The kite tent

 We have  been leaving the tent set up at hidden lake for some time. It’s super easy to show up and have our little hut ready to use.  Wolveriean encounters are low but sightings of fresh tracks are at an all time high. Touring along side a wolverine trail to get to the peak is normal.  The tracks  are getting uncomfortable close to our tent. Being the elusive creatures  that they are they have not come right up to the tent yet.  When  we leave we clean the tent and take all the food away. Sharp claws and teeth would shred the tent quickly as these animals are scavengers as well as hunters. The tent itself is  saturated in smells of lamb bacon and steak as well as garlic shrimp and salmon. We have been eating well.  As a precaution  we left the door of the tent open a crack so that the animal could investigate this foreign  orange ball of food smells wail we were in town relaxing.  Upon my return i learnt that this was a bad idea. During our two days in town the wind came up pushing the door fully open and creating a wind trap. Luckily the tent just flipped over off the tree bow floor that we built during our previous trip.  On closer inspection two broken tent poles, lost toboggan, lost ground tarp and broken and lost pin assembly.

Im by myself it’s sunny my friends are doing laps on the hill and quick backcountry runs just out of bounds. Im cleaning up ash covered sleeping gear that was all tangled up in the tent all the wail wondering what the fuck  Im doing out hear. Wondering why i pack a heavy camera around all day, why i sacrifice my body to ride, why i carry a machete  in my backpack as defence against wolverines. Em i crazy? why em i not doing easy day trips, going out with the guys after and hanging out with my girlfriend in town like everyone els. The amount of ski days  and good snow conditions lost do to camping and hauling gear have been surprisingly high. As i do the last survey of damages to the tent and contemplate wether or not i should just bundle it all up and head out i look up at the peak that erupts vertically into the blue sky across the lake from ware i stand.  I see doable cliff drops that are too big for me, lines with big exposure that scare the crap out of me and large scale jump spots; in amongst  it all several lines iv  already dropped into  and it all reconfirms why im hear.  Because  pounding down mogul runs and riding flat gay pow (FGP) in north bole just doesn’t do it for me anymore.  So i did the only thing that felt right. I cleaned up all our shit, lashed tree branches to the tent poles so i could  set the tent back up, cooked some meat over the stove, smoked a cigar  in triumph and after 4 hours of cleanup  i toured up  and skied two sick line from the top before dark.

I droped into my first real spine run one night.  It was a super fun evening session. All three of us got to ride something big.

Charles picks a risky patch of snow to do a few turns in amongst some big cliffs. Isolated  in the middle of a blind roller with cliffs below i watch Charles ride a no fall zone.   The line he skied is just lookers left of my spine run.  Meghann   shoots the two photos after she rides an exposed face with an intimidating entrance. (below two photo)

Gearing up for some touring in the sun. We always have a pot of snow on the stove to make water.

Charles demonstrating his skills and  the value of the pre ollie

Heal side slash on a super steep wall on the side of one of the best runs in the bole

Going small on one of the smallest features in the area.  This place is big.  Front three natural take off. Third try.

Not the best way to start a trip.

Back country repars are never pretty.

Fork sacrifice gets the tent up and me snowboarding.
It’s a cool concept to have your labour go directly into what you need. I need heat and something to cook my food on so i go out and cut dry dead trees down, haul them back and split them into small peaces.  I manually get wood for fuel for shelter, food and entertainment. For me it’s more rewording  then going to work to get money to pay heat bills and pay for other modern conveniences.

Dust on crust. Maybe next year………..

Hidden Lake

 We dropped into the lake at the mellowest approach with a clutter of gear and overly packed bags. It wasn’t a very graceful entrance to say the least. Two of us had poorly packed toboggans basically towing us down a fairly steep powder run. With a toboggan in front of us and heavy backpack on we tried to do turns down the run following the path the toboggans wanted to drag us in.  A sense of relief  mixed with a strong feeling of accomplishment comes over me as I look up from the lake at the terrain we will be spending the rest of the winter riding. It’s ours: our own big mountain snowboard park. With very few ski visitors from the near by ski hill Shames, it feels like it’s our own private mountain with no other track but our own.

