Posts Tagged Crystal Mountain
June 30, 2011 – Mt. Rainier from Crystal Mountain
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on June 30, 2011
Mt. Rainier from Crystal Mountain
Thursday, June 30, 2011
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2542
Hey again everybody. I apologize that the last two mountain-y pictures I’ve posted have both been wintertime shots. That wasn’t really the intention, it’s just kind of the way things worked out. But, I figured this one was appropriate because I just used it (earlier today!) to enter some cheeseball photo contest that Crystal Mountain (the ski resort) is having. Normally I make it a policy not to enter photo contests. Officially, my reasoning is that photos themselves (and the “quality” thereof) is entirely subjective, and thus the judging of photos to choose the “best one” is completely absurd. That there can be no such thing as a “best” photo, and so to pretend that you are judging photos as such is kind of insulting. Unofficially though, the real reason is because I know I wouldn’t win, and then I know that would make me feel bad. I generally prefer to not feel bad, so I save myself the trouble and I don’t enter, convincing myself that the *real* reason I didn’t enter was the one stated above.
So.. why did I enter this one, then? Not really sure, I guess I was just in a photo contest entering mood. And that’s a total lie. The reason I entered this one is because they were showing some of the other photos that had been entered so far, and they all basically sucked. I mean, like, photos-taken-with-cell-phones sucked. So I basically qualified my reasoning from above, by adding the clause “once the photos meet a certain, fairly low quality bar”. As in, “Once the photos meet a certain, fairly low quality bar, there can be no such thing as a ‘best’ photo”. I still don’t think I’ll win, because I figure the chances are pretty low that mine will be the only “real” (ie non cell-phone) photo entered, and it’ll probably be fairly arbitrary which one is picked as the winner (meaning, “somebody else will enter a picture that’s actually really effing cool”), but hey, we’ll see what happens. The rules were somewhat strict, in that it had to be a picture of Mt. Rainier taken from somewhere on Crystal mountain. But, since you can basically only see Rainier from the ridgeline at the top of the resort, most of the photos entered looked… basically the same. This one’s just a little bit different from the standard view (an example of which can be seen here, which was almost the one I submitted), so I’m hoping that counts for something. I had some *really* different shots, zooming way in so you could just see some of the trees you can see in this shot against the glacier in the background, but it wasn’t readily identifiable as Mt. Rainier, so I figured that might be a bit of a stretch. So, I settled on this one, and then moved on with my life. Which is also a lie, because clearly I’ve been talking about this stupid little photo contest for two paragraphs here on my entirely unrelated blog, so obviously it’s been on my mind most of the day, which is absurd. But, there it is.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Canon 55-250mm IS lens. 1/200s, f/14, ISO 100. Focal length: 65mm.
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May 17, 2011 – Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on May 17, 2011
Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1307
Wait, didn’t I just post another picture yesterday?? Heck yes I did. That’s right, I’m shooting 2-for-2 this week boys and girls. I don’t actually remember the last time I managed to get 5 posts in during one week, but so far this week’s looking promising. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes.
This is Crystal Mountain. You can still ski there. I mean, it won’t look like this right now, but there will at least be some white stuff on the ground. Perhaps I’ll even get to see it for myself this weekend? Hmm, that might be a bit optimistic, we’ll see. But whatever happens, we’ll always have this picture to look at together. That’s right. Me and you.
Whoa, too personal, I’ve got to take a step back, I’m feeling a bit flushed.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/125s, f/25.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 24mm.
Popularity: 26%
January 18, 2011 – Silver Queen from Crystal Mountain
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on January 18, 2011
Silver Queen from Crystal Mountain
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=357
Hello again, everybody! I once again want to apologize for my spotty posting over the past couple of months. I really do want to get back into it, now that all the craziness of the holidays and such is over, and a myriad of other excuses. In fact, I came into this week fully planning on putting up 5 shots. But, then I realized that it was already Tuesday morning, that I had already lost a day due to the holiday yesterday, and I had to give up on that dream. So, the current, updated plan is to put up 4 shots. We’ll see.
