This week, cool off a little with these snowy winter images. After shooting on various films for decades, I took these with my first digital camera 20 years ago. My son and I joined 4 other men and a guide at Chamonix, skiing backcountry on Mt. Blanc, which is the highest mountain in Europe. Franklin Roosevelt was wrong when he famously said, "you have nothing to fear but fear itself." This place is terrifying!
You ride up 9000 vertical feet in a tram, into a mountain peak, on top of which there is a 9 story building, then walk along a narrow ridge to where you begin skiing. It is a 30-minute walk with the skiers roped together. In one photo, you can see the village of Chamonix far below. The ice bridge with 2 skiers behind it is typical of the natural wonders that are everywhere in the glacial backcountry. Not many people get to see this. It is so vast that we could only squeeze in 2 runs per day.
Photographs by Newton at Home volunteer Rich Snider.
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