{"id":107222,"date":"2026-07-23T14:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/107222\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T14:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T14:10:24","slug":"our-12-favorite-photos-from-the-new-book-cleare-perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/107222\/","title":{"rendered":"Our 12 Favorite Photos From the New Book \u2018Cleare Perspectives\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated July 22, 2026 06:56AM<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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. \u201cI was familiar with mountains and understood that when I was old enough I\u2019d be able to climb them,\u201d he reflected. A little more than a decade later, he got a chance to go on a two-week climbing trip. After that, he \u201cwas completely hooked.\u201d<\/p>\n

A climber\u2019s life: John Cleare
\n\"ACleare 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 \u201cMoment of Truth\u201d as a climber. On a trip to Scotland\u2019s 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 \u201centhralled\u201d 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\u00a0Cleare Perspectives\u00a0came to be
\n\"CleareThe 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\u2019s release, we\u2019ve selected a dozen of our favorite climbing photographs from John Cleare\u2019s 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\u00a0<\/p>\n

A total of 300 photos\u2014including the dozen below\u2014appear in Cleare Perspectives,<\/a> releasing on August 3.<\/p>\n

1. A Cup of Tea on Himalchuli
\n\"a(Photo: John Cleare)<\/p>\n

During the 1978 Anglo-Polish expedition to climb Himalchuli (7,893m\/25,896ft) in Nepal, climber Ian \u201cPin\u201d Howell drinks a cup of tea at Camp Three (6,390\u2009m\/20,960\u2009ft) on the mountain\u2019s serpentine east ridge.<\/p>\n

2. Break on Through
\n\"a(Photo: John Cleare)<\/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
\n\"french(Photo: John Cleare)<\/p>\n

The sun sets along the \u00c9crins Massif in the Dauphin\u00e9 Alps of France in 1989. Cleare took the photo on the descent from Barre des \u00c9crins (4,101m\/13,455ft), capturing the pinnacles of the Tour and Pointe de Bonne-Pierre.<\/p>\n

4. The North Face of Nuptse
\n\"Nuptse(Photo: John Cleare)<\/p>\n

From just below Camp One at the entrance to Everest\u2019s Western Cwm, Cleare captures a climber against the backdrop of Nuptse\u2019s immense North Face during the 1971 International Everest Expedition. [Ed note: A Cwm, pronounced \u201ckoom,\u201d is a Welsh word meaning \u201cvalley.\u201d]<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Camp in the Karakoram
\n\"karakoram(Photo: John Cleare)<\/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
\n\"a(Photo: John Cleare)<\/p>\n

A climber maneuvers up Swimmer\u2019s Chimney (4b\/5.5) on the famous gritstone crag of Froggatt Edge in England\u2019s Peak District.<\/p>\n

7. Filming The Climbers\u00a0
\n\"shooting(Photo: John Cleare)<\/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
\n\"clint(Photo: John Cleare)<\/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
\n\"kitasamba(Photo: John Cleare)<\/p>\n

Climbers crest Kitasamba (4,862\u2009m\/15,950\u2009ft) above the Coronation Glacier at the southern end of the Mount Stanley Massif in 1975. The peak is part of Uganda\u2019s Ruwanzori Range.<\/p>\n

9. A Cheddar Gorge Classic
\n\"black(Photo: John Cleare)<\/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
\n\"swiss(Photo: John Cleare)<\/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
\n\"Mitre(Photo: John Cleare)<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 22, 2026 06:56AM On August 3, a new book will shed light on the work of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,4484,52393,52394,5094,1644],"class_list":["post-107222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps","tag-audio-true","tag-parent_category-culture","tag-tag-climbing-photography","tag-tag-evergreen","tag-type-article"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116969696938242940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107222","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=107222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}