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Crossing the Argentiere Glacier

Last year my climbing partner Marc and I headed to the Mt. Blanc area in France and Italy for a three week mountaineering trip. Our guide Owen from Ibex Guides took us up to the Argentiere Hut, which we would use as our base to climb the Aguille du Argentiere.

We geared up in the valley and boarded the gondola and ascended to the first lift station, saving us the first 1000 meter ascent.  Our original plan was to take a second car higher up but we were foiled by high winds.

After an hour or so we reached the foot of the glacier where we donned our crampons and set out on to the ice.  The glacier would become our classroom for the next few hours where we would refine our travel, rope, and technical skills.

It also served as an opportunity for Owen to evaluate our abilities to ensure we weren't going to be biting off more than we could chew as the trip rolled out.

The summertime conditions on the glacier had melted all the surface snow, exposing a countless numbers of crevasses. Progress was slow, but I enjoyed every minute of it.

Once out of the crevasses we walked across the smooth top of the glacier for an hour or two to reach the Argentiere Hut.  The scale of the landscape is incredibly misleading when it comes to judging distances.  What seems like "just a few minutes to get there" is really "walk for an hour or two to arrive".

We arrived at the hut, dropped our bags, and planned the following day's objective which would be climbing the nearby Aguille du Argentiere via the Milieu glacier.

Panoramic from the Argentiere Hut

Balcony at Argentiere Hut

Music is a teleporter to my dreams and here's the soundtrack to my travels. I've collected 11 of my favourite mashup tracks as an unmixed collection.

I hope you enjoy the journey.

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Tracklist & Sources

1 - Intention: Somebody To Lean On [John Lennon vs. Leona Lewis vs. Bill Whiters vs. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole vs. Counting Crows vs. Selig vs. K'naan vs. Counting Crows vs. Matisyahu vs. Alphaville vs. Blink 182]
2 - Movement: The Way You Move Like Jagger (The Saturdays vs. Maroon 5)
3 - Approach: Dosvec - Five (Archie V vs. Mylo vs. FreeSol feat. Justin Timberlake vs. Calvin Harris)
4 - Vision: Club Can't Use Somebody (Kings of Leon vs. Flo Rida ft. David Guetta)
5 - Merge: E.T. Feels Starry Eyed (Ellie Goulding vs. Bill Posters vs. Katy Perry vs. Modestep vs. Stellamara vs. Mary O'Hara vs. Empire Of The Sun vs. Chris Brown feat. Busta Rhymes vs. Xilent vs. Feed Me)
6 - Belief: Believe In Your Best Levels [Dario G. vs. Foo Fighters vs. Avicii vs. Journey vs. John Miles vs. Jamaram]
7 - Refine: I Want Tom's Stereo Hearts [Dan Mei]
8 - Rebuild: Save Somebody's Sunshine World [Mashup-Germany]
9 - Faith: Blind Faith (One Day Bootleg) by Dylan Vasey
10 - Wish: My Bitter Cheap Symphony (Still Sweet) [Mashup-Germany]
11 - Miracles: Phuegoo - Last Friday Night Was A Miracle

Every few months I take a run at my photo collection; delete, tag, organize, etc. This time through I stumbled across a few shots that I had taken with the intention of making a panoramic out of but haven't yet.

I researched how to stitch them together (hint: it's easy, there's a 1-click photo merging function in Photoshop) and made a few.

Click the pictures for the full-scale version.

Grand Canyon

I took this sequence on the South Kaibab Trail near Skeleton Point. The trail is currently hugging the cliff face on the left side of the picture.  I am descending towards the river.  My destination is the narrow band of trees at the bottom of the canyon (running perpendicular to the Colorado River) surround Bright Angel Creek and Phantom Ranch.

Half way down the canyon lies the Tonto Plateau, which you see in the photo above as the flat expanse of land separating the upper and lower canyons.

The following panoramic is taken from Lookout Point which lies on the Tonteau Plateau.

Lookout Point

I loved Lookout Point.  You can see the Colorado river stretching along the bottom of the Canyon.  Opposite is the North side.

Mont Blanc

This shot was taken after my climbing partner Marc and I had completed climbing the Aretes Des Cosmiques, which runs along the top of the ridgeline at the bottom right of the photo.

