Got word last week that I had a photo run in this seasons SBC Resort Guide. After much searching, I finally found a copy and flipped straight to page 58:
Nick Antle, handplant, Cypress Mtn superpipe.
Check the full post for the original photo and a couple more of Nick:
This was yet another late-season Cypress shot, so this post doubles as "Cypress Sesssions pt 3". Here's the original shot and another Antle handplant from a different angle:
This shot is my first published in SBC and, remarkably, the first time a photo of Nick has found its way into a magazine. I say remarkably because I shot this photo of him back in 2007 at the Quicksilver Showdown Over the City - hard to believe this method hasn't been published before:
Circle the date on your calender, NuuLife Cinema is bringing their "Sixes and Sevens" premiere tour to Vancouver on Thursday, October 29. 8pm @ the Bourbon - check the facebook event page for details. I'm in the video, which makes it pretty much the best snowboard video of all time, so I expect to see everyone I know there.
Still not convinced? Watch the teaser a couple more times:
Another photo from late last season up at Cypress - Eric Poulin drops a goalpost stepdown, bolstering Cypress' claim to the best terrain on the north shore:
One fine day this summer, after running out of gas while cutting a helipad into the swampy permafrost near the confluence of the White and Yukon Rivers, I looked skyward from the pages of Dr Zhivago and instantly lunged for my bright yellow pelican case. I'm not usually one to see shapes in the clouds, but this particular formation was too perfect to not photograph.
I wasn't planning on posting this shot but someone saw it on my iphone the other day and insisted that I make a postcard out of it. A blog post is close enough, I guess - call me in February for Valentines Day gifts...
I did some shooting up at Cypress Mountain late last season, and was pleasantly surprised to sneak in a pow day shortly before the lifts came to a halt for the year. Another surprise was the quality of the tree shredding in the Cypress sidecountry - reminded me of my favorite zones off Whistler's peak.
Eliel Hindert (now complete with poles!) gets a taste of Cypress spring pow:
Every fall as the leaves turn colour and the days get shorter and longer, those of us who are addicted to the pursuit of the perfect line start getting restless. The first dusting of snow on the local mountains serves notice that winter is indeed just around the corner, and that restlessness boils over into full on night-before-christmas ADHD. The anxious daily routine of checking snow reports and forecasts and opening day updates begins, and doesn't end until the lifts are turning and the base is deep.
For the determined few, these early sprinklings of snow offer more than just anticipation. The rock boards, gore tex and avy gear come out of the closet and the backcountry addicts ascend into the alpine for the chance to sneak a few turns before fall reclaims its brilliant colours with a dousing of October rain.
For photographers, that first snowfall is a reminder that many of the photos we took last season failed to pique the interest of a buyer, particularly in times when money is tight. I'm stoked to say that my list of photos that are slated for publication is higher than last year, but I still have an extensive list of shots that didn't make the cut anywhere. As I wait for the opportunity to get to work this season, I'm going to post up some of my favorites from last year that have yet to find a home in print somewhere.
I'll start it off with a strobist-style photo of Taylor Pfaff on Whistler mountain. This log jib is usually a lot smaller, but the lack of snow last season made for a fun session.
Dream about snow! Stay tuned for further updates...
I've been gone from Vancouver for 2 and a half months now, and its time to go home. I've had some great adventures working in the Yukon - bears, helicopters, swamps and snowstorms. But, you can only be gone for so long before home comes calling... I'll be in Vancouver on Monday night.
More photos and words to come when I have a little more time... also looking forward to getting back to a calibrated monitor back in the city. A few other photos are on my flickr.
I am currently working in a remote location and will be unable to receive or reply to any communication until approximately August 1st. In case of emergencies, I can be reached via canoe down the Yukon River.
The chaos is over and the crowds are gone, so I've hunkered down to edit the photos I shot during the 2009 Atlin Arts and Music Festival. I wasn't shooting on assignment for anyone so that left me with lots of time to spend in the beer gardens... here's a few photos that I nabbed when I ventured out into the world of no beer.
My spot in Atlin may be a little out of town, but it gives me a convenient head-start on the Monarch Mtn trail. I hauled up the trail last night, grouse grind style, to shoot some photos from the alpine at sunset. There's no tram down to ease the knees, but there's plenty of light to navigate by well after the sun finally disappears. Besides, you don't get views like this from Grouse...
