I was assigned to photograph ice-climbing festival  organized by one of the biggest Chinese  outdoor producers – Kailas. We started our trip in Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan province. After 250km of driving through the mountains, with some devastating views of destroyed towns buried by the huge 2008 earthquake we reached  the entrance of the Shuangquiao valley (alt 3200m). Here my photography job turned into personal discovery of pristine valley full of incredible icefalls (over 100 here ?)  and some unclimbed big walls (peaks over 6000m asl). During very short stay I was trying to  convey  beauty of the place and positive vibe of the community into pictures.

   Ice climbing is quite surreal  acitivity.  Climbers scale shiny crystal columns moving on something  ethereal, always changing, vanishing. After all, it is only water – frozen just for a moment, days, weeks. Ice is an important, maybe essential  medium  for alpinists, allowing their performance in spaces otherwise impossible for humans.

 As a photographer I’m equally fascinated by ice and ice-climbing which, in fact, is quite risky game.