But it’s not. It’s not that way at all. It’s wolverine country. Unknowingly we set up shop on a wild animal trial. The wolverine uses the same up tracks as we use for touring. I’ve been back to Hidden Lake three times this year and I’ve seen tracks in the snow three times. One of which was only minutes old. A wolverine ascended the mountain using my up track while I was riding down and eating a late breakfast. This became apparent on my way up for my second run because there was fresh tracks on top of my skins trail from the run before. On a different occasion, Meghann was setting up to drop a cliff and I was lower down setting up my camera. I spotted something on the ridge just above her so I send her a heads up over the handheld radio. “There is totally a wolverine above you”. Being about 60 feet away from each other however they can’t see each other; the wolverine can hear Meghann  as she talks on the radio. The animal hunkers down like a stalking cat when Meghann speaks then proceeds on up the ridge when she stops talking. The wolverine is an incredible animal, the king of the jungle, the top dog and it’s backcountry skills our unbeatable. To try and parallel the animals way  in the mountains with my own is a cool concept and to respect it’s power and majestic lifestyle is of the most importance. That being said the terrain here is sick and it’s been sunny.

Up on the ridge looking down on the tent.

Down in the tent looking up on the ridge.

A nice morning run before breakfast

Scoping out my next line for after breakfast.

It’s a super cool feeling to look out your front door and see amazing skiable terrain and then just go and ski it.

The mountain in front of the tent  is super cool but the back yard offers some cool snowboard fun too. Just a 3 minute walk away where the creek drains from the lake is a sick little pillow stash. There is some big mountain spine runs in the area and it’s awesome to know there is a lifetime of progression ahead.

We didn’t jump into the big lines right away. The stuff just off the lower ridges provided some good turns and it gave us a good feel for how the terrain rides. It gave me a sense of scale to the area by doing some turns in some of the lower chutes and powder faces.  All the run outs from the lines in Hidden Lake bowl go out onto the middle of the lake so you can open it up and flash the runs super fast.

mini spine run just out from the trees

This is taken of the lower bench. There is a big bowl up above it with some aggressive entrances into it that you can link up with this lower section.

The lifestyle of camping on the lake is hard work but super rewarding. Looking up and picking your line from the lake is super cool. It’s a good hike to get on top of some of the runs and navigating your way down over blind rollers adds a bit of a challenge to the riding here. Snowboarding seems to be the easy part. Knowing how the snow conditions will be and managing the dangers of riding bigger lines seems to consume more of my conscience than the actual snowboarding. The natural way the lake is set up for backcountry sking is really good. There is small slopes to start out on and gradually work your way up to some of the bigger lines if the snow conditions and stability permit. We were testing our luck with a thin 3 inch wind slab on some mellow slopes. I went over to the next chute and my 3 inch windslab turned into a 12 inch windslab. I was half expecting a small reaction in the snow so I rolled in with speed and was able to manege the slide that I triggered. We shut it down after that and moved to a different aspect that provided safer riding and had a incident free rest of the day.

Meghann had company from a wolverine just out of sight behind her as she patted down the take off of this cliff. She stomped it clean and rode it out to the bottom out into the lake.

I was lucky to get good conditions and I got to ride a few big lines from the top with Charls on the radio talking me into the entrance of a pretty exposed line from beside a huge cornice. It’s always super intimidating being on big stuff  without being able to see down the line  untill your a foot from the edge. It feels like your on the edge of the world and all you can see is the mountains across the valley. With confirmation from your friend below with a good view it’s still a big step to look over the edge and drop in.

I got to flash out of this run super fast then rode a nice bowl into the lower bench were it gets steep again. Such a good run. Charls skied a sick line off the lower bench and met me at the bottom. I looked up as the sun was setting and we could have called it a day but the peak was glowing and I figuerd we could get to the top agian before dark. I put the push on and we got to the top to drop another sick run before dark.

Looking up at the top section of our last run of the night.

Looking down the last run of the night.

Droping in at about 8 pm. Monday night.

The “to do list”

Ya the to do list keeps growing. The more time I spend exploring here in the Northwest Coast, the more that things start to seem possible. I feel I don’t need to travel to exotic places like Alaska or head south for the summer in search of snow and good times.  It’s all here in my back yard. Everything I want is at my finger tips. Well kind of.  Materialistically speaking in regards to snowboarding all my plans and dreams are coming together nicely but in a way it still feels ungraspable. Time seams to be the biggest hindrance. There just isn’t enough of it. Old injuries flaring up have slowed things down a bit this year. Trips and planned sessions aren’t materializing as fast as we would like them to. It’s March 8th and it should be go time right now but I’m laid out again and trips to the pool are the biggest adventures of the day. Time taken away from snowboarding during excellent conditions really puts thing into perspective. More down days. Meghann and I took a nice drive through the Nass Valley. In the heart of the valley we rounded a corner on the empty highway. I felt a great rush and excitement as I looked out the window, so I slammed on the brakes and stopped in the middle of the road. To our left at the end of an accessible and inviting valley we saw this amazing peak in the afternoon sun. We jumped out of the truck and took photos and made plans right there in the middle of the road.  I sent the photos to our friend Charles and he immediately asked for the name of the mountain so he could get a map and start doing research.