Looking south to Warm Bay and Teresa Island:
The town of Atlin:
The distinctive Mt Minto can be seen in the distance, rising above the north end of a glistening Atlin Lake...
A quick post of some photos from the last week or so... still lots of daylight to shoot/fish/hike (and work, of course)
Some more ND filter fun, as well as practice with another technique I rarely use, exposure blending (it'll have to do til I pitch for a grad ND) - Atlin Mountain at [a very late PM] sunset:
Teresa Island gets hit by a mix of rain and sun as a storm tracks west:
A couple more photos after the jump:
The M.V. Tarahne sits on Atlin's waterfront. Used to ferry tourists around the lake in her prime, these days she has been relegated to hosting the occasional afternoon tea:
Como Lake sunset:
Earlier that evening, we took my cousin to the lake and he caught his first fish, a nice little rainbow in a convenient single serving breakfast size:
I finally bought my fishing license yesterday, so naturally, I spent all evening on the lake trying to catch some supper. I even managed to find the time to play with my new neutral density filter and make some longer exposures in between casts. There's plenty of daylight to do both up here (tomorrow is the longest day of the year, with nearly 18 hours of theoretical sun): the alpenglow shot was taken just after 11pm.
This is Como lake, a couple km's north of Atlin. My current address is at the base of Monarch Mountain, in the background - haven't hiked it since I've been here, but I've flown over a couple times on the way to/from work... close enough, right?
In the full post, you can see what happens to tasty rainbow trout when they die...
My sister caught the first fish of the day... I evened the score later.
Back at home, ready for gutting:
It'd been a while since I cleaned a fish, but I think I did alright.
1) From the helicopter 2) Planet Earth / National Geographic (or some other nature documentary film/photo) 3) From the truck on the side of the highway nowhere near where I'm working 4) The zoo 5) Never
This Grizzly was having a late night snack with her cubs along the side of the Carcross Hwy near Tagish, Yukon. I stayed in the truck, don't worry.
Hopefully that's the only sow and cubs I'll see this year...
A couple more photos from the Carcross area in the full post: -------
The Carcross Desert, apparently the smallest in the world. Can you see my shadow?
I'm finally settling into the routine of fieldwork again after a week in Atlin, but the hot weather has sapped my energy really fast - there's still a lot of snow on northern aspects, so we've been sticking to south faces up high in the alpine, where the sun beats down on us all day long. I'm not complaining - just tired.
The town of Atlin, from the morning helicopter trip to work:
The view from my "office" - Surprise Lake:
More words and photos in the full post:
We went out to the Globe Theatre last night to check out a performance by the Edmonton based bluegrass group Down to the Wood, passing through town on their way to the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival this week in Haines Junction, YT. I'm not big into bluegrass so I can't give much of an informed review, but the guys were funny, played some killer music, and were well received by the crowd - I might have to start taking my dad's advice and listen to more bluegrass... Me and the family headed out to a little jam sesh after the show, where we stayed up til the wee hours of the morning jamming with a group of extremely talented musicians (I definitely don't include myself in that category), and even got a free lesson on upright bass from the band; much appreciated, thanks guys! I used to play quite a bit of bass, but haven't in years - the upright makes me want to get back into it asap. Just what I needed, another expensive hobby...
Atlin Mountain at sunrise from the Monarch Mtn trail. I was wondering how I would ever bring myself to wake up at 4am to get a sunrise shot... problem solved last night - go to bed at 530am...
A woodpecker hangs from a homemade feeder:
Decades of living off the land has led to quite the impressive collection of antlers above my grandparents woodshed:
I've been postponing this for a while cause theres still a couple photos I wanted to edit, but I'm away from a calibrated monitor for the rest of the summer, so its now or never. Here's my six favorite photos from my trip through Argentina and Chile, along with a gallery link to 40 or so others. Hope you like em...
One of the spires of Cerro Catedral stands tall with Volcan Tronador in the distance:
A double rainbow followed along side our bus as we drove through the craggy peaks of northern Patagonia. Argentinian buses are all luxury.
