A photographer endured temperatures of -28º and 4,000 m altitude in the Alps to capture an almost impossible image

“There are experiences that you plan for months and yet they arrive without you being prepared.” The phrase is from Angel Fuxa photographer specializing in astrophotography and night landscape portraits, and although it may sound a bit transcendental in your mouth it has a special meaning. A few weeks ago Fux ascended to a summit of 4,200 meters above sea level and, in the middle of hellish conditions which included temperatures of -28ºC, strong gusts of wind and icy ledges where a wrong step could be fatal, obtained one of the most impressive images of the year.

Even has attracted attention from NASA.

Photographing the darkness. Angel Fux (Paris, 1998) is not just a talented photographer. Over time he has specialized in a fascinating branch: astrophotography and portraits of night mountain landscapes. That obsession has taken her to the Alps, Andes, Pyrenees or the Dolomites, among other regions. “My search for dark skies has intensified over the years in a way that I did not understand until recently,” recognize on his blog.

Some time ago Fux was fascinated by the darkness in the Peruvian Andes and in 2025 she ascended to Gornergrat (Pennine Alps) to enjoy a similar experience with your camera at 3,000 meters above sea level. From each expedition he returned to his studio with hypnotic photographs that fueled his ambition, so a few months ago he asked himself a question: Why not go further and observe the night sky from almost 4,200 m above sea level? Dent d´Hérensa summit located just behind the Matterhorn, between Italy and Switzerland?

A very precise objective. His idea was not only to ascend the Dent d’Hérens and aim his objective at the night sky. Fux wanted to capture a unique and ephemeral spectacle: the moment in which, with the help of a prepared camera, an astrophotographer can capture the double arc of the Milky Way.

“Once a year, in the northern hemisphere, something simply extraordinary happens in the night sky. For a few days each March it is possible to see both arms of the Milky Way above the horizon on the same night, not at the same time, but along the same Earth’s rotation.”

“The winter arc, a quieter, less dense band of stars, rises during the first half of the night. Then, as the Earth rotates, the summer arc rises from the other direction, bringing with it the galactic core, that unmistakable, dense river of light. Together, they form what is known as the double arc of the Milky Way.” It is not an unexplored phenomenon. Other photographers have captured it in awesome images and Fux herself portrayed the double arch in 2025 from the Gornergrat, at 3,100 m.

Photographers with ice axes. The challenge that Fux set for himself this year raised the bar for several reasons. To begin with, the area in which I wanted to work. It was proposed to ascend 1,000 meters more than in 2025, until the Dent d’Hérensto achieve a unique result.

The reason? “Photographers don’t go there, especially in winter and even less at night. The equipment necessary for astrophotography and that required for mountaineering are simply incompatible in most cases,” relates. For his expedition he needed the help of a professional mountain guide, Richard Lehner, who participated in the project with his son, Arnaud.

Squaring the circle. Another complication is that, although the natural spectacle that Fux was looking for is repeated every year, it is not always photographable. For the cameras to capture it properly, they must be other extra conditions: the right phase of the moon, a correct location for the angle of the arcs, a 360-degree clear horizon and as low a level of light pollution as possible.

Even if the photographer takes care of all these factors in detail and looks for the most suitable location, there is a risk that the weather will not be good. If so, the job is in danger because, as Fux remembersthe “optimal period” to take the image is very limited: it lasts just five days, so there are years in which the spectacle simply “disappears.”

Months of preparation. In your blog Fux explains in detail what the preparation process was like, but comes with knowing two pieces of information. Although the photo was taken in March, he contacted his guide half a year in advance, in September. During those six months Fux dedicated himself to planning logistics, preparing the equipment and studying how to approach the work.

However, it is one thing to have a plan drawn up and quite another to have it fulfilled. Throughout the process, the Frenchwoman faced several setbacks that did not prevent her from heading to Dent d’Hérens in March with Richard and Arnaud. The three knew that there was a risk that their stay at the summit would be complicated, so they had to be well equipped.

Biggest fear: frostbite. “My sleeping bag is designed to withstand temperatures down to -30ºC, with a survival threshold that extends to -50 or -60ºC. My boots are three-layer mountaineering boots, with attachable crampons. My clothing consisted of several layers, both to maintain passive heat and allow active movement,” clarify.

“We also had a system of ropes and harnesses prepared, since once at the top, I had to be tied at all times when leaving the tent. The ledges that surrounded the area made any movement without a rope very dangerous.”

And the technical part? fux usa a special team which includes, among other pieces, a Nikon Z6 II camera adapted for astrophotography, a Nikon NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 lens and a Benro Polaris star tracker. Despite this material and his experience in the mountains, Fux had to deal with some unforeseen events that threatened to ruin the project. For example, the nights spent acclimatizing to the altitude practiced with the camera to make sure, among other things, that you could handle it with gloves.

“During one of those sessions my camera recorded an entire hour and a half sequence and nothing was recorded. The images appeared on the screen, but not on the card. Apparently this is a known problem with mirrorless cameras in extreme cold, but it has never happened to me.”

And the great one arrived day evening. Although Fux and his companions were prepared for the alpine cold, the mountain surprised them. And not for the better. If the forecast pointed to values ​​of -19ºC, once at the summit they found that the mercury dropped to -25 or -28ºC between icy gusts of wind.

The big night has arrived and the entire team is ready. a timing planned to the letterFux first photographed the winter arc between 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. Then, after a break of several hours, it was the turn of the summer arch starting at 2:30. The work was hard, but it was going according to plan. Or so it was until the light pollution rising from the Italian side began to decrease towards dawn and the young woman encountered “something unexpected.”

A gift bow. Although Fux was chasing a double arch, he got a prize he didn’t count on: another trail that makes his photo even more fascinating.

“There was a surprise. While reviewing the panorama of the winter arch I noticed a faint oval arch that extended in the opposite direction to the sun, crossing the frame with a subtle but unmistakable gradient. It is the ‘Gegenschein’a diffuse glow of the night sky caused by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust, just opposite the sun. It is very faint and is rarely captured in photography,” relates.

“It was there, visible even in the raw files, which indicated that there would be more to the final image than I had anticipated. What I had planned as a double arc became a triple arc: the Gegenschein, the winter Milky Way and the summer Milky Way, all in a single frame over the Alps.”

And to top it off: 40 hours. That was the most fascinating and risky part of the project. Once all the material had been collected and descended from the Alps, however, it was time to face a second phase, equally crucial but much more tedious: the analysis of the images in the studio. Fux dedicated 40 long hours to process all the material, the largest investment of time he has dedicated to date on a single photo.

In fact for the first 10 hours he didn’t even work with ‘images’. On the screen there were only numbers, histograms, scripts, codes… “For someone used to seeing what they’re working on, it’s disconcerting. I admit that I felt like throwing the computer out the window on several occasions.”

NASA’s applause. Little by little the result took shape: a night landscape with three arches with an almost dreamlike appearance, the result of months and months of planning and a last-minute natural whim at 4,000 m above sea level. The image is so fascinating that NASA he published it in April among its selection of astronomical images.

Even Fux’s parents, initially concerned about the risks of the expedition, ended up giving in. “They told me they wanted to be the first to get a large format copy,” explains to PetaPixel.

Images | Angel Fux 1 and 2

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