Bradford Washburn American, 1910-2007

Literature

This extraordinary photograph was taken on the East Ridge of the Doldenhorn in the Bernese Oberland of the Swiss Alps (about 12 miles SW of the Jungfrau). Bradford Washburn made this photograph on July 24th 1960 at 10.40am, out of a Super Club 150 airplane on ski wheels, flying out of the little airport at Belp, near Berne, Switzerland. He used a Fairchild K-6 aerial camera,  just after several days of heavy fresh snowfall through which the climbers were wallowing. If you look carefully you will see the footsteps of two other parties which climbed this ridge before the storm, still clearly visible behind this group of climbers.

Bradford Washburn (born June 7, 1910 in Cambridge USA), was an American, internationally renowned photographer, cartographer, and expert on Alaska's mountains and glaciers. He was Director of Boston's Museum of Science for over 40 years and served as Honoury Director until his death in January 2007. A pioneer of arial photography, his images of mountains are majestic, serene and sublime and his photographic work spans over six decades.