A superman or a backflip was all I wanted... or preferably a combo of the two! I figured the epic Chamonix back-drop would do the rest when I first sent Amir an email. We had worked together once or twice over the years and I knew he had the bag of tricks and a drive for getting the shot not many other riders do. I mentioned working on something specifically for Redbull Illume and he was extra interested.
After a sunset no-show, high winds and a sketchy, crumbling take-off at the first spot, my visions of super-flips came crashing down. Above the tree-line there simply wasn't the dirt for that kind of manoeuvre. We decided to go all in on the location and reach this almost inaccessible spot with a perfect reflection of jagged, snowy peaks. Hiking well over 1000m vertical with the bikes on our shoulders, plus the camera gear and trail tools stung, but not as much as later discovering our shots were pretty average.
Amir decided to extend his stay and we were back the next day, a little lower down at a lake we had overlooked en route to the previous spot. This was our last chance and realistically things didn't look good. The sky was grey and uninspiring and we were both shattered after trying so hard for mediocre stuff. We found the ideal place where Amir could pop clear of the horizon in the reflection and we started half-heartedly stacking rocks to ease the steep transition. What were we doing? Sunset wasn't even going to happen. 2 hours later and clearly it was time to cut our losses and go home, you can't force these things; we knew from first hand experience.
Spotting some changing light in the corner of the valley after packing up, we reluctantly agreed to hang around a few more minutes, even it meant another 1000m+ descent with the head torches. Back in position and the sun beamed in with 10 minutes to go. Amir finally dropped in with golden light on the Aiguilles of Chamonix behind him, bouncing off the smooth water, and reflecting the warm glow on our grinning faces. Although not pictured, they were big smiles.