How to stop a ‘skyrunner’ in his tracks

Capturing Dent Blanche at sunrise in late August 2017 PatitucciPhoto

During the summer of 2017, myself and two friends ‘ran’ the Chamonix to Zermatt Glacier Haute Route. On our last day, we left the Cabane de Bertol in the early morning darkness so as to beat the summer heat on the rapidly melting crevasse bridges.

While crossing the Glacier du Mont Miné, we stopped to watch the first light on the Dent Blanche. While I was trying to figure out my own photo, I saw Pascal Egli, one of Switzerland’s top sExternal linkkyrunnersExternal link, taking photos with his phone and realized that this was my shot. It’s a reality these days that when shooting people doing what they do, they are often taking photos with phones.

For the last 18 years, I have had countless moments like this and always enjoy interpreting the scene and deciding how to photograph what I want to show from any given experience. 

We are fortunate to call the mountains our workplace and still marvel at what we get to do on any given work day, be it in the Alps or Himalaya.

After all these years, the passion we have for life as mountain sport athletes and photographers hasn’t faded. Experiencing the Alps on so many levels keeps us motivated for what comes next.

Dan and Janine Patitucci are professional photographers and mountain sport athletes who work in the global outdoor industry. Based in Interlaken, they’re more likely to be found at high altitude – running, skiing or climbing, and always with camera at hand. Each week over the next few months, swissinfo.ch will publish a series of their pictures from the past year: images of unexpected encounters and grandiose landscapes that put us humans in our very small place. PatitucciPhoto