You can see Mont-Blanc du Tacul, with Mont-Maudit behind, and further back still the Mont-Blanc.  We climbed the three in progression two days prior via the Three Mount Traverse Route.

In the center is the view towards Italy.  Following the ascending ridgeline towards the right you see the Rochefort Ridge.  Traversing the ridge was my favourite route on the trip.

At the far left you can see a observation deck.

Cortina d'Ampezzo

One of the largest panos I found (15,000 px wide!).  I don't recall what route we were on when I shot this.  Cortina d'Ampezzo lies in the valley in the center of the shot.

In December of 2012 I was downsized out of my corporate job.  Hey, it happens.

Fortunately, not having a job to show up to afforded me an opportunity to head to the Grand Canyon for some hiking and a sense of perspective.

I had intended to go on a solo mission into the canyon; I had prepared an awesome playlist of inspiring music, set up my video camera to document the trip, and was excited to venture into the wilderness alone.  I intended to shoot video throughout the hike and upon my return create a montage of my experience alone in the wild and share it, Survivor Man style.  This was my project.

I was ready and anxious for the journey: my bags were packed, food, supplies, filters, water,  shelter, everything I needed to be self-sufficient was on my back and at my fingertips.  Man vs wild. Alone. Survivorman.

At the trailhead however, I met a first-time hiker who appeared intimidated by the task ahead.  I offered assistance and in that moment unwittingly accepted a hiking partner.  My self-described "big solo mission" had now turned into a guiding event.

As we descended into the canyon I felt that I had somehow betrayed my intention; I was here to go it alone, but now I was becoming responsible for another. And although my initial plan went flying out the window, it turned out to be one of the best choices I ever made.

On the way down I learned something about myself --  I realized that I was significantly more capable than I had initially believed I was.  I was able to share my knowledge and experience to help another person navigate an unknown environment safely. I felt I learned more in sharing this experience than I ever could have by myself.

I had the privilege of watching someone accomplish something they never thought they could do. I guess this is what it feels like to be a teacher.  And, since I was already making a video for myself I offered to do the same.  I know I love my travel videos, so why not make a memory for someone else to share too?

So, without further ado may I present Joo-hee's perspective from her Grand Canyon hike.  Congratulations, you did it!

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There's something to be said with pushing your creation out into the world before it's "finished".  I've been sitting on a mountain of raw video clips from this year's trips to Mt. Blanc and the Grand Canyon, waiting for the "best" time to sit down and edit them together.

My original intention was to do a series of four video clips focused on the Mt. Blanc trip and release them in series.  Instead of that I made a 60 second clip for my previous employer from my footage which won a video contest and landed me a trip to Los Angeles for a week.  With that small victory the wind came out of the sails and the 4 part series was abandoned.  I had already rough-cut two clips and nearly finished a third.  For some reason though, I hung up the spurs and the project sat idle, awaiting a "good time to work on it".

Months elapsed and the truth became evident -- there was never going to be a "good time to work" on my project.  Tinkering never got things finished. And what is "finished" anyway?

With that realization I committed to complete my edit of the fourth video and release it ahead of the first three -- Star-Wars style.  Although this was in direct opposition to what I thought I wanted to do; following through with it has actually released the huge creative block I was having with the project in its entirety.

I can't be too hard on myself after all, I'm new at this -- it takes a bit of time for my skills to ascend to the level of my ambitions, but I know undoubtedly that inch by inch I'll get there.  But, like any ascent, it has to start with a first step.

So here we go, without further ado, video 4 of (possibly) 4 in a series from a mountaineering trip with my friend Marc to Chamonix and Mt. Blanc.  Enjoy!

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Video & Edits: Wes / @the_cxo
Music: "Sans Sucre" by @bitpakkit www.soundcloud.com/bitpakkit

Get up. Get out. Get going.

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One foot in front of the other - walking, climbing and crawling. Holding on to the earth by narrow points in rock and ice. Lack of oxygen, sleep, and food. For hours and days. And all for fifteen seconds with my higher self. Worth it? Absolutely.

Taking a look around....

Puts things in perspective.