I was lucky to follow Tariq Al Habtoor on his adventurous trip to Russia on the Mont Elbrus mountain and I copied sections of his photos and painted him.
With every step that Tariq took up the mountain through the snow, you could see how much strength he needed and how difficult the climb was. That's why I made the background icy with metallic silver and put him in the front of the painting in his ski suit, where they were rappelling along ropes. It was impressive.