The message had arrived at the end of the day as I sat working at the kitchen table of my home in Chamonix. The last glimmers of sunlight pierced a veil of cloud, illuminating the great ridges on the lower flanks of Mont Blanc. A flicker of unease caught me by surprise as I considered the task. I thought I knew why the magazine wanted that image: it was spectacular and appealing, the irresistible call of sanctuary in the mountains. But those same qualities that make a photograph powerful also make a place vulnerable.