 Time growing old teaches us new things and we add another sick zone to the “to do list”.

Sight seeing made it hard to keep my eyes on the road and the Nass valley on a sunny winter day is hard to beat. We headed to the coast to take a look at the eulican run at the mouth of the Nass river just outside of Greenville. Meghann has participated in the anuual eulican grease making that happens in Knights Inlet. It’s a traditional process of fermenting large amounts of small fish with the end result being a solidified grease with the consistence of cooked bacon fat.  It’s something I would like to learn more about and perhaps participate in next year. During the run both the Skeena and the Nass river are full of life.  Hundreds of sea lions, eagles and other sea birds follow the eulicans up river. If you have spent any length of time in the North Coast you have probably seen crows chasing and bothering eagles countrless times. I often wondered why the eagles never turn on the crows and end the torment.  It was cool to get a photo of just that.

The collaboration of snowbaording and fishing in my life has kept me home here in the north after several years of travelling and time spent living in Whistler.  The idea of a traditional existence here combined with progressive snowboarding has sparked a new interest in my photography, riding and the way I want to go about living. The below photo is of a beautiful scene taken by Meghann on a tributary of the Nass river and I’m out there trying to catch some trout.

Add some jump boarding

Baffled that Charles and I wanted to leave on a blue bird pow day, Meghann made it happen and  talked me into getting a couple last minute pow shots as we broke camp to head home after 4 days in the backcountry.

 Suffering from the mid season shred blues as Charles calls it he and I sit back and watch Meghann do some cool snowboarding. We just couldn’t get stoked on this feature but Meghann had scoped it out a few weeks before and she wanted to ride it mostly because of the dramatic back drop. The snow conditions weren’t perfect but she dropped in anyways after a few minutes of contemplation. Conditions didn’t permit a second try but I’m sure she put it on here personal “to do list” to head back there some other time.

When your about to drop a 25 foot cliff into a super tight landing with a sketchy 30 cm wide run in that’s located underneath a massive cornice wall, riding someone else’s splitboard, you know exactly how Meghann feels at this moment. Respect

Free Style Split Bombing

Strapping your board to you back and trudging through devils club and alder bash happens frequently hear in the Terrace backcountry.  The mountains from the highway looking up have a magical pull to them and it possesses the few people dedicated  enough to try and find a route  up to the top of them.  Old logging roads help out with this but mostly it’s the drive to find new terrain and the excitement of peaking around the next corner that compels us to explore this rugged coastline. Adventure snowboarding, I like to call it. It’s undetermined how the day will go and there is usually unexpected obstacles to overcome. Summating something new that rarely gets skied is an amazing feeling.  That being said I’m still a freestyle snowboarder to the core. I grew up skateboarding and later found snowboarding. As a kid we found motivation and inspiration in learning new tricks and then developing them so we could put our own creative feel into it.  Style. We would watch videos of the pros like Devan Walsh and and Jp Solberg to name a few and go crazy in front of the TV as they would throw down super smooth front fives and back ones off natural features.  That is snowboarding to me and that’s what really gets me stoked. Anyone that’s spent a lot of time on a skateboard or a snowboard knows the unbelievable feeling of floating a motionless backside 180 and stomping it clean.

Fisrt jump session of the year in one of my faveret spots at shames.  ”Back one mute”

“Method” first hit

Boot  packing a jump with friends in the sun.

I got to watch Meghenn do this “inde nose poke” first hit. Good snowboarding and it was good to be sessioning a hard pack jump with split boards no worries.

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for some bigger lines to ride here at Shames. The dark side of the dome as it’s called has some dramatic looking scenery and some intimidating lines to ride if you look at the face long enough. A few local skiers and friends of mine have been droping into some  cool lines off that side of the dome this year.  The large snowpack and recent stable conditions have made this possible.  I was lucky to be able to check one off my to do list this year. A tight litttle line lookers right of the main dome couloir.

