73 The Volcanoes of Kamchatka

Вулканы Камчатки

Petropavlovsk |

Russia

Russian

Behind the scenes

Kamchatka, in the far east of Russia, evokes a vast volcanic peninsula that remains largely untouched by human activity.

This text was born from my fascination with volcanoes and their contrasts. During climbs on other volcanoes around the world, I was struck by the opposition between the violence of eruptions, capable of destroying everything, and the quiet periods when life returns with surprising vigor to lands enriched by ash.

This nature, at once hostile and generous, peaceful and furious, inspired the final image of the text: that of a small fern, fragile yet persistent, growing at the foot of these giants.

Echoes of the world

The title Вулканы Камчатки (Vulkany Kamchatki) means “The Volcanoes of Kamchatka.” Kamchatka is a volcanic peninsula located in the far east of Russia, facing the vast Pacific Ocean.

While writing this text, I thought of the song “Вершина” (Vershina, “The Summit”) by Vladimir Vyssotski, a Russian singer, poet, and actor who was very popular in the 1960s and 1970s. He often sang about mountains and wild landscapes, where effort, danger, and raw beauty reveal what lies within each of us.

The text begins with вулкан (vulkan, “volcano”) – a short, hard, almost unsettling word in Russian, used to evoke something immense. It ends, by contrast, with папоротник (paporotnik), a longer, almost playful word meaning “fern.” I was drawn to this contrast in sound: a short, powerful word for a giant, and a long, flowing one for a tiny plant.