Sun Days  

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

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:
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Read the full post for a story about how easy sledding is and a short whis park video from Eric Poulin:
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...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...
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...turned into this:
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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:
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My prior sledding experience is almost exclusively ice fishing trips. Not today.
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Andrew Narkewicz, double or nothing:
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Gideon Baldridge plays backcountry chauffeur for Eliel:
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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!


Last Sunday from Eric Poulin on Vimeo.


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After the storm  

Saturday, March 28, 2009

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:
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Some photos of a controlled avalanche on Poop Chutes in the full post:


Patrol bombed Poop Chutes and it rode to the road:
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The runout rolled right up to the Blackcomb Glacier cat track:
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A closer look at the start zone:
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270mm reveals all the different layers in the crown. That is alot of snow coming down the mountain...
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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.


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A week of winter, pt 4  

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

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:
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More words and photos in the full post:

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Eliel Hindert drops 20:
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Pow stoke:
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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.
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What's that you say, Eliel? It's deep?
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Jake and Taylor try to coordinate their next move a little better:
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Eric Poulin harvests some stump-pillow:
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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...

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A week of winter, part 3  

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

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:

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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...

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Eric Poulin and Katie Hall-Leah share some Peak chair stoke:
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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:
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I don't particularly like this angle. Katie almost took that chainsaw to my head...
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Eric Poulin pops off a pillow and over some stumpage:
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Taylor Pfaff does some stump-jumping of his own, grabbing tail for good measure.
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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...

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NuuLife Cinema Company Presents: Sixes and Sevens  

Monday, March 23, 2009

Since I posted last Sunday, over 6 feet of snow has dropped on the Whistler area... needless to say, it's been an incredible (and busy!) week on the mountain. Now that the storm has passed, I've got short break to play catch-up before things get crazy again in a couple days - watch for a bunch of blog updates in the meantime.

I did a bunch of shooting and riding with the NuuLife Cinema crew last week, hiding in the trees during the storm, and up in the sunny alpine yesterday. I'll have some photos up as I process them, but for now check out the first teaser for their 2009 release, "Sixes and Sevens"


NuuLife Cinema Company - "Sixes and Sevens" - Teaser #1 from john swystun on Vimeo.
(teaser is back up!)

NuuLife Cinema's Dave Craig (and friends) filming in the trees on whistler:
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Winter, is that you?  

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Good times shredding with Jake Cohn on Blackcomb today. Is winter finally here?

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...at least I didn't break my face.  

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I've been limping around the mountain on my broken snowboards for the past 2 weeks now, but I guess I can't complain anymore. At least I didn't break my face...

The sun creeping up the wall was making life difficult for my feeble speedlights:
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A few tries later, this wallride got nasty; click through to the full post to see the aftermath.

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Eric Poulin - "excuse me while I kiss the ground":
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Nothing broken, just 4 stitches, a scar, and no shaving for a couple weeks. Bring on the 'stache.

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