I had to bootpack up the right side of it to take a look. I knew I could ride the line, but was a bit nervous about the hike over to the edge and how to strap into my bindings and begin the drop in at such an obscure angle. I had to get within two feet of the edge to get a look down it because it was super steep. It was preitty intimidating walking to the edge of something with exposure and not being able to see anything but the mountians across the valley. Hand held radios helped and I was able to peek over the edge.  The entrance was steeper then I thought and it seemed easer to air into it rather then roll into it like intended. It all went good and I got going super fast pinning it out of there into the open bowl below the line.  It’s super fun to ride some new stuff in your home mountain. (click on photo to view full screen)

It’s alway rewarding to ride things out of your comfort zone when the conditions permit but it’s the mountain life and the feeling I get just being out there that keeps me coming back  and keeps me dedicated to the lifestyle we are fortunate enough to live here in the Northwest coast.

Morning tea and weather report.
A recent dry spell has forced us out of the sun and into the shade ware old snow is still good to ride.  We have been riding some super fun lines and getting the odd photo. It’s bean challenging to shoot in the shade and the photos arn’t all winners but it’s still good to shoot and show what’s happening back there for us this season.

Scoping out the line from the top.

Last minute hesitation on a personal first decent or maybe just a goggle adjustment .

We met a cool french dude in the back country. Charles came here on a ski trip and after a few days of looking around in the backcountry he bailed on his big mountain contest in Washington, bought a season pass instead of a lift ticket, and found a room  to rent.  We rode with him for a day and he popped more 180′s and butters on his split board than I’ve seen all season. Freestyle split bomber for sure.

slash to backside butter

I’ve been super lucky with the photos we have been able to capture in such a short time. I starting to think the mountains and rad locations play a bigger part in the photos than my ideas and visualizations behind the lens. We seem to get nice  photos on every trip we do.  The day after a good session at Shames we adventure snowboarded and toured up Skip Mountain.  We didn’t get to ride anything but the trip was awesome all the same. We looked at some sick alpine lines and got some sun and a lot of excersise. Whenever you start an asent from the Skeena River you know you’re in for a big day.

Wolverine tracks are the only tracks we seen all day. Actually I’m guessing we were the  only people into this spot all year.

Another little gem in the backcountry,North coast style.

Feeling not in the mountains but rather with the mountains.

This photo is sick.  Self portrait and some foreshadowing of future shred times.

Sun Influence

15 minuets of sun had me packing a small wood stove stuffed in a very large backpack from the shames parking lot into the backcountry, no easy task being it could have gone up on the char life. However  the lift was down and so was our  drive to get the rest of the camping gear into the back country. We sipped coffee and chatted to people in the lodge as we came to the realization that we were probably  not going to make it to our destination today. It was drizzly and i was fine with calling it a day and heading back to terrace. I finished my coffee around the same time the clouds started to rise. I strapped in and started up the hill for a quick tour before we headed back home. The sun came out and after a few minute discussion  we reverted back to the truck and load our backpacks to the brim with gear and food and started the slog back up the char lift line. We had the tent set up in the backcountry for the first time at about 530 in the evening. Alpine glow  filled the view in front of the tent and we knew right then that we made the right decision.  The next two days were sick.

This is the first camp spot in the mountains. A nice location to access the goods in the shames backcountry.

Looking down the dome couloir   on a sunny day.  There is a big cornice to hop down and it wasn’t the day for that.  It’s always a humbling feeling to be standing on top of big terrane

It feels good to finally post some snowboard photos up on this blog. All that touring was making us look like some well dressed skiers  ahahaah.

Meghann feeling like an ant in the bottom of Zimacord bole looking up.

Loving the low in the ski  winter light that happens early in the season. And of course the super good pow.

Meghann bombing through small point release  avy debris.

I couldn’t resist the little late evening cornice drop. Just had to get some.

Last run of the day as the moon came up over the top of north bole. 15 minutes to the tent and the fire was lite and we were chillen

The next day we toured into Hidden Lake and skied a sick spine with good snow.  The light was flat but we got a few good photos on the ridge traveling to the drop in point.

Back to terrace and striate to the pool, blog up date, groceries in the morning, some small binding repair, hand held radio perches, gas  and then back up to shames.  Full moon and forecasted sunny days ahead. Super  stoked.

Subject to change.

