The previous evening the last 350 vertical meters (1150 ft) of Moraine A had proved too challenging to attempt. The 40kg (90lbs) of my rucksack had already weighed on me for the previous 600m (1950ft) and the prospect of further effort after those 8hrs was more than I was prepared to take on. Instead I chose to bivouac on the side of the mountain.

The following morning I was awake at about 04:30 and when I cracked open the tent, at about 05:00, I was greeted by a beautiful dawn sky and a fantastic, roiling, inversion layer way down in the valley below.

Feeling refreshed and reinvigorated I set about tackling that last section to the top of the moraine. The climbing was significantly steeper than the previous day and, in the final analysis, my progress ended up being 1 vertical meter per minute! However I was taking the view that each minute brought me 1m closer to the top of the moraine so I battled on.

This shot was taken about 120m (390ft) above my campsite. I had taken off the rucksack for a longer rest, spent a few minutes using a cloth to soak up water from a spring and into my water bottles and then as I sat on a flat rock surveying the valley and basking in the morning sun I spotted this knarley (and somewhat stunted) tree off to my left.

Off-piste and across higgledy-piggledy boulders I found a nice vantage point to take this sihouette. For me, it's an image which captures the optimism of that morning climb.

Planning in The Western Arthurs is much more about understanding the likely cloud and rain that sweeps regularly over the mountains. In a wilderness circumstance such as this, where no internet services are available, my primary source of information becomes the satellite weather I can receive on my Garmin Montana 700i GPS.

In this instance the planning for the shot was all about keep ones eyes open for shot opportunities and then taking them when they arose.