{"id":295871,"date":"2025-08-29T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T09:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/cow-boy-ben\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T16:21:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T14:21:58","slug":"cow-boy-ben","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/cow-boy-ben\/","title":{"rendered":"Cow-boy Ben"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|desktop” custom_padding=”1px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.22.1″ _module_preset=”default” max_width=”800px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.22.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/alpinemag.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/alpine.quotes-02.png” title_text=”alpine.quotes-02″ align=”center” show_bottom_space_tablet=”” show_bottom_space_phone=”” show_bottom_space_last_edited=”on|phone” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.22.1″ max_width=”50%” max_width_tablet=”” max_width_phone=”100%” max_width_last_edited=”on|desktop” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||-40px||false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”0px||-40px||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ max_width=”800px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_padding=”||22px|||” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”800px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.2″ text_font_size=”18px” hover_enabled=”0″ z_index_tablet=”500″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

C<\/span>ould it be a lonely cowboy lost in his scotch behind the bar of a Chamonix saloon? Or perhaps an adrenaline junkie having a bad trip? A high-level athlete in the middle of a descent? From Mont Blanc, of course. For a few more seconds. Too many. Or could it be the relentless gaze of the mountaineer, and more recently ridge climber, on the Matterhorn, the Eiger, and the Grandes Jorasses?<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.24.2″ width_tablet=”” width_phone=”” width_last_edited=”on|phone” max_width=”600px” max_width_tablet=”” max_width_phone=”300px” max_width_last_edited=”on|phone” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”800″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_divider color=”#000000″ _builder_version=”4.24.2″ min_height=”1px” custom_margin=”||-10px||false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”||-10px||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”||-10px||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_padding=”||0px|||” saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.2″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”18px” link_font=”||||||||” link_text_color=”#edb72f” custom_padding=”0px|||||” hover_enabled=”0″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Read also<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Benjamin V\u00e9drines and Leo Billon complete the Eiger-Matterhorn-Jorasses north faces trilogy<\/a><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row use_custom_gutter=”on” _builder_version=”4.24.2″ max_width=”1200px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”800px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/alpinemag.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/benjamin-vedrines-Ulysse-Lefebvre-1000570-2.jpg” title_text=”benjamin-vedrines-Ulysse-Lefebvre-1000570-2″ show_bottom_space=”off” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.24.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.2″ text_font=”Merriweather|900|||||||” text_font_size=”16″ custom_margin=”||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ border_style=”solid” saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Benjamin V\u00e9drines at the Plan B bar during the 2025 Chamonix Film Festival. \u00a9Ulysse Lefebvre<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ max_width=”800px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”800px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.2″ text_font_size=”18px” hover_enabled=”0″ z_index_tablet=”500″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Feeling blue? Feeling down? Feeling unlucky? No need to look any further, it’s all fake, staged. Is Benjamin a good actor? A second before, a second after, he’s all smiles. He talks about Mont Blanc, where he will return, even faster of course, after Boffelli took his climbing record. He also mentions his upcoming expedition to Jannu with Nicolas Jean, to complete the climb that was aborted last October.<\/p>\n

And until then? Nothing special. He leads us to believe that he’s taking a vacation this summer. His intense activity in the mountains, relayed on social media, testifies to the man’s hyperactivity. The proof came last week with his express trilogy of the great ridges of the Alps.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial quote_icon_color=”#000000″ quote_icon_background_color=”#ffffff” _builder_version=”4.24.2″ body_font=”Oswald|700||on|||||” body_text_align=”center” body_text_color=”#000000″ body_font_size=”30″ use_background_color=”off” custom_margin=”50px||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

How to photograph
this highly publicized figure?<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ max_width=”800px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”800px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.2″ text_font_size=”18px” hover_enabled=”0″ z_index_tablet=”500″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Exactly. As we chat while waiting for the next screening at the latest Chamonix Film Festival, I listen with one ear to what Benjamin is telling me, while wondering how to photograph this highly publicized figure. His handsome steel-blue eyes are seen over and over again in his daily posts, stories, and other reels that are shared and commented on. But what lies behind the social media curtain? Beyond the almost expected exploits?<\/p>\n

Because V\u00e9drines is always either smiling or exerting himself. There is no room for doubt. At least in the images he disseminates. His posture is clear. Full of control.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ max_width=”800px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”800px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_testimonial quote_icon_color=”#000000″ quote_icon_background_color=”#ffffff” _builder_version=”4.24.2″ body_font=”Oswald|700||on|||||” body_text_align=”center” body_text_color=”#000000″ body_font_size=”30″ use_background_color=”off” custom_margin=”||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

another side
Far from the idyll of social media<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.2″ text_font_size=”18px” hover_enabled=”0″ z_index_tablet=”500″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

I also discuss this with Hugo Clouzeau, a highly talented director and editor (Les jours sauvages, Nuptse, Apurimac, Metrophobia, Julia…), one of the most gifted at writing stories about mountaineers and finding the right narrative, beyond simply stringing together beautiful shots. Hugo is currently working on an ambitious film whose main character is… Benjamin V\u00e9drines. And he too would like to dig beneath the hero’s veneer. He has his own ideas about how to do that. Hugo always has lots of good ideas.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.24.2″ width_tablet=”” width_phone=”” width_last_edited=”on|phone” max_width=”600px” max_width_tablet=”” max_width_phone=”300px” max_width_last_edited=”on|phone” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”800″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_divider color=”#000000″ _builder_version=”4.24.2″ min_height=”1px” custom_margin=”||-10px||false|false” custom_margin_tablet=”||-10px||false|false” custom_margin_phone=”||-10px||false|false” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_padding=”||0px|||” saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.2″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”18px” link_font=”||||||||” link_text_color=”#edb72f” custom_padding=”0px|||||” hover_enabled=”0″ saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

Read also<\/strong><\/h3>\n

“The most ambitious and difficult project I’ve undertaken ibn the Alpes “, Benjamin V\u00e9drines, after his 5-days-solo-ascent of les Drus<\/a><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ max_width=”800px” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin_tablet=”” custom_margin_phone=”” custom_margin_last_edited=”on|phone” use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”800px” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.24.2″ text_font_size=”18px” hover_enabled=”0″ z_index_tablet=”500″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]

As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have several months to find the right angle for my photo. Benjamin has almost finished his 12th petit four and he’s about to take off. So, as is often the case, we make do with what we have. A bar, a bottle, a blas\u00e9 look. A little caricatural but effective. At least, I hope so.<\/p>\n

Placing him in an unexpected setting, with an unusual look and attitude, seems to me to reverse the trend a little. Far from the idyll of social media. And even if the viewer is not fooled and understands the staging a moment later, perhaps they will perceive another facet of the superhero of the mountains. Sometimes you have to sprinkle in a little fiction to reveal reality. Is Benjamin ultimately human, too human?<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Could it be a lonely cowboy lost in his scotch behind the bar of a Chamonix…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":295872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,20],"tags":[840],"class_list":["post-295871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","category-mountaineering","tag-benjamin-vedrines-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295871"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295918,"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295871\/revisions\/295918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpinemag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}