{"id":106840,"date":"2026-07-22T22:58:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/106840\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T22:58:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:58:16","slug":"clint-eastwood-on-the-eiger-to-sunsets-in-the-alps-our-favorite-john-cleare-climbing-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/106840\/","title":{"rendered":"Clint Eastwood on the Eiger to Sunsets in the Alps: Our Favorite John Cleare Climbing Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 3, a new book will shed light on the work of the late legendary climbing photographer John Cleare. From the Himalaya to the Alps and his gritty backyard of Great Britain, Cleare began capturing first ascents and historic expeditions in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Cleare’s own climbing journey began in Snowdonia, Wales. He and his mother fled here in World War II to escape the 1940 London Blitz. In a reflection he wrote<\/a> for his alma mater, Wycliffe College, Cleare recalled that though he was only four years old when he arrived in Snowdonia, he immediately felt the call of rock and peaks. “I was familiar with mountains and understood that when I was old enough I’d be able to climb them,” he reflected. A little more than a decade later, he got a chance to go on a two-week climbing trip. After that, he “was completely hooked.”<\/p>\n

A climber’s life: John Cleare\"A<\/p>\n

Cleare shooting his book on Snowdonia in the 1960s. (Photo: Courtesy John Cleare Collection)<\/p>\n

Across Wales, the Lake District, and Scotland, Cleare spent the holidays of his youth climbing. But in 1953, he faced his “Moment of Truth” as a climber. On a trip to Scotland’s Isle of Skye, he witnessed and responded to a fatal accident. His partner on that trip quit the sport but Cleare kept climbing. And while serving in the British Army, he fell in love with the Alps and mountaineering, too. It was also during this time that he became “enthralled” with photography.<\/p>\n

Cleare went on to become one of the leading climbing photographers and cinematographers of his time. He helped pioneer and refine climbing photography technique, like hanging from fixed lines close to the action. Beyond capturing first ascents and expeditions, he wrote and provided photographs for a dozen books, including the well-known Rock Climbers in Action in Snowdonia<\/a> (1967). He also collaborated with other authors to contribute to dozens more books.<\/p>\n

And if you think live-broadcasted climbs like Taipei 101 are a groundbreaking concept, Cleare was behind the lens on similarly live climbs decades ago, including the Old Man of Hoy sea stack<\/a> in Scotland and the Matterhorn. He also worked with BBC on a number of climbing and mountaineering films, including an attempt on the then-unclimbed Southwest Face of Everest in 1971. A few years later, Clint Eastwood even asked Cleare to serve as one of his climbing cameramen for the Hollywood film The Eiger Sanction.<\/p>\n

How Cleare Perspectives came to be\"Cleare<\/p>\n

The cover of Cleare Perspectives (Photo: Scottish Mountaineering Press)<\/p>\n

Before Cleare passed away on October 6, 2024, at the age of 88, he began working with Scottish Mountaineering Press on a visual tome that would capture the wildest moments of his life as a climbing photographer. He died not long after selecting photos from his archive for the project. Cleare Perspectives came together to serve as a visual memoir of his life, a retrospective of his wide-ranging career, and a monument to the decades of climbing during which he was active.<\/p>\n

In advance of the book’s release, we’ve selected a dozen of our favorite climbing photographs from John Cleare’s archive. Each of these images captures a moment in climbing history, from sun-spangled summit views and Clint Eastwood on the Eiger, to celestial alpine landscapes.<\/p>\n

12 stunning climbing photos from Cleare Perspectives<\/p>\n

A total of 300 photos–including the dozen below–appear in Cleare Perspectives<\/a>,<\/a> releasing on August 3.<\/p>\n

1. A Cup of Tea on Himalchuli\"a<\/p>\n

During the 1978 Anglo-Polish expedition to climb Himalchuli (7,893m\/25,896ft) in Nepal, climber Ian “Pin” Howell drinks a cup of tea at Camp Three (6,390 m\/20,960 ft) on the mountain’s serpentine east ridge.<\/p>\n