See the rest in the full post: ----------
Big sky in the Argentine lake district:
I spy, the Bariloche waterfront:
Dinner for one, somewhere on the outskirts of Buenos Aires:
I've spent the two weeks since returning from Chile job hunting for mineral exploration work, and with seemingly every inquiry I made resulting in a reply of "sorry, we don't have financing for a field program this season", I was about to give up looking and start a summer job in the city when the call came in to send me north. I was on a plane for Whitehorse 3 days later - gotta love the go-go-go nature of this industry. I should be here til August, but there's really no telling for sure, and I'll likely be on the road on just a few short days notice, as usual.
I was pleasantly surprised on the flight up to make a flyby of my final destination, the small town of Atlin, BC. I lived here when I was a little kid, and the last time I visited was in 1998. I snapped a photo of the town, the lake, Atlin Mountain and Teresa Island from the plane:
Many photos to come over the next few months, as I roam the hills looking for gold (and photo-ops, of course). I still need to post some of my RAW edits from South America - maybe tomorrow.
The weather came through today and we were able to make an attempt at climbing Volcan Villarrica, near Pucon, Chile. I don´t have enough time for a full post right now, but I wanted to throw up a summit photo before I jump on a night bus for Santiago.
Me with a bottle of Chilean Carmenère for the top of a Chilean volcano: (Photo credit: Reid Irwin)
**Full trip report with photos now up in the full post**
------- Well, I didn't have much time in Santiago so I'm finishing this one off back home in Vancouver. Climbing Villarrica was definitely one of the highlights of my trip, but it almost didn't happen - a high ceiling and no rain are requirements of travel on the volcano, and we had anything but for the first couple days of our stay in Pucon. It felt like I was back home in Vancouver during the October/November pineapple express season... constant downpour. The weather report for our last day in town was looking bleak as well, calling for overcast skies and a reasonable chance of rain. I went to bed expecting wake up to the sound of pouring rain.
I dragged myself out of bed at 6am the next morning, heard nothing, and poked my head out the window to a view of wood-stove smoke plumes rising lazily above Pucon, basked in the glow from the early morning light cast by the full moon. Shit, that was poetic. Game on.
I knew it hadn't exactly been warm over the past few days, but I was slightly surprised when we encountered the first fresh snow on the drive up to our start point, the base of Ski Pucon. There was a good 5cm in the parking lot, which had me wondering what the conditions would be like near the summit, 1400m above. Our guides were unconcerned by the snow, so we began the trek to the top.
The ascent was slow and steady, with the group soon separating into 2 packs as those not accustomed to alpine hiking began to tire. Personally, I felt it was a pretty relaxing pace, which was a pleasant change from the sweat-soaked deathmarch uphills that I usually subject myself to. It had been a few years since I'd hiked above 2300 metres, anyways, and I wasn't sure how I'd feel at the 2847m summit. The slow climb made it a non issue for me, and I reached the top remarkably dry (those who know me, know I'm a sweaty beast) and breathing easy.
I have to admit, I was a little disappointed upon reaching the top; there was no lava too be seen, and the fumes from the crater were so strong that we couldn't walk around the rim of the crater to catch a better view into the throat of the volcano. Just had time for a few photos and a victory swill from the bottle of caramere I lugged to the top before retreating down to an area of lower SO2 concentration for lunch.
A summit pano:
Volcanic gasses:
Our path up had been mainly crampon climbing over windblasted glacial ice, but the descent took us through a fairly sizeable area of 50cm deep windslab, which had me substantially more concerned than the volcanic activity above. Stepping above the track had 2m long blocks, 50cm deep popping out from under me... Our guide assured me that the slope, being only about 40 degrees, wasn't really steep enough to slide (umm, what?). The slope had been traversed by 20 or so hikers already, so I quickly glissaded my way down to the relative safety of exposed ice, without incident (I almost ripped my knee off on a rock while demonstrating my graceful glissade skillz further down the mountain, but I didn't take any photos so as soon as the scab heals, it never happened).
