James has always been intrigued by the notion that the early summiteers on Mont Blanc were visible from the centre of Chamonix. His arresting composition attempts to describe the elevation gain and how far away the town seems from near the summit of Mont Blanc. At this height one is in a surreal world and one’s gaze seems to extend to the edge of the world, but then the view back down to Chamonix provides a connection with the everyday. To some degree, the pictorial composition has been squashed together to include the Aiguille du Midi with the distinctive profile of the Dents du Midi poking up far off in the distance.