Kris Erickson

Kris Erickson frequently jokes about being the invisible man, because there are very few photos of him carving turns into a 13,000-foot peak. That's not because he is taking the easy way down a slope after a tough climb; it's because he is the unseen guy, on the chin-scraping slope, behind the camera lens.

For 10 years, Kris Erickson has brought his camera to the highest points, coldest reaches, and most untouched folds of the planet's geography. What's more, he is not merely a shutterbug who stands idle to the side of any expedition. Instead, he tackles the same challenging mountaineering projects as the world's other top-flight climbers, often combining his abilities to ascend difficult mountains with a love and passion for true mountain-sliding descents. This is called "glisse alpinism" and, when combined with a remote photoshoot, it is Erickson's idea of nirvana.

Erickson's commitment to his photography, climbing, and glisse alpinism has spurred him to make the driving force of his images the difficult ascents and descents he's made around the world. His romantic vision for exploration of the final frontiers and his photojournalism documenting these far-flung adventures has blended with his traditional style and ethics in climbing and skiing to capture a rare and wild side of history.

With an exuberant smile and free-flowing conversational style, Erickson reflects on where he has been, where he has going, and his home base. The born-and-raised Montanan says, "I've traveled to the four corners of the globe, yet I keep coming back here to Montana". That he does, much to the joy of his wife, Cloe