2. Break on Through\"a<\/p>\n

Frances Ramsay leads up the trad line Break on Through (5.11-\/E4 5c) on Lower Sharpnose Point in North Cornwall, England on April 17, 1987, a year after the first ascent.<\/p>\n

3. Evening in the French Alps\"french<\/p>\n

The sun sets along the Ecrins Massif in the Dauphine Alps of France in 1989. Cleare took the photo on the descent from Barre des Ecrins (4,101m\/13,455ft), capturing the pinnacles of the Tour and Pointe de Bonne-Pierre.<\/p>\n

4. The North Face of Nuptse\"Nuptse<\/p>\n

From just below Camp One at the entrance to Everest’s Western Cwm, Cleare captures a climber against the backdrop of Nuptse’s immense North Face during the 1971 International Everest Expedition. [Ed note: A Cwm, pronounced “koom,” is a Welsh word meaning “valley.”]<\/p>\n

5. Camp in the Karakoram\"karakoram<\/p>\n

From Payu Camp, a climber takes in the Paiju peaks of the Karakoram in Pakistan in the 1970s: Thunmo Cathedral (5,866m\/19,246ft), Biange I (6,380m\/20,932ft), and Biange II (6,250m\/20,505ft).<\/p>\n

6. A Committing Peak District Chimney\"a<\/p>\n

A climber maneuvers up Swimmer’s Chimney (4b\/5.5) on the famous gritstone crag of Froggatt Edge in England’s Peak District.<\/p>\n

7. Filming The Climbers\"shooting<\/p>\n

Cleare hangs on fixed lines while shooting the 1970 documentary The Climbers about the Holliwell Brothers on ascents across North Wales. This shot is taken at Dinas Mot crag on the Llanberis Pass, in Snowdonia.<\/p>\n

7. Clint Eastwood, Gripped\"clint<\/p>\n

During the filming of The Eiger Sanction, Eastwood appears apprehensive just before shooting a stunt fall on the Eiger, Switzerland, in the 1970s. On set, British climber David Knowles, who was working as a climbing double and photographer, died at the age of 26<\/a> after being struck by rockfall.<\/p>\n

8. The Summit of Kitasamba in Uganda\"kitasamba<\/p>\n

Climbers crest Kitasamba (4,862 m\/15,950 ft) above the Coronation Glacier at the southern end of the Mount Stanley Massif in 1975. The peak is part of Uganda’s Ruwanzori Range.<\/p>\n

9. A Cheddar Gorge Classic\"black<\/p>\n

In 1965, John Cleare made the first ascent of the five-pitch trad line Coronation Street<\/a> (5.9+\/E1) in Cheddar Gorge, England, with two other Brits. Here, an unknown climber moves up the final dihedral of the route.<\/p>\n

11. Sunset Over the Swiss Pennine Alps\"swiss<\/p>\n

Climbers descend the final pitches of the South Ridge of Dent Blanche (4,357m\/14,295ft) in the Swiss Alps. The sun sets behind Grande Dent de Veisivi as they make their way towards the Refuge Rossier, part of the Swiss hut system.<\/p>\n

12. The Moon and Mitre Peak\"Mitre<\/p>\n

Cleare captures the last light and a nearly full moon alongside the steep summit icefield of Mitre Peak (6,013m\/19,727ft) in Pakistan. He snapped the shot from the Baltoro Glacier in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Cleare Perspectives will be released by Scottish Mountaineering Press on August 3. Copies are available now for pre-order here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For exclusive access to all of our fitness, gear, adventure, and travel stories, plus discounts on trips, events, and gear, sign up for Outside+<\/a> today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On August 3, a new book will shed light on the work of the late legendary climbing photographer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,52239,52238,52237,52240,50839,52241],"class_list":["post-106840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps","tag-cleare-perspectives","tag-clint-eastwood","tag-john-cleare","tag-john-cleare-collection","tag-photo","tag-snowdonia"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116966110591543659","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}