Fall Color

Well Saturday was a big day with Sarah and Sam's wedding, and then the annual Backcountry.com Adventure Party. Waking up early on Sunday was not, "plausible" to say the least, AND IT SNOWED in the mountains that night, too. My roommate had the awesome idea of hiking up to Cardiff pass, figuring the snow might melt by the afternoon (you know, by the time we all woke up) since it is south facing and open to the sun. There was still snow on the top third of the trail on account of the lingering clouds, but the fall colors were AMAZING, especially with the contrast of the new snow. The Pfiefferhorn looked especially majestic with it's new white coat of snow. Anyway, not too much to comment on, just a nice hike with some A+ Wasatch scenery.

The photo is Alta's High Rustler through the gold aspen trees, just a quick snap on my point and shoot.

re's meditation

I went for a hike up to Sunset Pass today since my bike is out of commission at the moment. I took the ipod shuffle for the hike up, but once i hit Catherine's Pass i turned it off to just take in the mountains. Upon reaching sunset pass I took some time to just appreciate the mountains, the green alpine meadows, the granite cliffs, the single track that is usually buried deep in the winter. And then i remembered what i actually like about hiking and running, and if you know me, you know I would much rather ride my bike than go jogging, but it's the pensive time. The time to let your thoughts wander, weigh the options on certain issues, contemplate everything from old friends, to new surroundings, to goals for the winter, for the year, for the next ten years.

I am not really into yoga or meditating, but i realized, this is my meditation time. And since i didn't have the Wasatch Back Relay to train for this spring, i went straight into biking, and have been neglecting my inner thoughts.



I jogged most of the way back down in the cool autumn air as the sun was retreating from the yellow and orange glow of the aspens and there was this awesome sense of peace and well being when I reached the car.

Women's Ski Jumping

It was kind of a last minute addition to the forthcoming issue of the Ski Journal, but they decided to run Vanessa Pierce's story about the exclusion of women's ski jumping in the Olympics. I was stoked for the opportunity to shoot a feature like this, but there is one minor issue.... it's August!

As i came to find out during the days i spent shooting, ski jumping is one winter sport that is actually a year round event. While they have twice as many competitions in the winter, they still do somewhere around 8 to 10 in the summer (maybe up to 15, I am spacing out on the number right now). Pretty cool, eh?

It was an honor and a pleasure to shoot these girls. Ski jumping looks to be about the closest thing to flying on skis. So these girls are tough, and they can virtually fly. I love it. What I don't love however is their exclusion from the winter olympic games. The more i learned about their fight to be included and every reason that gives them every right to be there, and awesome facts like "Lindsey Van holds the hill record on the new jump that was built FOR the 2010 olympic games" and they still aren't included, the more upset i became with every factor working against them. I think most of the girls have resigned themselves to the fact that they will not be jumping, and are probably sick of the whole thing and would rather go out and jump than be worried about the politics, but as a new-comer to this controversy, it was really upsetting to say the least. A make-you-want-to-punch-things kind of upsetting.

After all that though, I am happy to have had the opportunity to do my part in trying to bring more equality to the olympics. Be on the lookout for the article "DENIED" in the fall issue of the Ski Journal!

OIWC's Polly-Ester Party

Amy Luther contacted me a few months ago about shooting the OIWC's (Outdoor Industry Women's Coalition) Polly-Ester Party during the Summer Outdoor Retailer trade show.

I was excited about shooting the event, but it was even more fun than I expected with all of the fabulous 70's dresses, and suits, and platform shoes.... it was great. We set up a "prom style" photo set which was located between the main building and the outdoor tent space. Some people really got into it! it was great! If you missed the fun or never found your photos, you can check it out here: http://www.oiwc.printroom.com/

This party was more than just having fun in a 70's time warp though, it was a launch party for the OIWC's new Education Foundation and i am a sucker for helping in any way i can to see that other women achieve great things because that is just a normalcy in my life that I like to share with the world.

*also a huge thanks go out to Sarah and Sam for helping out that evening!

Peak Performace Backcountry Tour For The Cure

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure of spending a night camping under the beautiful Pfeifferhorn with 10 other girls who call the Wasatch home, at least in the winter. We had the most perfect weather with bluebird skies and barely a hint of wind. Kelly Holland decided she wanted to raise money for breast cancer research and have fun along the way. And that's exactly what we did. Vanessa Pierce has laid it out in words much better than I could, so I will direct you to her article along with my gallery of photos from a fantastic weekend:
Powder.com: Backcountry Tour for the Cure

"I do it for the joy, because I am a joyful girl"

I know.... I promised everyone i would be updating this while i was in Alaska. My first day in Girdwood/Alyeska was so overwhelming i couldnt get it all written out while i was perched over the laptop in the corner of the Sitzmark trying to concentrate over the music. I had started writing about how beautiful the sunset was, and how the golden "hour" lasted for many many hours, alpen glow until about 10pm on these giant intense mountains. I went from overwhelmed in the morning to, getting comfortable in these new surroundings and loving it. The next day dawned bright with an exploratory road trip into Anchorage for some extra camera gear followed by a hike up Center Ridge where the other photogs had already dug in, (where i also had the pleasure of meeting photographer Johnathan Selkowitz). But this day ended with a teary eyed sunset and the passing of skier John Nicolleta. After that, skiing and shooting was just "going through the motions" and being in Alaska didn't seem right. Shooting competitions didn't seem right. Being stoked on competitions didn't seem right. And being stoked on any skiing was hard to say the least. We went for a couple short road trips. And went for a couple tours off Turnagain Pass. Mellow tours to be sure. I wanted so bad to be happy about being in Alaska, but my head just wouldn't allow it. It was the first time I was ever relieved to leave some place so amazing, which is such an odd paradox to experience. Under ordinary circumstances I would have been perpetually stoked out of my gourd and then really sad when it came time to go home.

After leaving Alaska I stopped in WA for a short visit before returning back to Salt Lake. Since it is still full on winter up there, we had a fun stormy pow day at Mt Baker. Looking back it was a great day, but at the time, it was still so hard to be stoked on skiing. I have since returned to the comforts of home, spent a lot more time thinking about what exactly we do in the mountains, why we do it, how we go about it, how we should or not do certain things, have talked about it with close friends, and have been slowing re-learning to love the mountains. Slowly remembering what drew me here in the first place. Slowly allowing myself to enjoy them again for their solitude, for their sunshine, for their liberation, for their independence, for their challenge, for their friendship, and friendships created because of them.

Press Release: Shootout Winners

The Winners have been announced at Ski Press' website, check out the list and a preview of the winning photos.

update: the Ski Salt Lake press release is now up with larger/better views of the winning photos!