You know what this is? This is my new f***ing haircut.
Bush life is good.
Continuing on last weeks theme – summer in the mountains of coastal BC.
…To dungeons deep and caverns old,
We must away, ere break of day,
To seek our pale enchanted gold.
-JRR Tolkien
…you’re doing it wrong.
I went on a touring mission up Cerise Creek / Mt Joffre with a couple friends last week. Conditions were… interesting over the first half of the approach, where for the first time since I bought them I wasn’t cursing the uselessness of my snowshoes. The crampons bit into the choppy ice of the forest floor far more effectively than climbing skins, but I’m still buying a splitboard this fall. Snowshoes suck.
We thought the snow might be a little sloppy up high, but avoiding sun-baked aspects led to a late April powder harvest. Gotta love that spring crop!
It’s been a long time – months – since I took the time to shoot some photos for no reason other than to shoot photos. No travel budget, no media pass… no pressure. It was a refreshing change.
Went for a drive over the Duffey with my dad the other day and stopped along Cayoosh Creek to check out some rock (in case you wondered where I got that from…). I let the old man do the heavy lifting while I got artistic… I felt kinda bad until I realized he was shooting photos of me shooting photos. Apparently rocks aren’t the only thing that run in the family – flannel and gumboots have been a Strain fashion staple for decades.
Our extra day in Whitewater used up most, if not all, of the energy I had left. Moving on to Red Mountain, which I’ve heard so many good things about, was something that my body was not ready to do. I took one lap to say I was there, then retreated to the demo tent to let my body recover from 3 weeks of constant travel and riding. The mountain was socked in anyways, so I didn’t feel too bad about not even bothering to shoot.
The plan was to demo at Red, then drive through the night back to Whistler and set up the final demo of the tour at TMC (where you can buy Surface Skis in Whistler) the next day… but the Kootenays struck again, wedging a rock into Eliel’s tire and keeping us in Ymir for an extra night.
We arrived in Whistler a day late, but the extra night in the koots let El and I make the windy drive back to the coast at a leisurely pace, and in daylight.
Note I say El and I. We left Shayne in Ymir, promising to return in a week or so to take him to Denver for SIA and then home to SLC. More on that later…
We returned to Whistler after 15 days on the road, and right on schedule the first major storm since we left rolled in. Low visibility, deep pow and alpine closures – to the trees! Exploring new hills was a blast but theres a lot to be said for knowing your favorite line like the back of your hand…
So thats that. Demo tour done… end of the line! But my adventures with Surface are far from over. A week later, I’d get back in the truck with Eliel and head back to Ymir, Whitewater and destinations south…
Just a quick little plug for the boys at Dendrite Studios, a new film company out of Whistler currently working on their first full length video for release in fall 2010. Two of my good friends and favorite photo subjects, Jake Cohn and Eliel Hindert, have been filming with them all season and I can’t wait to see the finished product.
Eliel and Chris Turpin go big in the Pemberton backcountry:
Perspectives #6 – Ten Years from Dendrite Studios on Vimeo.
Jake Cohn and Athan Merrick getting creative with camera placement on and around Whistler:
Perspectives #4 – Point of View from Dendrite Studios on Vimeo.
Check the Dendrite site for more ‘Perspectives’ clips, a full length teaser (soon), athlete profiles and other goodness.