“You  cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place?

Just this:

What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. one clims, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up.”

Rene Daumal

I read this quote  in a picture book about the 50 most famous ski descents of north america that was laying out on a coffee table at a friends house.  The book it’s self was inspiring with all the rad photos of big mountains and crazy lines people have skied over the years but this quote was what  really stuck with me. Iv always been into backcountry snowboarding and iv always felt a strong power or large presence in the mountains. iv been split boarding and touring for just a year or two now and i can feel a shift in my attitude towards my time spent in the north cost mountain range.   I now feel it’s far more important for me to be perceptively  in  the mountains then it is for me to just snowboard in them.  What i can learn from the mountains,  for me is the  pivotal  gift.

As fun as it is, bouncing down  mogul runs with the boys  is not an option for me any more. The instant gratification of chucking a front 5 into a tight little landing probably wont be happening for a wail but im thankful that i have a snowboard thats cut down the middle making  for relatively easy mountain travel and im happy to be able to share these moments with like minded people.

A view from the shames Parking lot in the morning. The fog seams to consistently hang in the Skeena vally leaving the alpin clear and inviting to ride.

Another early morning photo. This was taken looking back across the skeena valley  at shames ski area. On the right side of the photo you can make out the ski runs from the resort.

Over the summer i talked a lot about this tent (below photos) and a dream of bringing it into the shames backcountry  and ultimately having it stashed at  hidden lakes. Do to an ongoing injury  this idea has been complicated a little bit. It was however nice to bring it out on the skeena river to test it out for a couple of night during a full moon.  It’s going to be supper neet to have this little shred shack all set up at hidden lake one day.  It’s nice to see a dream slowly materializing.

The tent and all the gear is quit heavy and too big to pack into backpacks so i adapted little kids toboggans to hall behind us wail we tour around. It seemed to work ok but it’s going to be really slow going in the backcountry.
Cats are not dogs  but we brought them out on the adventure anyways.  They hid in their carry box and when we let them out of the tent they peaced out and hid out under a log for the remainder  of the trip.

I also got the tent all kitted out with cooking gear and other camp handy stuff.  It seamed to all work out good. Cooking on the wood stove is effective and is going to make for a bit of a challenge and for good times. The heat from the stove makes it  totally liveable and comfortable  during the cold . It’s supper homey inside and we started laughing a lot when we thought of having it set up in sick snowboard  terrane.

The ultimate  pizza hut. ahhaha  i call this the “mountain slice “

Touring into the sunset along the Skeena river

 Black and white 50mm  f/1.4  1/400 ISO 400

I brought a fishing rod out to try and catch some trout.  We had leftovers for dinner one night.

Iv been spending time in the gym and slowly getting my strength up. Iv been splitboarding at ferry island, a nice park just outside of terrace to get my body healthy and used to touring.  I took my camera and my friends dog out one day and shot some nice images

After two weeks of an attitude adjustment, two pool sessions a day, two workout sessions a day mixed with yoga, chiropractic and  therapeutic massage  help  and eating proper foods i was able to head into the mountains and do some mellow touring and powder riding.  It was too soon but it just felt right to go ride and i was  stoked to get back there and really appreciate  what we have here in the north west.

We headed up into the mountains  during an arctic outflow. We spent 3 days in the backcountry with a daytime high of about minus 25 and a night time low almost bottoming out the thermometer at minus 35.  It was good experience to spend that much time out in the elements  and we were blest with very little wind and sunny skys . We managed our  body temperature  by controlling the speed of  our touring  being always conscience of sweeting.  Our group of four had to split up so that the two stronger members could manage there body heat by walking at a faster rate to generating quicker blood flow to warm their  extremities (it was also bluebird and they were jonesen to ride some pow).  Stoping for  any length of time was problematic and it made for challenging photographic opportunities. I felt comfortable  all day in those temperatures but i found it difficult to keep up with the high calorie in take as i was using so much energy staying warm and touring all day. After the trip it took me several days to get my hunger and eating habits back to normal. It’s neat to think of food strictly as fuel source  and not as a pleasurable  past time.

Two night and 3 days in the mountains was satisfying but we wanted more because it was so beautiful up there. Day four we were in terrace recharging and re fuelling .  This was an all day process. As we were organizing bus rides home and a living room full of gear we got a call from Brad. ” all my crew bailed and we are heading back up if you guys want to come” there was room on the sleds and i was all for it. We got more   food and met Brad at his house at 8 the next morning and we were off on another mission.

