Lone Pine Peak
Photo: Winter dawn on Lone Pine Peak, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. Feb 2010
Failure
Well, it’s Tuesday and I’m back in Santa Barbara instead of up in the mountains. Had a bit of a technical problem, compounded by a stupid oversight on my part, which forced me to call off the mountain.
The problem, my stove didn’t work. No stove in winter camping means no water to drink. A bit of an issue. Ya, that’s a frozen lake in the foreground of the above photo, but it wouldn’t have been the smartest decision in my life if I had tried get get water out of it. The stupid mistake on my part was that I didn’t bring a lighter/matches – which I normally always have in my bag, but I had to take everything out when I last flew, and I guess things never made it back in. Now the stove is supposed to be self lighting with one of those ‘clicker’ things, but being a new one, I never tested it out at 12,000 feet, where it apparently doesn’t work. Started up just fine once back down in the valley. Stupid me…
Had it been sunnier, I would have tried putting my water bladder on top of my snow shovel (black) to maybe get some heat radiation to melt some snow; likely not enough to continue the climb, but at least for a less thirsty night/hike out. My best attempt was to fill up a small bottle with snow at keep in next to my body under my jacket. Managed to get a couple sips for the morning at least. I wasn’t in that far, so I didn’t have any worries about an ‘epic,’ just more anger at a situation I could have easily avoided.
I could have gone back in the next day, but I sort of lost my motivation for suffering. Spent the afternoon bouldering at the Buttermilks, but I still wasn’t feelin’ it. I’m a bit distracted at the moment with trying/hoping/figuring out how to get a work visa for Norway, which isn’t looking all that hopeful, unfortunately. If I had $20,000 sitting around, I might qualify for a 6 month ‘skilled migrant job seeker’ type visa, but I’m a little poor for that. At the beginning of the year I had hoped to be in Lofoten by June where I want to work on a book project over the course of a year, as well as run some photo workshops/tours for more adventurous types. Not just the walk 10 feet from the road type stuff, but camping in the mountains and longer hikes, more of less what most of my own travels are. I basically want to be some sort of photo/travel ambassador for the Lofoten islands as anyone who’s ever been knows it’s the coolest place in the world! More thoughts on this later, I’m still hoping that I can pull something off, somehow, someway…
On the bright side, at least I walked away less sunburt than normal.
Mount Whitney
Photo: Mt. Whitney sunrise. Feb 2010
I’m heading up for a week or so in the eastern Sierra today. Maybe try and bag a few peeks depending on weather, or just be lazy and enjoy some bouldering in Bishop. I guess it depends on the weather…
Western Isles – Butt of Lewis
Photo: Coastal rocks, Butt of Lewis, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Jan 2011
I don’t really know why, but for some reason I was under the impression that the Butt of Lewis was not a very interesting place. I guess it is probably a often visited tourist location, being one of those furthest, highest, most, lowest, type place. In the case of the Butt of Lewis, its the northern most point of the Outer Hebrides.
There’s not really much there. An old 1860’s lighthouse, some cliffs, and a few birds; maybe even some puffins in summer. Oh, and there’s wind. Yep that should be on the list. I don’t think there’s ever a shortage of wind in this part of the world, being the first piece of land any weather hits arriving from the arctic. I should probably also add rain to the list as well. So for a place that’s seems relatively boring on paper, and with bad weather, I found it totally awesome.
I think it helps that I arrived in perfect conditions for the mood of the location. Had I been there on some calm, sunny summer day I’m not sure I would have walked away with the same impression. Or had there been mist and haze, I may have hopped back in the car without the camera ever exiting the backpack. But I was lucky. January winds whipped the sea into a fury. Rain arrived, then passed with enough time in-between to get some work done. I could find sheltered areas, probably a bit close to the cliffs, where my tripod would remain mostly still. As the short winter day faded towards night, I think I saw this place in it’s raw, natural state. Cold, harsh, barren, empty, isolated, dark. Yet amazingly beautiful.
Photo: Butt of Lewis lighthouse, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Jan 2011
Photo: Coastal rocks, Butt of Lewis, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Jan 2011
Photo: Panoramic of Butt of Lewis, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Jan 2011
Photo: Stormy seas crash below Butt of Lewis lighthouse, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Jan 2011
Rannoch Moor Winter
Photo: Loch Ba frozen in winter, Rannoch Moor, Scotland. Jan 2011
Photo: Cracking ice of frozen loch, Rannoch Moor, Scotland. Jan 2011
Buchaille Etive Mor
Photo: Buchaille Etive Mor, Glencoe, Scotland. Jan 2011
On the eve of what would be an epic snow storm…
Ghost – Panoramic
Photo: Lenticular cloud illuminated by full moon over Sierra Nevada mountains, Alabama Hills, California
A 4 image panoramic of the same scene I posted a couple weeks back. Lone Pine peak is the high mountain on the left of the photo, Mount Whitney is about 1/3 from the left, while Mount Williamson is slightly right of center. For a sense of scale, from my position to the summit of Whitney is slightly less than 10,000 ft of elevation gain.
