Jimmy Chin's Photographs of Koch Snowboarding Everest

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Behind the Fall Line (cont.)


	(Jimmy Chin)

Stephen Koch buried both ice axes into the Japanese Couloir moments before the team decided conditions were too treacherous to continue the ascent. Chin was leading the way (you can see his tracks heading away from Koch) and turned to capture Koch in front of this Himalayan backdrop. "There had just been this big discussion. We weren't where we wanted to be, so I knew this might one of my last chances to get climbing shots," Chin says.

After returning to base camp, Chin realized that he'd shot with too wide an aperture, exposing the film to too much light. "Because I wasn't thinking straight and there was a lot going on, I shot that roll at 1/125th of a second and F16. When I got back to base camp I realized I should have used a smaller aperture." In situations like that, Chin has the lab clip the tail end of the film and test it to determine what compensations will need to be made in the processing. "That was a little stressful," he says.


	(Jimmy Chin)

This photo of Stephen Koch acclimatizing on Changzheng Peak with Everest in the background is from the same roll as Outside's March cover image. Barely visible are Chin's boot tracks leading into the foreground.

"You can set up for all the stuff for days and days and the light just doesn't happen—the clouds roll in," Chin explains. "And then there are days when everything is happening, and you're in the right place, the light's there and everything opens up."

Right before this shot was taken, the sun had just risen over the ridge, creating soft shadows, and Everest lined up unoccluded as a backdrop. "I turned around and fired off almost a whole roll. I knew it was going to be a good one. It's funny, because however many good moments like that you have, you know you're going to pay for it somewhere else. I paid for that one later in the year in Africa. I was rigging a climbing shoot for days, getting everything set up and waiting for sunset. I pulled out my camera several thousand feet up on another tower in the middle of Mali and my shutter locked up. I thought, 'Damn it, I'm paying for that day at Everest.'"


	(Jimmy Chin)

In this shot, Stephen Koch carves turns in the Japanese Couloir with ice axes ready to self-arrest in case he falls. "Even though it's not that spectacular, it's one of my favorites. Photgraphers always have a favorite photo from a shoot, though it may not be the best one."

Koch had just strapped on his board and Chin was only going to get one chance to get what he needed. Chin nailed it with two presses of the shutter button, capturing Koch in an active and well-balanced pose while managing to turn the blinding, high-altitude sun (one of the most difficult factors for a mountain photographer to manage) into a well-composed star. "It was almost an impossible shot. One of the problems with shooting over there is that you are in such a big valley with huge mountains that you never get early morning light. That's why I shot a lot of sun-flare shots. You just have to work with it. The secret to a good sun flare is to use a high F-stop and be sure not to meter with the sun in the frame."

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