I decided that it had been long enough since I posted a skiing picture, and that today was a great day to toss another one up here. So, here you go. This is a view of Silver Queen Mountain, from the summit of Crystal Mountain. Silver Queen Mountain is actually in-bounds for skiing, if you were wondering. Well, that’s a bit misleading. There’s a chairlift that goes to the very tippy top, and everything on the LEFT side of the ridge coming down is skiable. But everything on the RIGHT side is not. Some people still do, as you can see by the presence of tracks over there, but if you do decide to ski it, my understanding is that you are: 1) putting yourself at a decent avalanche risk, 2) setting yourself up for a VERY LONG hike back out, or a VERY LONG trip down through some extremely gnarly trees and probably very spotty snow coverage, down to the (closed) highway into Mt. Rainier National Park, which is probably four or five thousand vertical feet down. But hey, if that’s your thing…
Also, to continue the theme established last Wednesday, this is not a recent picture. I think it was taken back in 2005 or 2006, with a pocket point and shoot. But, last I heard, that mountain is still there.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/800s, f/8.0.
Popularity: 17%
October 27, 2010 – Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on October 27, 2010
Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1305
So, it finally happened – we got our first big snowfall in the mountains. So, in honor of that, here’s a shot from last season, at Crystal Mountain. This time of year is always tough for me. Every year I tell myself that I’m not going to start watching the webcams at all the ski hills every day, to see if the snow is starting to pile up. Because every year we get a couple storms in late October or early November, but then since it’s still too early (for this part of the country, anyway), it always melts again, and we have to start from scratch. And it crushes my soul. Every year. Every year I tell myself to wait, to just wait until at least mid November to start obsessing over it. But then we get a huge storm rolling through, and I see all the snow on the Olympics to the west, and the Cascades to the east, and it starts the process all over again. Sigh.
This year’s supposed to be a great one through, what with La Nina rolling through and all. La Nina generally predicts cooler and wetter weather than average for the Pacific Northwest. While it’s true that this means there’s a better chance than usual to get some snow days in the city, that’s no guarantee. What IS a guarantee (or darn near to it, anyway) is that there will be greater than usual snowfall in the mountains. Which is awesome! (Mt. Baker, one of the ski areas around here, set a world record for the most snowfall recorded in a single winter among any place on earth, not just ski areas, back in 1998-1999, which was a La Nina year.) They’re saying this is the strongest La Nina since the 1950′s too, so, umm. Yay! I already invested in some low-visibility goggles to get ready for the season, so bring it on! (We’ll be getting a ton of snow this year, but we won’t be seeing the sun too often…)
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/320s, f/14.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 19mm.
Popularity: 18%
August 18, 2010 – Crystal Mountain
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on August 18, 2010
Crystal Mountain
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=859
Wow, what happened to Tuesday?? That was weird. Oh well, it’s Wednesday now, and here’s Tuesday’s post. This was taken at some random spot on the mountain at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, here in Washington state. Good times.
I realized a couple weekends ago when I was in Lake Tahoe talking to my cousin that, while I do talk about the general idea behind aperture and shutter speed and ISO and all that other crap here and there, I don’t really have one nice, easy-to-find spot with all of that written down. I wanted to direct her to that page, but it doesn’t exist yet. Also, I couldn’t just direct her to the blog itself and tell her to read a few entries either. Whenever I’m writing up a post, I feel like I’ve already covered that ground, several times, so I don’t feel like going over it again and again and again. But, it’s been quite awhile now, and I don’t even remember where all that stuff is. So, I decided I should go ahead and make up a new sticky page, that’ll be right up above in those tabs that you only see if you’re looking at the actual website and not reading this entry in a feed reader. Oh, no, it’s not there yet. But the intention to put it there is totally there. And that’s half the battle.
And I’m not even going to mention Flattr today. So there.
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/640s, f/8.0, ISO 80.
Popularity: 17%
April 15, 2010 – Silver Queen Mountain
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on April 15, 2010
Silver Queen Mountain, Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Thursday, April 15, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=713
Hey everyone, happy tax day! Well, it’s happy for those of us that already finished, which at this point should be all of us, right? I actually only finished a couple days ago. I like to wait until the last minute, just in case, you know, something changes. I still hold out hope that one year, on April 10, they’ll just decide “You know what, guys? This tax thing is all a bit ridiculous, let’s just bag it this year, eh?” One day, one day…
Today’s picture comes from Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, just like the majority of my wintertime pictures. This was taken at the top of Silver Queen Mountain, which is at the top of the High Campbell chair. I believe it’s the highest lift-served point in the ski area, although I haven’t verified that against the Northway lift. You can of course hike up to the top of Silver King and still technically be in-bounds, but this is as high as you can get at Crystal on a lift. Today’s picture is also interesting because it’s the second picture in a row that I’ve posted that was taken with a point and shoot. I’m not really sure WHY that’s interesting, but it feels like it is.
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD700 IS. 1/1600s, f/5.6.
