BOOKS
Much to my wife's chagrin when we have to move houses, I have a mild addiction to book collecting (especially now that I "need" a complete climbing reference library). It makes sense, then, that I would add to the issue by writing some books of my own. To date, three have been published, along with several ebooks. Sadly, the first two, Remote Exposure (Rocky Nook, California, 2011) and Montagnes Extrêmes (Palantines, France, 2013) are either out of print or outdated.
The most recent is Mont Blanc Lines, published in French (Glénat, 2021), English (Vertebrate, 2022) and Italian (Corbaccio, 2021). It is focused on its namesake Mont-Blanc range (with bonus chapters on the Eiger and the Matterhorn) and features images from the Mont Blanc Lines project, as well as many new, unpublished lines drawings, action images from a decade of working as a Chamonix adventure photographer, a history of each mountain and a text by climbers who have a special relationship with each of these peaks. It features Patrick Gabarrou, Dani Arnold, Lise Billon, Christophe Dumarest, François Damilano, Jeff Mercier, Roger Schäli, Vivian Bruchez and many others.
The book won the prestigious 2023 Mountain Image Award at the Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival and the 2022 Prix Littéraire des Écrins. Here are some of the nice things people said about it:
'Every now and then a mountaineering book comes along that is unique and stands out from the crowd as truly exceptional. Such is Mont Blanc Lines. Fascinating photo topos, brilliant photography, history and climbers' stories.' --Ken Daykin, Climber magazine
'Le résultat, c’est une somme de photos magnifiques zebrées de lignes qui donnent vie à la montagne. Le souffle de l’alpinisme ! Le massif prend un relief nouveau, veiné par ces lignes de grimpe.' --Ulysse Lefebvre, AlpineMag.fr
'Alex Buisse struck the balance of both captivating the eye and the mind; his images of the Mont Blanc massif inspired awe, whilst the guidebook-esque lines charted a path through one's imagination. I couldn't help but think about what each route must have entailed, the mental story I was telling myself enriched by small pieces of history and anecdotes from alpinists sharing their first-hand experience.' --JoJo Das, 2023 Banff Festival Photo Competition Jury
'How to do justice in words to this magnificent book? Every day for a week I looked forward to getting up and spending an hour studying it before starting my day. [...] This book deserves to win every award going. It will be fantastic for alpinists sitting at home planning their next summer or winter campaigns, and an inspiration to many.' --Amazon UK review
'[Mont Blanc] Lines deserves to be read and savoured, it’s a book to flick through, to read cover to cover, a source of research, a source of inspiration.' --Amazon UK review
