Three Shoes: Words and Images of an Austrian Solo

The Roggspitze (2747m), a craggy limestone peak in the Lech valley of the Austrian Alps, was New Zealander Iain Burgon's first alpine lead. Since then, he's climbed it numerous times—with friends, with his frightened-by-heights girlfriend, wearing mountain boots in training for the Matterhorn. Escaping for a few hours from his dishwashing responsibilities, Burgon soloed the peak for the first time, filming his journey along the way. To add audio to the footage, he recorded his voice using a helmet video camera tucked inside a wool hat, and placed his still camera inside a piano to record the notes heard at the beginning and end of this short film.—Gwen Cameron