This magnificent black-and-white photograph celebrates Breithorn, a mythical mountain in the Swiss Alps, and the fabulous traverse of its 5 summits. Opposite us, the western Breithorn , the easiest to reach from the Klein Matterhorn. It's the first summit I've ever climbed above 4,000 metres. Contemplating it brings back many memories. In the background, two giants of the Zermatt valley stand out: Pollux, which appears snow-covered in the center of the picture, and its big brother Castor, which dominates on the right. With its northern face in shadow, it appears gigantic and inaccessible.

I took this portrait of Breithorn when the mountain had just weathered a summer storm. A rare phenomenon that lets us see summits in a different light. The elements merged to make this moment unique. The clouds filtered the sun, giving the picture deep, silvery hues. Only the western crest of Breithorn is illuminated, highlighting its immaculate mantle. Still windswept, it is topped by a discreet cap of mist that brings the work to life. This is my quest. To find myself facing the mountains after the storm, when the curtain of clouds lifts to make way for another landscape. Redrawn by nature, I photograph it for posterity. So that we never forget the beauty of the highest summits in the Alps.

I've always believed this realm to be immutable, immortal, with its eternal snows and imposing glaciers. But I know now that this is not the case, and I'm very saddened. When I took this photograph in 2020, I had no idea that it might be the last time I would admire the glacier suspended from summit of Breithorn. And yet it was. In 2023, as I write these lines, it is no longer what it once was. The pure line that draws our gaze here is now disfigured by two enormous crevasses. How could I have imagined the presence of such gashes beneath this benevolent dome of snow? The mountain is inevitably changing. And I'm all the happier for having been able to complete this work while there was still time. Like a last journey into the heart of this marvellous and fragile celestial universe.