Very nice but when I saw I immediately presumed it was one of Nadir Khan's photos. He has sort taken that technical style for himself!

Cheers Toby. Though I'm a big fan of Nadir's stuff I've not modelled this shot on his style. Nor has he modelled his on the hundreds of icefall photographers that came before him (Dan Patitucci et al). Is more a trademark style of a wide angle lens coupled with some solid post processing. Or at least that's what I like to think :)
Likewise with Ben Tibbetts.

Yeah, and I didn't mean it as a criticism at all - more just whatever Nadir has done technically with many of his shots (is it called "HDR"? I'm a luddite on these things) either post processing or with use of a flash maybe, looks like this. Anyway - I guess having been an avid consumer of ice climbing photography for over 20 years, to me it was Nadir who seems to be the person who has brought that slightly surreal (or hyper-real?) affect/effect into ice climbing pics first. But whatever, yours is still a great shot an makes me wish I was there -although only seconding as its too steep for me to lead! :)

Thanks Toby. No offence taken, apologies if I came across as defensive. This shot isn't HDR (I didn't even edit the same RAW file with different exposures). However the shadows have been reduced with a soft flash and some post processing which provides more detail with the crampons, boots, clothing etc (the ice cave was naturally quite dark).
If you're ever out this way I recommend the climb, this is a steeper variant and there are many possible lines :) .

Great shot James! I really like this style of photography and think it works well for ice climbing. Could you expand a little on your comment about post processing to provide more detail please? Are you just using the tone curves in LR (or equivalent) or is there more to it than that, soft flash aside?

Thanks MrRiley. I'm just bringing up the 'shadows' slider in Camera RAW (Photoshop) as well as the 'clarity' slider. It works particularly well with sharp lenses - for example I find it works far better with my 14-24 than it does with my 28-300. You've just got to be careful not to over-do it or you'll end up with a flat image. Be particularly careful with the 'clarity' slider as you can end up with a black halo around the climber. Removing lots of the shadows can also reveal chromatic aberration you wouldn't normally be able to see. Have fun and good luck!

This Khan/Rushforth/Tibbets style is certainly eyecatching, but it does tend to make it look like everyone is wearing clothes made of shiny metallic foil. To be fair, Ben Tibbets seems to have toned it down a bit and I thought his fairly recent batch of alpine shots was stunning.

Cool, thanks James, I'll have a play and see what happens

Nice shot James, enjoying your gallery.The effect you speak of Robert/Toby is most likely from the use of the clarity slider in LR or PS, its a handy tool to have in the armoury and but it can often be overdone a little. In my opinion(for whatever its worth) James has struck a fine balance here and produced a nice punchy image without overcooking it.

Thanks Sean, very kind. Think we have a similar taste / style. I very much like your flash lighting shots.