Alpine Exposures: A Photo Gallery

Almost exactly 10 years ago on a damp and cold morning I sat myself on a tandem with my housemate Jack Frost and cycled from Bristol in the West of England to Zermatt, traversed the Monte Rosa massif, and cycled back again. It was a time of change for me. My mother had been diagnosed with cancer, and six months later I held her in my arms as she took her last breath. I experienced grief on a level that I didn't think I could ever experience—the 9-to-5 life that I had been gearing towards lost all meaning. But I took solace in the mountains of the Alps. It wasn't so much escapism but somewhere I felt really strong for myself; personal time is a rare luxury nowadays and at that time I craved it. We live in an ever overpopulated and competitive society where we spend most of our lives worrying about how we look, which car looks coolest, and how big the new flat screen TV is. We place more value on material objects than we do on personal experiences but it doesn't make us any happier.