We rode deep blower pow for three days.  We stayed in the trees and out of the alpine because the conditions didn’t permit alpine travel and riding.  A perfect trip  but the mountains are boss and on the day we were planning on leaving we were in for a bit of a shock.  We decided not to do any runs the morning of our departuer so we just chilled and enjoyed the morning. We eat and did a little clean up.  10 30 am  and it’s time to strap in and head home.  I stepped outside and in a few steeps i was up to my chest in unconsolidated snow. I knew from that moment the trip home was going to be know easy task.  Part of our crew left the day before  back to terrace with all their  snowmobiles but i was confident in touring all the way back to the truck because it was all down hill. I didn’t however count on the 40 plus cm’s of wet snow that fell over night on top of the 30 cm’s plus of blower that had accumulated over the weekend. Snowboarding down hill was near impossible and we had to tour down hill witch took over an hour. A ride through the trees that normally would have taken 4 to 5 minutes.

An honest tit’s deep.

when we got to the bottom of the tree run i had a very focused,  emotional and agonizingly  slow trail brake full of fear and anxiety across an avy path . 25 minutes later we are both safe across and ready to brake trail down a 4 to 5 km snowed in logging rod.  The heavy  west coast snow with the consistence of mash potatoes made an hour and a half easy tour home a 4 to 5 hour ordeal. We got safely to the truck just as it got dark at 6 pm.  Wet, exhausted  and hungry we were able to start the next struggle of the adventure.  4 days and 3 knights in the mountains during a heavy snowfall left my truck well buried in a shit load of snow.

 
An hour and a half later we were able to drive out and start the 3 km revers drive down the icy poorly  plowed logging rode as there was no place to turn around. 8 pm check in with Brad and a late dinner at Don Deago’s in fully wet and stinky ski gear ended the day with a smile on our faces

 another day and another day……………….

The loner session

Night time in the Nass valley during December lasts until 830 in the morning  makeing  for a short work day that raps up at 430 in the afternoon do to early nightfall.  But i have energy and im in the mountains.   I eat dinner, grab my board and headlamp and drive up nearby logging roads for some late night touring. Conditioning and lack of enthusiasm for the gym was my main motives for split boarding  up mountains in the dark after work. During my night excursions i found a few pillow lines and open faces made from old clear cut logging. A few days later there was a full moon the snow was light up and it was session on.

I made a little edit of the drive up. check it
http://vimeo.com/33634142

I named this zone the Pillow Factory. All the stumps left over from logging got coverd in snow and made little jumps and bumps. It’s a low angle slope so it wouldn’t work in deep snow but it was super fun to ride the smooth crust during the full moon . It kinda seamed a bit surreal like i was actually snowboarding on the moon or on a different planet. it had a cool feel to it .

A few weekends prior to this session i hooked up with Johnny and we went to shames. super deep snow and an unplowed road made for a good little adventure.  We didn’t have any luck taking snowboard photos but we got some photos hanging with Sam and Brit on the hike up and in the parking lot for a little tailgate hotdog roast on the stove. I took a couple other photos during my night time touring missions that i liked. I also meet a  touring friend  hear in the Nass. We set up the tent one night and did a run and then hung out and enjoyed the warmth of the stove. Before long we were in our base lares and it was about minus 4 outside super comfy.  Theres always good times if your willing make the effort.

Fall ski and fish

“F#$% the cabin. We aren’t even going to go in. Theres  way to much work to be done in there, well blow right by it because  there is good skiing to be had today.” Brad Zeerip As he hangs out the drivers side door of his truck as he flies out his driveway in revers because he is too excited to wait for his truck to worm up to clear the windows. The excitement doesn’t stop and nether does the high speed of the vehicle as we make our way along the opposite side of the skeena river from highway 16. We gear up and start the hike with traces of snow under our feet. The bright colours  of our ski gear entices  me to bring out the camera  and snap a few pictures against the saturated drizzly  backdrop of the fog; the environment we will be spending the rest of the day in. After an hours hike we put on the skins and start touring, 20 minutes later we are at the entrance to the cabin and in the middle of winter and it’s only october  28.  We deke into the cabin for a quick look and to dry out a bit but there is no work being done today. We bundle up and head strait up into the trees. It’s too stormy and unstable to ski any of the rad alpine lines that surround  the area but we find a nice little tree run and lap it twice. Wet and tired but smiling we make the slog back to the truck.  Sunday we head up to shames to help out with some of the volunteer work that is being done. After 30 days of work  in camp and one day of snowboarding i find myself in a dark wet crawl space pulling out wet insulation under the ski lodge. I didn’t last long and after 3 hours i strapped on the split board and start touring from the lodge. It’s a mellow day and we drop in from the top of kermote cut and strait line 130 cm of wet heavy snow. I have to hike out and down the rest of the hill because it’s to deep to snowboard on such a low angle. Back to the truck.

