By Fabian & Axel
Most of the time you only see the beautiful pictures, the effort behind it is often hidden. Getting up early, freezing and short nights are part of almost every successful shooting. The endless search for the best spot and riding the same spot countless times until everything fits, also. The result, of course, makes up for a lot, but a photo shoot is not only pure pleasure. But of course, the whining is on a high level...
Friday evening: Axel, Christoph and me are sitting in my caddy, which is packed to the roof, and are on our way to Switzerland. More precisely to Zermatt. It's only a week ago when Chris came around the corner with the idea to drive to Zermatt and shoot a photo series.
We arrive shortly before 11 pm and have to orientate ourselves first, the trip was planned on such short notice. I honestly had no idea that one is not allowed to drive into Zermatt by car. But the train leaves already in 10 minutes and we do not have a parking place yet. We take the first parking place and put all our stuff under our arms, buy a ticket and sprint to the train.
Less than 15 minutes later, we find ourselves in the completely deserted Zermatt and meet our guide. We make an appointment for the next morning: we want to take the first railway that goes straight to the Gornergrat. After that, the next challenge is waiting for us: Finding our accommodation. Of course, it is not in the centre but a little outside at a slope. With a little more than 0 degrees we at least get warm during the hauling. Arrived at the accommodation, nobody is there anymore. How do we get our key now? Thank god, we reach somebody by phone and we are in bed at 1 am. Knowing full well that 5 hours later the alarm clock will ring again.
It feels like we closed our eyes only for a short time, but the Matterhorn already appears in front of us and the tiredness is gone. It is still quite dark when we get out and search for the first location. Moreover, the thermometer has not even exceeded 0 degrees. Slowly, the sun rises and we already have the first pictures with the Matterhorn in the background. During the next hours, we continue to search for hidden gems that have not been photographed too often. Meanwhile, the sun is burning down well and we have taken a lot of pictures. Of course, nobody has sunscreen and slowly the feeling creeps in that the tip of the nose and the lips turn into a not healthy colour.
As the sun slowly goes down, we continue our way down the mountain and find another cool trail that takes us down to Zermatt. In the evening, we are invited to dinner with our guide. To our surprise, he is hosting the whole ski freestyle elite like Henrik Harlaut and Tanner Hall. I don't know much about them, but according to Google, they have some X-Games gold medals at home. There is plenty of food and we go to bed early after this exhausting day. The first railway the next morning is waiting for us again ...
Today we ride up the mountain in search of new locations. We find a zigzag single trail that invites us to some manoeuvres. What looks so easy on the photo, however, demands a lot from us. The terrain is steep and blocked, and half-frozen fingers don't allow precise braking. So far, we are very satisfied with the photos, but we are still looking for new spots. After a short hike, we find a great spot at the bottom of the glacier. After what felt like 1000 photos later, we leave this spot behind in direction to Zermatt. We have a long drive home ahead of us.
At 6 pm, we sit again in the packed caddy and start in direction to Stuttgart. Also, this night will be short again after the Navi indicates an arrival time around midnight and we all have to go to work the next morning. A few days later Axel and I get to see the photos for the first time and now we are sure: It was worth it. The photos turned out great and make you want to ride a bike. In our thoughts, we are already planning the next trip!