Elgol – Isle of Skye
Photo: Elgol and Cuillins, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Jan 2011
The coastal view from Elgol towards the dramatic peaks of the Black Cuillin is one of the most classic images of the Scottish Highlands. This Scene has probably been photographed a million times, yet the constantly changing conditions mean it is rarely the same. The most common view is likely that of misty, gloomy rain, but when conditions are favorable, a thousand results are possible. These four photos represent only an hour and a half of time from a single winter day. One of those days where one could be in ten places at once, too many photos waiting to be made, yet precious little time to make them on a short January day.
As much as I love mountains, I also equally love rugged, stormy coasts. The game of cat and mouse with the crashing waves only inches away. Trying to get the timing of the waves just right, waiting till the last minute before jumping across the rocks and out of danger. Often I leave such places with wet feet at a minimum, occasionally thoroughly soaked.
Rum
Photo: Isle of Rum as viewed from Elgol, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Jan 2011
Bryce Canyon National Park
Photo: Looking towards viewing platform at Upper Inspiration Point, Bryce Canyon national park, Utah
Originally Bryce Canyon wasn’t on the list of places to visit, but it’s lucky we went as it turned out to be my favorite place on the trip. I’ve seen tons of pics and generally knew what it looked like, but I didn’t know much else. Such as it’s at an elevation of 8,000 – 9,000 ft, and there’s lots of snow. And mostly that it’s just so cool looking in real life, way better than any photo I can take, even when it’s -10˚ C at sunrise.
After leaving the Grand Canyon, to road took us east to Monument Valley, which I’ve never been before. To me the place was sort of anticlimactic. I’m glad I went and saw it, but its not any place that I’m itchin’ to get back to. I don’t really know why. Perhaps it’s because any possible photo has already been taken 10,000 times, or because of the regulations where you’re not supposed to walk around and explore on your own, or just the ‘tourist farm’ feel of the whole place.
After a night at the campground it was time to head back west, roughly towards Zion np. We first stopped at Coral Pink sand dunes state park in southern Utah, which was pretty cool looking, especially as there was snow on the dunes. But the day was young, the sky overcast, and I got a little bored. On the way to the dunes I saw the sign that said Bryce was 74 miles away. Ah, what the hell, I thought to myself. I’m this close already, gas is $1/gal. cheaper in Utah than California, might as well go check it out.
Photo: Hiking among Hoodoo rock formations of the Queens Garden Trail, Bryce Canyon national park, Utah
Arrived in Bryce Canyon around noon, or was it 1pm, as I never changed my watch for Utah time, don’t even know what they use in Arizona. Doesn’t matter anyways for a landscape photographer, the sun doesn’t care what time zone you’re in. The sky was still somewhat hazy so we spent the afternoon getting familiar with the park and trying to decide good sunset/sunrise locations.
The main area of the park, known as the ‘Amphitheater’ is where the most Hoodoo rock formations are. Not to get into a geological essay here, the Hoodoos are left over sea sediment, eroded my water and freeze/thaw cycles over the years. What this creates is something amazingly cool and almost surreal to look at.
Dawn on the second day arrived cold, bitterly cold. Clouds blocked the eastern sky and the day looked like it would remain overcast again. But luckily by around 8:30am or so, the sky began to clear into a brilliant blue with some nice puffy clouds. We took a nice morning hike down the short and muddy Queens Garden trail, which travels down in to the amphitheater and wanders among the hoodoos. It would have been nice to do some other hikes, but a lot of the trails were closed due to the snow or rockfall danger.
In the afternoon, we mostly hung out in the area of Inspiration point. It was one of those days where I know the light is going to get better later on, but I keep taking photos anyhow because it’s so cool looking. But Bryce is definitely a better sunrise location, at least the amphitheater area, as it faces east. In the late afternoon, the sun falls behind the forested slopes on the western side of the amphitheater and the hoodoos are in the shade before the golden hour arrives. Though once the sun has set, I saw some potential for some nice twilight conditions.
The second morning arrived even colder, and windy this time. But the sky was somewhat clear towards the east, so there where some brief moments of golden sunlight on the Hoodoos. Leaving me glad to have stayed another night and thinking about when I can come back again; autumn seems like it would be a nice time…
CLICK HERE: To view more Bryce Canyon images in my photo gallery.
Photo: Tunnel along Queens Garden Trail, Bryce Canyon national park, Utah
Photo: Hiking among Hoodoo rock formations of the Queens Garden Trail, Bryce Canyon national park, Utah
Photo: Hoodoo rock formations of the Amphitheater, Bryce Canyon national park, Utah
Photo: Hoodoos at sunrise from Sunrise Point, Bryce Canyon national park, Utah
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