated motion gallery, though you will have to go to vimeo if you want the HD version (which I really recommend).

For the second time this year, Black Diamond is using some of my images on their website. One of the photos is of a mess tent in front of Ama Dablam by night, in Pokalde base camp. The other one is of the Aiguilles de Chamonix shortly after a big storm last June. They are used on BD's website on respectively their Journal homepage and on their Giving Back pages. I had the opportunity to visit Black Diamond's headquarters and American factory in Salt Lake City in 2009, and I was really impressed, as not only are they making some seriously cool gear on which my life frequently relies, but they are also really cool outdoor people who share my passion for climbing (and skiing).

In other totally unrelated news, I have more details about the release of Remote Exposure: the shipment of books is on its way to the Rocky Nook warehouse and will very soon be released in the US. Amazon conservatively says April 15th, though there are good chances it will be earlier than this. Unfortunately, it will take some additional time (about 3-4 weeks) before they arrive at the British distributor, which will then cover Europe. Still, if you pre-ordered it, you should receive your copy (along with my gratitude) by mid-May at the latest. To say I am excited to know how it will be received would be quite an understatement...

Back last summer, I taught a free online introduction to photography class on the social website reddit. It was aimed at photography beginners and enthusiasts, as well as people who had just acquired a DSLR for the first time but didn't really know how to exploit its potential.

The course ran very successfully, in 30 small parts and even with some assignments. In order to make this great resource more widely available (as well as more readable), I have begun re-importing all the lessons on this website. You can see this work in progress at the new dedicated address: Introduction to photography class. You can start reading the lessons now or wait for me to be done copying and reformatting content (which should take a few days/weeks). I will keep updating the index page, so it's probably easiest to link/bookmark this.

And dear reader, if you can help spread the word about this to any place and online communities which you think might be interested, I would be extremely grateful!

Last Wednesday, around noon, I was lying on an operating table in the centre of Copenhagen, my right eye covered and my left kept mechanically open, Clockwork Orange style. I was instructed to look at the green light, which became blurry then promptly turned red and started dancing around. A strong smell of ozone soon permeated the room as the red light kept flashing. It wasn't painful at all but quite uncomfortable. I kept wanting to blink and was very afraid my eye would start relaxing too much and drift away from the light, resulting in botched vision forever. The nurse was still holding my hand, saying "you're gonna be all right" better than any words could have.

After thirty seconds of this peculiar torture, the light suddenly switched off. All done for the left eye, the doctor announced. Then, while releasing the contraption and reinstalling it on the other eye, he tried to make some awkward small talk.

- So, you're from France?
- How do you like Denmark?
- The girls are very blond around here, aren't they?
- I'm from Norway, have you been to Norway?

More stressed than I wanted to admit, I gave minimalist answers, just wishing him to get on with it. Yes, I'm from France, Denmark is fine, girls sure are very blond and Norway is beautiful, now can I get laser in my other eye, please?

A few minutes later, all was finished. Still no pain, and I could see fairly well already, definitely better than I had ever been able to without glasses. I was led to a dark room for a few minutes of rest, then another doctor came and gave me a rundown of the many drugs and eyedrops I was to need in the next few days.

And with that, barely an hour after entering the clinic, I was out of the door. With a new pair of eyes.

Read More

I am very happy to report that I received a few days ago the advance copy of my book, Remote Exposure, subtitled "A guide to hiking and climbing photography". I had of course seen pdf layouts, but it is an entirely different experience to hold it in my hands. The printing, as has come to be expected from Rocky Nook, is really beautiful and were it not for its somewhat reduced physical size, it could almost pass for a coffee table book.

My copy was shipped directly from the printer, but the rest shouldn't be too far behind, at most a couple of weeks. You can still pre-order it on amazon to get it as soon as it becomes available.

In the meantime, here are a few photos:

I spent the past week in the Bernese Alps¸in the heart of Switzerland. I was traveling with Kristoffer Szilas and Simon Lund, with the goal of doing some hard drytooling and mixed climbing above the small city of Kandersteg. We spent the week in the super steep crag of Ueschinen and had a most productive time. Kristoffer, having trained hard most of the fall and winter, proceeded to crush some of the hardest lines of the area, redpointing Flash (M9+), Powerbat (M10-), Slice of Scheiss (M10) and Twin Towers (M10), which was made even more impressive by the fact that there was almost no ice. This also happened to be the first time a Dane climbed a double digits mixed route!

We were sharing a flat with Alpkit athletes Rob Gibson and Ramon Marin who did some very hard climbing (and extreme falling) while we were there. We also had the pleasure to meet young British prodigy Tom Ballard and his father Jim who were camping in Ueschinen to avoid the long approach, and had been on the road for more than two years. Tom ticked nearly all the lines in the crag, including the hardest, a 40 meters M12 traverse, Vertical Limit. Very impressive to watch, to say the least!

As for myself, having never done any proper drytooling other than via Scottish winter climbing and training in the gym with my figfours, I went hoping I could send M6 by the end of the week, so was both surprise and very happy to come home with an M7+ (Grohundhog) and an M8- (Steinzeit) in the bag!

Numerous photos were taken, of course, and I also have some good video footage of Kristoffer on Twin Towers which I will edit in the days to come. In the meantime, here are some of the best images from the trip:

Read More