I wish for lots of things. And occasionally, The Universe grants me my wish, and it is good. However, as I've...matured...I've come to realize that you have to be careful what you wish for, because good fortune is often a breeding ground for compromise.
Lately, I've been wishing for snow. I love the stuff, it's all fluffy and white and clean and it makes the world silent, a welcome reprieve from the noise in my everyday life. Sitting in the woods during heavy snowfall is good for my soul.
Today, I headed into the hills with the intent of doing some action shots of my friend Mike, who is a fantastic snowboarder, and one of my oldest and closest friends. We knew it was going to be a snowy day, but we didn't know it was going to be pounding snow all day.
POWDER DAY! And this is where the trade-off began...
Meet Mike K, a world-class human with a world-class attitude towards life. Mike and I have been riding together for 13 years, off and on as my health has allowed.
Mike is a fantastic videographer as well, hopefully we can do some collaboration this winter and have a project to put forth in the spring. He's not as fierce as he looks, no matter how red his eyes are...
Our destination today was Keystone Resort, in Summit County, CO, and we were greeted today by about 9" of fresh snow. Delightful.
I learned some very important things today. First, shooting good photos in low, flat light is HARD. Sure, there' a lot of white out there, it's relatively "bright", but I would have benefited from a little more sun. I called God to ask but his receptionist put me on hold, listening to Styx's "Grand Illusion" on loop. I hung up immediately.
The second important thing I learned is, SNOW IS WET. Sort of a no-brainer, right? I thought so as well, but my dilemma today was that it was not only snowing like crazy, it was not particularly cold, so my lens, viewfinder, and LCD screen decided to fog up as soon as I pulled the camera out of the bag.
So I was mega excited about all the snow, I was CERTAIN I'd be taking awesome photos all day, but I wished too hard, and the fantastic conditions rendered my camera essentially useless after the first run. Be careful what you wish for...
I did manage to snap a few pics of Mike on the mountain before I put the camera in the backpack, though. This is on the backside of Dercum Mountain, on a run named "Mozart".
Whenever I pulled the camera out of the bag, I was in a hurry to get the shot and get the camera back in the bag so it wouldn't get wet. As a result, I didn't get much time to play with my aperture settings, to get my shutter speeds fast enough to capture crisp action shots. So these look amateur as hell, but the light was very low, very flat and I had to use a slow shutter speed, generally around 1/20 to 1/60 second. Better luck next time.
If I had it to do over again, I would have dressed Mike in a prison jumpsuit, so he would stand out a little better.
Above is the last shot I took on the mountain, before my lens fogged up. Mike tearing through the trees on the margin of the Mozart trail.
We spent the remainder of the day on the far back side of the resort in an area known as The Outback. What a joy in fresh powder, it's an entire mountain of tree runs and glades. I pulled the camera out a few times but the foggy lens refused to clear up, so I didn't get any shots back there, which is disappointing.
After a really good leg-burner that left my right leg quivering, we headed back to the lodge for some beers, and to watch the Broncos pursue the #1 overall pick in the draft. I let the camera dry out and de-fog while I drank an Avalanche Ale, then took it outside to capture some winter-wonderland shots from the deck. It was just after 2pm, and by this time the snow was really coming down hard.
At about 2:45pm, we decided it was best to hit the road to try to beat traffic. Heh. On a Sunday? Pffft.
We tried to go over Loveland Pass, but were thwarted; they closed the gates on us, right before we would have passed through them. Fuckers. I have driven Loveland Pass in storms as gnarly as this one, in a 1987 Toyota Tercel. My Pathfinder would have made it just fine. I can't speak for the dozens of other clowns on the road with us, but that's not my damn problem.
Anyways. We were forced back to I-70 through Silverthorne. We stopped at Burger King so I could eat, and I handed over the driving to Mike so I could eat. What came next was a 3 hour trip up the hill to the Eisenhower Tunnel.
If you're not familiar with this drive, let me fill you in. From Silverthorne to the tunnel, it's about 12 miles up a constant 6% grade, topping out at just over 11,000 feet. On Sunday evenings, every weekend warrior with a season pass and a car is on Interstate 70, trying to get back to Denver. Every 20 minutes, the tunnel is closed to allow the ventilation system to catch up, and bring the carbon monoxide level in the tunnel down to a safe level. This causes all kinds of havoc on the road.
Forgive the blurry image, we were moving and I was sitting on my window frame. These pictures don't really do justice to how backed up the traffic was.
As a snowboarder, I could not have asked for a better day on the mountain. I got to make countless powder turns, and spent the day with a good friend.
As a photographer, the conditions left much to be desired, but I learned a lot about shooting in heavy snow. Namely that it's a pain in the ass...
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