So now I’m done talking about today’s picture. Wait, what’s that? You want more? Well, today, I can hook you up. I’m starting to work on a new page detailing out the equipment that I currently use, as well as the equipment I’ve used in the past. I’m even adding links for each item to a list of Picture of the Day posts USING that item. Pretty sweet, huh? Yeah, totally. Here’s a link to the page, or you can click on “My Equipment” on the tabs up above. Currently it’s just got the stuff I’m using now, but I hope to one day have an exhaustive list on there, including all the lenses that I’ve ever used, and a list of all of the little point and shoot cameras that I ever remember owning. That’ll be pretty neat. Pretty neat indeed.
Popularity: 17%
March 4, 2010 – Iceberg Ridge
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on March 4, 2010
Iceberg Ridge, Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Thursday, March 4, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=359
As many of you know, I tend to really really dislike having people in my pictures. (Well, with the obvious exception of pictures of my family which generally aren’t intended for public consumption, blah blah blah…) I’m not sure why I shy away from it so much. Maybe it’s because the fashions that look good when you take the picture can look horribly dated before much time passes (seeing somebody wearing some ridiculous outfit in an otherwise really beautiful wilderness setting completely changes/ruins the picture, in my opinion anyway), or maybe it’s just because I only know ugly people. But whatever the reason, I really try to keep my pictures people-free. It’s a shame though, because having people in your pictures can definitely add value, it’s really good for adding scale, and it can really draw the viewers in, help them imagine themselves actually being there. Or so I’ve heard, not sure if I’m buying it.
All that being said, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for this image. It may only be that nice deep blue in the sky. Blue makes me happy. Not sure. But whatever it is, I think I’ve always liked this one more than other people do. Stupid other people. Not you, of course. Like, *other* other people.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/1500s, f/7.1.
Popularity: 13%
February 18, 2010 – Mt. Rainier from Crystal Mountain
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on February 18, 2010
Mt. Rainier from Crystal Mountain
Thursday, February 18, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1304
Hey everyone! We’re back! And, hopefully, stable for awhile now, with no more last-minute swapping of web hosting services required. (Once again, I’ll take a moment to remind you that Lunarpages sucks, Lunarpages is awful, they’re a joke of an organization, take your cashmoney elsewhere.)
You’re looking at Mt. Rainier, a huge volcano that could explode at any moment, which will inevitably wipe Tacoma off the face of the Earth. But it probably won’t any time soon, so you shouldn’t let the threat of looming death deter you from, for example, visiting the Point Defiance Zoo (which I’ve heard is lovely). This is the standard shot, taken from the standard spot, just off the top of the Rainier Express (Rex) lift at Crystal Mountain. Pictures can never do it justice, unfortunately, there’s no substitute for just heading on up there and seeing it for yourself. Pictures make things so small, but it’s really quite spectacular when you see it looming there in front of you, it really is impossibly huge. This view is in itself worth the price of admission on a clear day.
So I’m not sure how closely any of you actually read these posts, as opposed to just checking out the pictures, but the answer is yes, this picture was indeed taken just this past Monday, when I decided to head up skiing instead of posting an image here. So selfish, I know. But it was a gorgeous day, I got several shots that are picture-of-the-day-worthy, so you’ll no doubt be seeing them soon-ish. Probably the day after I force you to sit through another Shannon Creek or Shi Shi Beach shot. Won’t that be fun!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50 mm f/2.8 lens. 1/400s, f/10.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 21mm.
Popularity: 33%
December 31, 2009 – One Lonely Tree
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on December 31, 2009
One Lonely Tree
Thursday, December 31, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=351
Welcome to the end of another year! Who would have ever thought we’d make it this far? Better enjoy the next one, you never know when the world will end catastrophically. This was a fine enough year for me personally, although it seems like everyone I know on Facebook is complaining about how much it sucked and how they hope next year will be better. Perhaps I just had a lot of fun at their expense and now they’re just bitter. Not sure.
This will be the last picture posted in 2009. And, more importantly, it will also be the last picture posted this week. I’ll be back in full-force next week though. I’ll post a pretty good picture on Monday to get you interested, then I’ll sneak in something crappy on Tuesday and/or Wednesday, but then I’ll try to finish the week strong on Friday, because that’s the way I roll. That’s how it’s going to go down. You’ll see.
As with most (all?) of my wintertime pictures, I took this one while I was out skiing (Crystal Mountain this time.) We get a lot of days just like this out here in the Pacific Northwest: poor visibility, but lots of nice fresh snow. Although you can tell it wasn’t THAT big of a powder day, based on how much snow is sitting on the branches. But whatever, not the point. Actually, I don’t think there is a point, so maybe there is, and that was it.
