Darsney is the real McCoy, a hard-bitten climber and world traveler based in the remote Aleutian Island town of Dutch Harbor. When he's not crisscrossing the chain in float planes, he's riding across a Mongolian plain on horseback, looking for first ascents, or climbing in Nepal, or in his beloved Alaskan mountains.

What put Darsney's photographs a cut above is not only a flair for light and slope, but a sense of irony. Combined with the seldom-visited regions in which he travels, Darsney's images speak to mountain lovers in their own language: Go here.

"My photo philosophy is simple," declares Darsney: "Get a cool bunch of people that first and foremost want to have fun--all other goals are secondary —and then go to a cool place. Then, when the light is right, there's your picture."

Darsney's images have appeared in Outside, Climbing, Rock & Ice, Backpacker, Geo and other publications. He can be emailed at: scott@mtnworld.com