
Decision time for a lone skier on a ridge on one of the black runs 10,000ft up in the French Alps.
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@Lorraine: Thanks Lorraine....That's one of the things that I love about skiing - that feeling of being on top of the world!
@alun lambert: Thanks very much Alun!
@chris chisu: Cheers Chris!
@omid: Thanks Omid!
@Japanalia: Thanks Japanalia.....it was even more dramatic in person and I only wish I could have done this scene real justice with my camera. That black run was truly scary.
@hugo poon: Thanks for the lovely compliments Hugo!
I felt very flattered indeed when I saw that you'd added a link to this site from your own....you know how highly I regard your photography and there's certainly no need for an apology :-)
@Nataly: Thanks Nataly.....it really was a dramatic sight but a little frustrating for me as I don't really feel that I've fully conveyed the excitement and danger that I felt as I stood there looking at this scene!
@Mike: Hi Mike there's only one way down from that point which is to follow the narrow ridge and then ski off down an extremely steep and narrow gulley to the right into the bad weather......That's why he was hesitating. A black run like that is one thing on a clear sunny morning with good light and quite another in poor visibility and flat light. Half an hour later that same morning visibility was down to about 10 yards.
@danthro: Thanks very much Danthro....this photo was taken at the top of La Saulire mountain range near Courchevel in France whereas the shot you linked was taken in a place near Les Saisies which is a couple of valleys away.
@tom: Thanks very much Tom....I was really pleased with the light!
@MadScientist: Thanks very much.......it was that moment of decision that I found really interesting and which I was trying to convey as well as a sense of how small man is comapared to the power of nature.
@Michael Rawluk: Hi Michael.....yes I could see he was in two minds with the weather closing in. Also further down that ridge he needed to turn to the the right and ski down a steep narrow gulley into the fast approaching bad weather.
@amy: Thanks very much amy!
@Melissa W.: Thanks very much Melissa!
@Daroru: Thanks Daroru.....it was fantastic to have that scene in front of me with a camera at hand!
@GJC: Thanks GJC......sometimes a figure in a landscape can really help to give it scale and drama can't it!
NIKON D40
1/1000 second
F/11.0
ISO 200
25 mm (35mm equiv.)