A view during the descent:
When we got back down to the ski area base, my stoke was doubled when we saw some local shreds busting out the boards for the first snowfall of the season:
There's a bunch more photos (camera jpegs) from the trip on my flickr photostream, but I'm feeling a little reluctant to post them here now that I'm back home and working on the RAW files. I don't usually shoot RAW+jpeg, but it was handy for the trip to be able to quickly upload the jpgs for my blog, and its really interesting to be able to see a side-by-side comparison of the camera jpegs and my Lightroom edits.
Stay tuned for a trip summary with RAW edits, a RAW vs jpeg comparison, and a note on the gear I took with me.
Heavy rain in Pucon is putting a serious damper on my plans to climb the Villarrica Volcano while I´m here. We leave for Santiago tomorrow night, and the forecast looks... well, better than today. Fingers crossed the situation improves.
With soggy skies (am I home already?? Southern Chile feels alot like Vancouver) there wasn´t much to do other than hit up the supermarket and buy singles of all the different craft beers brewed here in Chile. The north may be for the wines, beer definitely seems to be the fermentation of choice in the south. A strong German influence in this area means most beers are brewed in adherence to the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. Breweries such as Kunstmann (Valdivia) and Austral (Punta Arenas) provide many delicious options. My only complaint is that many of the offerings that I tried were a little bland - highly drinkable, just a little uninteresting. I´ve yet to see an IPA on the supermarket shelves - maybe I´ll just have to look harder tonight.
Home in Vancouver! No, its just Pucon...
Kunstmann (Valdivia)Unfiltered Lager. I really enjoyed this one.
After the tasting, we headed out to a bar for some 2 for 1 drinks, followed by some casino action. I won 9000 playing blackjack. 9000...Pesos. Yeah, thats less than 20 bucks.
Some more photos of my samplings in the full post: ---------------
Polar Imperial Lager, Punta Arenas, Chile:
The Austral family (Punta Arenas, Chile):
Volcanes del Sur Premium Lager:
Dorada - this one was ultra cheap, and strong. Surprisingly good, too.
We visted the Senda Nativa Romahue today, just outside of Puerto Varas, Chile. A far cry from scrambling through the boulders atop Cerro Catedral, we spent the day below the canopy of the Valdivian temparate rainforest, one of the largest of its kind in the world (second only to my stomping grounds on the British Columbia coast).
After eating a lunch that featured the best steak I´ve ever had, we went for a short horseback ride through the forest (a first for me, much to Meghan´s delight), then spent some time with an orphaned Puma and several tiny Pudú (miniature deer). After watching the Forest episode of Planet Earth, I was thoroughly stoked to actually get to see a Pudú while I´m here...
Ayun´s mother was killed when he was 15 days old. He´s essentially a big, happy housecat now... purrs when you pet him, loves attention, and likes to play futbol. You can see some footage of him (from someone else) on youtube.
A Pudú, full grown at 16 or so inches:
Many thanks to Silvio and Susana for their knowledge and hospitality, as well as the work and love they put into preservation and education.
We´re moving on to Pucon tomorrow for 3 days. Volcanos and hot springs are on my to-do list. More photos from today in rest of the post.
---------- Range-fed beef, about to become lunch:
Best. Steak. Ever.
The Valdivian rainforest:
Meghan, amused to see me not having any idea how to ride a horse:
Ayun poses for the camera:
This was from the bus window as we were leaving Bariloche the other day - the city looked incredible from across Lago Nahuel Huapi. I would´ve loved to stop and setup a proper shot, but I´m on vacation. No tripods allowed.
While I´m running around in Patagonia, my good friends at Katal Innovations took their Landing Pad to Lake Louise for its first ever public session. By all accounts, it was a huge success. I wish I had been there, but I guess I can´t really complain...
I couldn´t spend time in Bariloche and not go on a recon mission to the local ski hill, Catedral. The snow hasn´t started to fly for the winter season yet, but they run a cable car up to the top so people can run around and do touristy things like take photos of themselves with Bariloche and the Argentinian flag in the background.
The tourists that don´t speak Spanish do stupid things like neglet to read sigs, hike a couple kms away from the lift, and almost miss the last gondola down for the evening. Oops...
Cerro Catedral
I said aidos to Argentina this morning, bussing through the national parks of the Lake District to Puerto Varas, Chile, where I´ll be for a few days before heading north to Pucon and eventually Santiago. Argentina was awesome, I´ve been gone for a few hours and I´m already thinking of when I´ll be able to come back - and how on earth I´m going to find Quilmes´excellent Red Lager in Canada...
