UKH

Is anyone else "enjoying" the post on Jon Griffith's alpine exposures facebook page, about some alleged stealing of images to back up a claimed ascent? 

Grab a big bag of popcorn.......  https://www.facebook.com/pg/JonGriffithPhotography/posts/?ref=page_internal

Looking at some of the photos he got a pretty good point ! Pretty outrageous if it is the case.

Yes exactly! And this morning i see he's done it before - nicked video stills - in March 2017, on the Dru, so has form...... I'm with Jon G all the way here. (as seemingly supported by all the evidence.....). 

All very interesting!

Mutti has 'fessed up! Apparently his young, naive photographer had camera issues and unknown to Mutti,  copied and doctored some from Jon's photos & Manu Cordova's youtube

https://www.facebook.com/andrea.mutti.9?__tn__=%2CdC-R-R&eid=ARAVlNKz3L...

But ...... does this explain the startlingly similar screen-grabbing from March 2017's Dru couloir??? 

I see Jon G himself doesn't buy this. If you see pics of your ascent that aren't you, you'd probably work it out in the first second!  

All most entertaining for a dull monday evening / tuesday morning though......  think I may go and finally buy Jon's book now....... 

I was mostly amused by a character trying to defend the plagiarist by saying "I see some differences" when the photos are literally identical.

It's been taken down now. Should have screenshotted it while I had the chance.

Yes, he took it down, he's updated his post saying a lot of people want it back up.  But he has a point - beyond the initial outrage, it descends into bullying. Something that Jon wouldn't want . 

Having said that, a quick look at Mutti's page shows he's still getting plaudits for a "ascent" that I personally believe he did not do..... & he's a qualified guide so this is pretty bad deception on his part  iMO.....

I didn't really understand fully, did Mutti not do it or do it and not have shots to prove it which led to the photographer faking it as the camera failed on the ascent ?

Mutti says he did the route but did not realise the photos, who were taken by an un-named 22yo who accompanied them, were faked. Jon seemed somewhat suspect as to the veracity of the story, especially as there was another ascent detailed on his Facebook page (Dru Couloir?) on which the photos were photoshopped screen grabs from a TV mountain video.

Who knows if Mutti did it? Jon suggested the route was in nothing like the condition it had been when he did it.  And the claim that Mutti's photographer's camera "failed" so he faked the pics from Jon's doesn't really wash (with me), as a similar thing happened when he claimed the Dru in march 2017. He took stills from a Dru Youtube video.  THis was proved on the now-deleted thread.  So did Mutti climb it at all?  He knows......... we don't.  Hmmm........  

I think Jon's point about shifting the blame really stands. If he'd truly done the route he would have instantly recognised that the photos weren't of his ascent seeing as the conditions were wildly different. 

Also i this day and age EVERYONE has a phone on them with a digital camera at virtually all times. Even if it took multiple days to complete their ascent the fact must have come to light about the broken camera at some point and they'd have supplemented with phone camera photos for the sake of a record of ascent if no other reason....

Actually I never climb with a smartphone, but I'm not making any dubious claims about impressive ascents either (and would take a proper camera if there was a realistic chance of me doing so).