Whatever. Have fun tonight! Do at least one thing that you’ll regret next year!
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/320s, f/10.0.
Popularity: 12%
December 1, 2009 – Silver King at Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on December 1, 2009
Silver King, Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=881
You’re looking at Silver King, which is located in the south backcountry of Crystal Mountain Ski Resort in Washington state. I took this from the Forest Queen lift, although I didn’t really want to admit that. Before I go any further, I’ve got to say it: it bugs the heck out of me that the very tops of those trees are cut off. It really really really annoys me. Sigh.
This turned out to be one of those rarest of days in Washington: a blue-sky powder day. (Shut up, Utah. We know.) Powder? Oh, we’ve got plenty of that. The storms never really end. But that’s the problem. It’s always snowing, so the sun never comes out. Oh well, that’s the cross we bear. I suppose I’ll find some way to deal with it.
I have run out of things to say today. Before I wrote this sentence, I was staring at the screen for a full 3 minutes trying to think of something, but I kept just thinking about what I wanted to eat for lunch today. Maybe it’s lunch time.
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/320s, f/9.0, ISO 80.
Popularity: 35%
July 17, 2009 – Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on July 17, 2009
Sunnyside, Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Friday, July 17, 2009.
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=711
I decided to post another skiing picture today, because I feel like I’m ready for winter again. I mean, don’t get me wrong, summer’s nice and all. But this season, I never had a chance to get my “farewell” run in. Usually, on my last day of skiing for the year, I take a few extra moments to appreciate my last run, I pay a little bit more attention to how each turn feels, to try to burn it into my memory, since I know it’ll be a long hot summer before I get to head up on the hill again. This time around, I was very confident that I had at least one or two more days left, so it didn’t even occur to me that the turns would be the last. Sigh.
All that talk about this last season, but yet this picture isn’t even from then. it’s from 2007. This was a nice sunny spring powder day at Crystal Mountain. Well, it started off as a powder day, but as you can imagine, bright sunshine in the springtime meant that the slopes facing the sun (those that face south-ish, like this one, called “Sunnyside”, duh) got pretty sloppy. But that’s fine, you expect that sort of thing in the spring.
Yeah, I guess that’s all I’ve got to say about this one, have a great weekend!
Map: http://bit.ly/19VXQk
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD700 IS. 1/1250s, f/8.0, ISO unknown.
Popularity: 11%
May 29, 2009 – Mt. Rainier from Crystal Mountain
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on May 29, 2009
Mt. Rainier from Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Friday, May 29, 2009.
Rate this picture:
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=342
Okay, I’m going to go ahead and get this one out of the way. Yes, you’ve seen it before, both on my profile page and on my artist page. I’ve been trying to toss out new ones that you guys haven’t seen yet, but I’ve got to use these ones up too. I’m telling you now: one day next week I’m going to use the Mt. Shuksan picture too.
This is a picture of Mt. Rainier, taken from right near the top of the Rainier Express chair at Crystal Mountain. For those of you who either don’t live in Washington or don’t ski, Crystal Mountain is *the* place to ski out here. It’s a fantastic mountain, albeit with ridiculously shitty service. Yes, it’s true, everyone who works for the mountain seems to go well out of their way to be an asshole, but they only do it because they can, because it’s far and away the best place to ski in the state.
Mt. Rainier is (obviously) the centerpiece of Mt. Rainier National Park, and Crystal Mountain is just outside the park boundary. It’s 14,410 feet tall (the only reason I know that is because I know that Pikes Peak is 14,110 feet tall, and I know that Rainier is exactly 300 feet taller), and it’s just a big ole’ volcano. Other noteworthy volcanoes in the same chain include Mt. St. Helens (yes, that one), Mt. Baker, Mt. Hood, Mt. Shasta, etc, etc, etc.
The cloud in the upper left hand corner may or may not be a “lenticular” cloud. I’ve heard that term a lot, and I think that’s what it means, but I’ll be honest: I really have no idea. Those clouds are caused by air being forced over the mountain, and usually indicate that there is moisture moving in to the area. Meaning, it’s sunny today, but it’ll be raining (or snowing, depending on your elevation) tomorrow.
That’s all I’ve got today. Have a great weekend!
Map: http://tinyurl.com/npohsv
Make sure you scroll down and to the left, to see Rainier itself.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500. (Point and Shoot) 1/1000s, f/7.1.
Popularity: 13%