Mountain Photographer Dan Patitucci on the Best Trail Running in the Alps, Nepal, and the Eastern Sierra

Dan Patitucci is a professional mountain-sport photographer and athlete whose images for Patagonia, Black Diamond, and others helped shape the look of modern trail running, and who, with partners Janine Patitucci and Kim Strom, built ALPSinsight and designed the Via Valais, the Alps' first trail-running grand tour.

In this conversation, Buzz and Dan compare the three mountain ranges Dan knows better than almost anyone: the Swiss Valais, where the gneiss weathers into silky-smooth singletrack; the Khumbu in Nepal, where the Three Passes route might be the best hard day of running on the planet; and the Eastern Sierra, all granite, taco trucks, and wilderness you can vanish into for 200 miles. They get into how the Via Valais came together one snowstorm at a time, why Dan shoots everything on a camera that fits in a vest pocket, what he learned chasing Ueli Steck up mountains, and his gleefully unpopular opinion about the running in Chamonix.

This episode is brought to you by Wahoo and the Wahoo Kickr Run smart treadmill, and by VKTRY, makers of carbon-fiber insoles built to last over 1,000 miles and backed by a 90-day money-back guarantee (vktry.com).

Find Dan's trail running guides, maps, and GPX tracks for the Alps, Nepal, and the Eastern Sierra at allmountaincollective.com.

The Buzz is part of the UltraSignup Podcast Network.