Chamois and Ibex on Pilatus

The mountain

Pilatus is a long limestone ridge with several summits, cliffs on all sides and open views in every direction: Lake Lucerne and the lowlands to the north, the high Alps to the south. In autumn and winter the valleys often fill with fog and the mountain stands above a sea of cloud.

It is also easy to reach. A cableway runs up from Kriens, on the edge of Lucerne, and in the warmer months the cogwheel railway climbs from Alpnachstad. That means more of the day goes on photography and less on the approach.

The animals

Ibex were brought back to Pilatus in the 1960s and are now well established. They are calm and often tolerant, which makes them the animal for portraits: horns against the sky, rim light, kids with their mothers in early summer.

Chamois are warier and quicker. The pictures come from knowing the lines they use across a slope and being in place before they arrive. A chamois on a ridge with layered mountains behind is the classic Pilatus frame.

Around them are the birds of the high ground: alpine choughs along the cliffs, alpine accentors among the rocks, and now and then a golden eagle overhead.

The photography

With ibex we slow down and work on the picture: angle, background, foreground, light. With chamois we work on anticipation, tracking and using the terrain for depth and scale.

The day is paced for your level. Beginners get the foundations of exposure, focus and fieldcraft. Experienced photographers get help with the harder things: backlight, low-key portraits and animals small in a big landscape.

Through the year

Early summer brings ibex kids and green slopes. Autumn brings colour, fog in the valleys and chamois at their most active. In winter the chamois are almost black against the snow and the ibex are rutting.

Snow limits where it is safe to go in winter, so we plan each day around the conditions.

How we work around them

We let the animals set the distance. We never get between a mother and her kid, we do not push anything towards a cliff edge, and in winter, when every sprint costs energy an animal cannot spare, we give them more room still.