"Buried Treasure" in the desert

The southern Utah desert (and the northern for that matter) are chock full of what I call "buried treasure." It's not really buried, but on the surface and from a distance you just see hot, dry, dusty desert. But as soon as you take the time to enter a canyon you find playgrounds, lush greenery, and/or a water paradise. It's the kind of place that corporations try to model their waterparks after. But it's real and it's not full of chlorine and the smell of people frying their skin.


So here I am again, so fortunate to shoot photos in this beautiful environment.

Here is the obligatory self portrait (and I am pretty sure Hannah and Kyle are shooting their own self portrait in the background!)




A beautiful waterfall (never jump! A broken ankle in a place like this is the worst idea ever). We had a nice little corridor to scoot around to the side.

It's amazing to think about the forces of nature that created this waterfall. I'm pretty sure it's just a pile of debris that was flushed down in a flash flood and got stuck at this extra skinny corridor with sediment and more debris piling in behind it until the top leveled off. I could be wrong though... I'm no scientist. ;)

Still hiking on day one. We did have a small panic in the name of flash flood danger. The danger rating was low, but we heard thunder just after our lunch break, and then a few raindrops, so we decided to book it straight to camp (at the end of a good section with many "safe" places of high ground).





A nice spacious campsite for our group of 9.









We were hoping the water level would be high enough to float our packs on day two, or possibly float ourselves so we brought some super cheap tubes along for fun. It was a float-failure for most of us, but who cares, the scenery was AMAZING and the bright green donut colors just pop so nicely in the relative dark at the bottom of this canyon.


Although Hannah did find the right combo for the ultimate "lazy" river set-up. Nice view from there!

Bicycles, how do I love thee?

Biking is my spring-summer-fall love. How fortunate I am to take 3 days and shoot mountain biking in my favorite place to ride. We headed south for a HuckNroll.com photo shoot with Shaun Raskin and Jenn Berg, whose names you may recognize as ripping skiers, but they are equally talented on two wheels, and GREAT FUN to ride with!

Yes, let's do this again sometime.

Hell's Canyon

And... Switching gear to SUMMER MODE!

I was asked to go on a 5 day river trip through Hells Canyon to shoot photos for Backcountry.com. Um... YES PLEASE!

Hell's Canyon is on the Snake River where the river creates the twisting, winding, curvy border between Idaho and Oregon, and Idaho and Washington. We put-in just north of the Hell's Canyon reservoir and dam and floated 75 miles north to our take out at Hellar Bar in Washington. The river was running pretty fast so we had ample time for a layover day at our favorite campsite and still made it to Hellar Bar on time.

The trip was incredibly beautiful! For 5 days we were surrounded by lush green mountains that dropped straight into the river. Sometimes we would pass cliff walls dropping straight into the water. It reminded me a lot of the Oregon coast and I was just waiting to see a pirate ship around the next corner. I also expected to see these lush green hillsides covered in herds of goats or sheep, but it was remarkably empty of land mammals (plenty of birds though!)

We tackled the biggest rapids of our trip within the first ten miles on the first day. Scouting was mandatory but our "captains" rowed through like champions and after all that fun and excitement we were a little bummed to find out we had already hit the biggest ones and the rest of the trip would be relatively mellow in comparison. Many of the remaining rapids were washed out due to the high flows as well, but a trip with this group was anything but boring.

The group dynamics, as it were, impressed me immensely. Not only did everyone get along, but we all became friends, and had no trouble sharing the chopping, cooking, cleaning, wood collecting, and groover duties, or letting loose for an impromptu dance party in the sand.


The trip was so amazing that I have to remind myself that it rained on us every day. Because I remember the fun and forget the rain! That is the sign of a good trip. I would do it again in a heart beat.

Many many many thanks to everyone who made the trip so great, and especially to Heidi and RJ for their captain duties, and extra many thanks to Ashley for pulling the permit, making the plans, rowing us (and my camera gear!) safely through Wild Sheep and Rush Creek rapids, and attempting to teach me how to read a river map. (Sorry, the hot springs will have to wait till next time. It was my first day!)

Baker, Atomic women's team, good friends, and winter-in-the-spring

Great week! Just returned home from a little Atomic team shoot at Mt Baker and hanging with some great great friends. We had been watching the weather. And waiting. And waiting. And the winter was nearing it's end. And then the forecast started looking up for the northwest. We pulled the trigger. Angeli VanLaanen, our friend (and amazing skier!) Carston Oliver, and I drove from Salt Lake City, Utah up to Bellingham and Mt Baker, Washington to meet up with Molly Baker (no relation), as well as Grant Gunderson, Zack Giffin, and Holly Walker. KC Dean and his friend Scotty from Moment Skis drove up to play in the snow, too! It was a party! We were treated to mid-winter conditions in the spring. Skiing with great people. And it was glorious. Thank you gulf of Alaska!

Icefall Interview

This certainly does not tell-all about the trip, but a few questions on the shooting experience at Icefall: http://www.theskijournal.com/news/2010/02/04/reliving-icefall-with-re-wikstrom

Powder Video Awards

Despite being a Powder Intern "Alum," I had never been to the Video Awards until last night. Around 5pm we jumped in the car and made the drive from Denver to Aspen. We missed the first half, but there was still plenty of action after our arrival. I was especially happy to run into Rachael Burks and hear about her much deserved reader poll award and see Lynsey Dyer accept her award for Best Female Performance! A first for both of these ladies, so stoked for you!

Check out the videos!
video of the top 5 women
Best Female Performance!

it was definitely fun to parrrrr-tay in Ahhhhspen. Those who know me, know that my inner party animal does a lot of sleeping, but it was awake last night and enjoying every minute.

The drive back to SLC wasn't bad either. I've never driven through that part of the desert when I could see it covered in snow (I have driven through there in a raging blizzard but I could barely see the taillights of the trucks in front of me when they spun off the road. That is a whole 'nother story though.)

Icefall Lodge

Another trip I didn't want to return home from. :) Spent a week and a half with a ripping group of tele skiers, Paige Brady, Shaun Raskin, Candy Froerer, and Martha Burley. We took a helicopter into Icefall lodge, about 60km north of Golden, BC and spent the week touring before the heli returned to fly us back towards Golden. We barely scratched the surface of the terrain there. Must go back! A huge thank you is in order for Larry Dolecki who had the vision to build the lodge, explore and ski the surrounding terrain, offer guided (or un-guided) weeks of skiing, and continue to explore the area with the Lyell Hut (first of many he plans to build for longer tours and hut trips from the main lodge). Another HUGE thank you to Mo (Monique) our chef for the week, and new friend and ski buddy! And another HUGE thank you to Bremner (aka Snow Dog), Henry, and Phil for their locals knowledge of the terrain. I have always loved Canada and Icefall is just one more reason to add to my list!