  

Brad and crew taking a brake in the valley and gearing up  for the 2o minutes grind and we are ready to tour up on the snow.  I love the colours of the ski gear

A professional angler’s desk after five or so months of guiding.

Darrel’s guide to safe boating and  some pre dinner entertainment north coast stile on Lakels lake.

I got the afternoon off work on this fall day and packed my fly rod and drove 3o minutes up to the Cranberry river in the hopes of hooking into a steelhead. I was told later that  i went to far up river but i was able to capture this image rather then hooking into any fish.   It’s ALWAYS worth the drive .

A few photographs from the summer

In the past two summers i was fortunate enough to pack my board and head to the southern hemisphere to try and ride pow and see the sights of a foreign country with my friend Lisa Gradon.  This year however i chose to buckle down and work all summer witch should set me up well for this season. Instead of posting pictures of another rad ski adventure i was lucky enough to capture  a few nice images  from around the north west.This photo of a coyote  was taken out the window of the truck on my way to work. It was mid April and he/she still wares a thick winter coat. I was told that the coyotes stay on the lava beds to avoid the bears and wolfs that clam the forests  near buy.

        The photo above was taken in the Nass Vally. I wanted to show the diversity of the area by capturing the lava beds coniferous trees and the impressive alpine mountains  all in one photo making it all seem very close to the viewer. The photo to the left was taken on the Nass river  during the sockeye salmon run, the locals drift down river spreading their gill net across a section of water.  I watched this guy haul in about 40 fish in one set.

 I was in a field full of hundreds of these small bees pollinating  the whit flowers. It was really noisy from all the buzzing sounds they made.  The few video clips i took of these bees turned out better then the photos. This was the best of all the 45 photos i took.

Just working some angles hear trying to get an interesting shot with the flash on to expose the totem pole and a darker exposure to bring out the colour in the ski and rainbow. This shot was taken at the bridge  as you leave the village of canyon city. There is two totem pols at each end of the bridge.

I drove 14 km up a gravel road to find this amazing blueberry patch I was told about and cheque out a viewpoint. I found nether blueberries or a viewpoint so i tuned around to head home and saw this little creek. I set up the tripod and took a quick shot and gave up and went home. I wasn't very exited about this photo until i uploaded it and had a look at the colours of the rocks and moss. i should have spent more time and got it in better focus.

 

Probably  the cutest photo i have taken. looks like a trouble maker to me.

I got out of the village a few times this summer.  On one of my weekends off Gissele Liu (above) and I teamed up and took some photos of her dancing and a few head shots. We spent about 7 hours shooting over two days and got some really good stuff.  This one  made the cut.

Back yard photo shoot  with Adrian. She had a bunch of veggies and berries growing in her yard Terrace b.c

Preseason at Wesatch and an afternoon fishing trip on the Lake Els river.

it was exciting to clime up in the fog into a new zone with my new friends Brad and Travis. 12 km drive of gravel wash out road 3o min hike through alpine bog and thick blueberry bushes 1 hour hike out of tree line and we get out the boards split them and slap on the skins for the assent.

It’s always good to see some new terrane aseptically when in’s so close to home. I was told this zone is skiable year round depending on the size of the winter snowpack.

we toured up in the fog and skied a cool little colour  that has hug potential for good fun with better viz and deeper snow. i was happy to be doing some turns in october.

We were satisfied . We made the quick dash back to the truck and loaded  up and bounced down the longing road to the highway just outside of Rosswood talking about future   adventours and admiring the view as the clouds evaporated from around the mountians. good times

 Here is a couple photos of an afternoon fish in the sun.  It was a nice fall day but the fish definitely  had there way by  jumping all around us without biting our  flys.  After a few hours of casting, i gave up fishing and set up to try and capture a jumper through the lens of my camera witch also  proved to be a challenging task.

first photo shot by Ellisa