A couple more photos of Bariloche and Cerro Catedral after the jump: --------
The view towards Bariloche (background) and Catedral village (foreground):
Took it easy today and wandered around Bariloche in the intense Patagonian wind. Down on the lakeshore, none of the trees have branches on the windward side, so I´m guessing that its pretty much always crazy windy here...
As usual, a few more photos can be seen in the full post - ---------
After spending a few days in Buenos Aires, wandering around the city by day, and eating glorious amounts of parrilla at night (not to mention the fact that beer is about a buck for a 1L bottle...), I got on a double decker night bus headed for Bariloche. I´d heard great things about the Argentinian long-haul sleeper busses, and the 20+ hour ride across the country didn´t disappoint. Fully reclining seats and included meals made the 1600km of driving the most luxurious public transport I´ve ever experienced...
We have 3 days now to explore Bariloche and its surroundings before jumping across the border to Chile. I could easily spend much, much longer here... I wish I could stay for a few more months through the winter.
Some photos from the trip so far...
Read the full post for more photos (¿is there no colon on spanish keyboards?) -----------
I'm up too early to jump on a plane and head south, way south - Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Santiago then home (via Dallas... woot?). The extent of my Spanish vocab is pretty much limited to "cinqo cerveza pour favor" and a few choice obscenities (a great combo, I know).
I doubt I'll have a chance to upload any photos while I'm gone, but I may sneak a text blog (twitter might be easier) or two in there during the trip... photos when I return!
Haven't shot much lately, been busy looking for work / preparing my photo submissions for this season / getting ready to head to Argentina and Chile for a couple weeks. Hopefully, my camera doesn't get jacked and I have a ton of photos to post when I get back in mid-May.
Here's a couple old (2006) photos of the Mandy Glacier, northwest of Stewart, BC - she lights up vibrant blue when the light hits her. I miss working there, even though I recall the day I shot the pano being absolutely miserable.
Just a few weeks ago I was raving about how winter had finally arrived... it was good while it lasted, but it seems to have been short. I went from shooting on another sunny Sunday at Cypress, to enjoying burgers and beer at sunset on Jericho beach in less than 45 minutes - I really love living in this city.
I wanted to throw a strobe onto Colin in this photo, but my camera battery decided to call it quits after a long day of shooting, and the spare was in the car. I still like it. Full Post and Comments
Sunday has lived up to its name the past couple weeks, giving me plenty of opportunity to shoot photos and work on my increasingly well-defined goggle tan. Two weeks ago, (after the storm-of-the-season week came to a close), I spent the day out in Lakeside Bowl on Blackcomb with the NuuLife crew with the intent of staying out all day and shooting some pow shots at sunset...
John Swystun getting it done on both sides of the lens:
Read the full post for a story about how easy sledding is and a short whis park video from Eric Poulin: --------- ...Unfortunately, Dave Craig suffered an equipment malfunction on the landing of a step down and had his board double eject (wtf, I know) and take off ghost rider style down to the bottom of the bowl. With his board a 500 feet below us, we decided to bugger the sunset shooting and call it a day.
This...
...turned into this: Is this why we're supposed to wear leashes?
Fast forward a week to last Sunday - the weather was prime again so I took up an offer to head out on a sled trip into the Whistler area backcountry. I've always heard people say how much of a bitch sledding can be when you first start out, but I was not prepared for the beat-down my body was about to receive.
Making matters worse was the fact that I wasn't actually sledding up to the zone - I was being towed, wakeboard style, into the alpine. I like to think my legs are in pretty good shape, but my arms? Please. I'm a photographer, not a longshoreman. Now I feel like Stretch Armstrong - and don't even get me started on the roller coaster ride up to Tricouni...
Complaints aside, once we were up it was about as glorious as it gets. We had some rad laps in the trees to start out, then hit some mellow terrain in the alpine and built up a perfect huck-anything step over.
Eliel Hindert found a nice spine area in the trees to rip:
My prior sledding experience is almost exclusively ice fishing trips. Not today.
Andrew Narkewicz, double or nothing:
Gideon Baldridge plays backcountry chauffeur for Eliel:
When we arrived at the trailhead in the morning it was an absolute zoo, so Gideon got a little creative with his parking skills. It cost us when we got down; the snow he parked on had melted under the heat of the car and refrozen after the sun set, pretty much welding his Land Rover in place. It took a bunch of digging and a pull from Hockenstein (thanks buddy) before we were on our way back to the city... we rolled home 15 hours after we left in the morning, dead tired and super-stoked.
Meanwhile, back at Whistler, Eric Poulin did some filming and threw together a little edit of how he spent his sunny Sunday - check it out!
Not much to say with this post, as I think the photos speak for themselves. After the storm passed, the clouds lifted and revealed the scars of a thoroughly badass avalanche cycle. While I scoped the slides from lift accessed terrain, photographer Jeff Patterson and the MSP crew had a sketchy close call out in the backcountry (read about it on his blog). Be careful out there!
Fissile got ripped open:
Some photos of a controlled avalanche on Poop Chutes in the full post:
Patrol bombed Poop Chutes and it rode to the road:
The runout rolled right up to the Blackcomb Glacier cat track:
A closer look at the start zone:
270mm reveals all the different layers in the crown. That is alot of snow coming down the mountain...
I'm sure if you knew the field of view at that focal length, one could figure out the actual size of the crown, but I'm fine with settling for "big". Props to patrol for keeping us safe.
Wednesday was essentially a write off day due to the shenanigans that went down on Tuesday night, but we managed to get in a couple good laps in the afternoon. I was stoked to be riding sans camera - ripping through the trees and pillows is always a little nerve wracking when the contents of your backpack are worth more than your car...
On Thursday we got up bright and early (leaving from Vancouver early) and cashed in some previously purchased fresh tracks tickets to get up the mountain an hour or so before the general public. Fresh tracks is great, especially if you're really hungry - someone with a big stomach can easily get their money's worth at the breakfast buffet in the Roundhouse...
As is the norm during any decent Whistler storm, the visibility off the back of the peak was atrocious - the only remedy is to head into the trees.
Jake Cohn makes some low-vis pow turns:
More words and photos in the full post: ----
Eliel Hindert drops 20:
Pow stoke:
Theoretically, this was going to be a fun photo of Eliel, Taylor and Jake all charging through the snow at the same time. You can see Eliel's ski, upside down, in the top right. Fail.
What's that you say, Eliel? It's deep?
Jake and Taylor try to coordinate their next move a little better:
Eric Poulin harvests some stump-pillow:
I got off the mountain at 5:45, soaking wet (I'm a sweaty beast) and dead tired. Back down to the city to dump photos, take a breather and see the lady before heading back up for the weekend...
With last Saturdays snow and promising forecast, everyone was cautiously optimistic about the possibility an 04-05 style late season powder redemption. After holding back for 4 and a half months, Ullr finally returned to Whistler in early January fashion - 7 days of storm, 6 feet of fresh.
Tuesday brought a short break in the weather, throwing a little light down on the mid-storm goodness:
Our first lap on Peak, we hit up Christmas Trees and slashed up so much snow that I was physically impeded from breathing; constant face shots + jaw dropped in joy is a dangerous combination. I definitely pulled an Andy Samberg or 7 throughout the day.
More words and photos in the full post... --------
Eric Poulin and Katie Hall-Leah share some Peak chair stoke:
When the bowls are tracked, those who know where they're going head into the trees. Katie imagines the possibilities on a deep pillow line:
I don't particularly like this angle. Katie almost took that chainsaw to my head...
Eric Poulin pops off a pillow and over some stumpage:
Taylor Pfaff does some stump-jumping of his own, grabbing tail for good measure.
From a hasty pit we dug in the pillow field, we were looking at about 60cm of storm snow on Tuesday, meaning the best was yet to come. Unfortunately, being a bunch of weak-willed beer lovers, St Patrick's Day festivities kept us off the mountain until noon on Wednesday...
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Andrew Strain is a photographer, snowboarder, and prospector from Vancouver, BC. He spends much of his time roaming the mountains of British Columbia - in pursuit of gold during the summer, and chasing fresh snow in the winter, always on the lookout for unique moments to photograph. View my complete profile
