Posts Tagged skiing
December 6, 2010 – Snoqualmie Pass
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on December 6, 2010
View from Summit West Ski Area
Monday, December 6, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2231
Wow, I kinda let you all down last week, didn’t I? Only two posts that whole time. Don’t even have any good excuses either, I wasn’t out of town, or particularly busy. I just… wasn’t in a posting mood. And I’m not gonna lie, this week isn’t looking much better. We’ll see how it goes.
So, on to today’s picture. Right. This is actually from yesterday, which is remarkable turnaround for me. I went skiing for an hour or two at the rinky-dink hill that’s about an hour outside of Seattle. It’s actually a set of rinky dink hills, I think I’ve mentioned this before, called the Summit at Snoqualmie. It’s at the crest of Snoqualmie Pass, if you were wondering where the name came from. This was from the first rinky dink hill, called Summit West. It’s easy to make fun of. But it’s also got nice views.
I’ve always been in the habit of carrying a pocket point and shoot with me when I ski, but more recently (I started at the end of last year) I’ve started bringing an SLR with me. Sometimes I bring my T1i, which is my current go-to camera, but I’ve decided that my standard practice should be to bring my Rebel XT, which is the first digital SLR I bought, and was my go-to until I got the T1i. I now call it my “rock camera”, which isn’t that funny. I also deliberated for a little while about which lens(es) to bring. I mean, the whole idea is that I’m bringing my old camera in case I wipe out catastrophically. I don’t want the good stuff to get destroyed. So I’ve decided that as long as I’m bringing the substandard body, I may as well bring the non-premiere lenses too. So, the past few times I’ve gone up, I’ve just brought the kit lens that came with the T1i – the Canon 18-55mm IS. (I also have the kit lens that came with the XT, which is almost the same lens, minus the IS, but that one’s still just gathering dust.) I could also bring my old telephoto, but I’ve been a bit lazy about that.
Yesterday, though, I figured I wouldn’t really need it, as it was one of those uninteresting overcast days. So I left it in the car. Which of course meant that, right around 3:15 pm, the sun dramatically broke through the clouds, making for some really nice views. Crap.
To make matters worse, I’ve gotten really lazy about bringing my pocket camera too. I used to have this photojournal thing where I’d take pictures every day and post them (http://davefry.net/journal – I left off the link on purpose, as I don’t want to share the link juice from this site with that POS, but that’s where it is if you wanted to have a look), but I’ve basically stopped doing that. (But I kept it up for like 6 years!!) So, all I had with me was my phone. So I snapped a couple frames, all the while crying inside because I wasn’t prepared. The results, as you can see, aren’t bad. They wouldn’t print up very nice, but at web-size, it’s passable. It’s good enough for this blog, is what I’m saying.
I of course ran (well, skiied) straight down to my car to grab the backpack that had my camera in it, and got back up there as quickly as I could. And there were still some nice views to be had (and I got a few nice frames – maybe I’ll post one of those later this week), but the magic window had passed. Sigh.
Oh well. I’ve heard people say things like “the best camera is the one that you have with you”, and to some degree that’s true. But until the cameras that come with phones get at least up to the quality level of a pocket point and shoot from 8 years ago, you won’t hear me agreeing with that statement in public. But… soon!
Notes: Taken with an HTC Evo 4g smartphone. ISO: 109, Focal length: 4.9mm.
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November 15, 2010 – Alpental
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on November 15, 2010
Alpental
Monday, November 15, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=347
Hey everyone! Been a few days, hasn’t it? This time it wasn’t because I went anywhere, this time it’s just because I’ve been a bit lazy. I’m taking a little bit of a break from this “posting a picture every day-ish” thing. Not like, a total break, just a “I’m going to post a little bit less frequently until I feel like posting more frequently” kind of thing. Just not really feeling the motivation at the moment, ya know?
Today’s picture is actually one of my favorites. I know what you’re thinking: “seriously?? THIS one? One of your favorites??”. And in answer to that I say “Yes. Shut up.” With emphasis on the second part. Because I am rude.
So I’ve mentioned it several times, and you may have heard (but probably either didn’t or didn’t care when you did) that it’s going to be a La Nina year, and we here in the PNW will be doing happy dances in our bounties of snow all winter. And that’s all true! But, before you get too jealous, keep in mind that this ain’t Utah. We don’t get sun here. Ohhhh no, not in my neighborhood. This is what skiing looks like out here. Great snow, plenty of it, but you only realize how deep it is when you have to dig yourself out of it because you couldn’t see where you were going through the fog. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love it, but that’s just the way it is. So, every time you hear me excitedly recounting how much snow we got dumped on us this winter, get jealous. But then, remember this picture, and then get a little bit less jealous.
Speaking of this picture, this was taken in International Bowl, near the top of Alpental. Alpental is part of the Summit At Snoqualmie, which is a collection of 4 ski hills about an hour east of Seattle. It’s the most accessible place to get some turns around here, but it’s also the least exciting. But, they’re open late (10pm), so it’s great for heading up after work or whatever. Good times.
So, see you all tomorrow, or on whatever day I next decide to bother!
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/320s, f/7.1.
Popularity: 11%
November 9, 2010 – Family Skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on November 9, 2010
Family Skiing at Whitefish Mountain Resort
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1386
So, after kind of hinting at it yesterday, I really had intended to post a picture from Yosemite today. And, failing that, I was going to put a shot from my East Coast trip and say something about how I had suggested yesterday that it had been awhile since I was there and I’ve still only posted the one. But, I also failed at that, which means I’m totally at a loss as to what to toss up here today.
So, here’s a random picture of some people. No, I don’t know these people. I honestly have no clue who they are, but gosh, they’re sure having a good time, and I like that. I was playing around at Whitefish Mountain Resort (formerly Big Mountain) in Whitefish, Montana, trying to get pictures of people on the chairlift with cool stuff behind them. I was trying out this vantage point, but obviously the “stuff behind” part is pretty lacking. Ideally, you could get the valley view behind them, or even better, the peaks in Glacier National Park. But, I was never able to find a vantage point for the latter, and the lighting never really worked out for the former. But, I thought this was a nice little moment, and I can’t wait till my own kid is old enough that I can experience a moment just like it with him.
Back to the East Coast thing for a moment. So, I was (obviously) really excited to go out there, in the fall no less. But, between mixed weather and not really getting to spend enough time actually walking around in the trees (where I would expect to find the nice settings I was looking for), I was a bit disappointed in the pics I got. I was hoping that I was just being ridiculous, that there would actually be some really nice ones, and I was setting them aside for awhile hoping that I could revisit them with a clear head and realize that they were actually pretty cool afterall. So, I spent a bit of time last night looking through some of them, and at least in the subset I flipped through, there wasn’t much. I mean, there were a couple that were *almost* really cool, but they each had a bit of fuzz on them that kept them from being the shot I wanted. I mean, it totally makes sense – you’ve got to be really lucky to go someplace for only a day and a half and happen to get the perfect conditions for the perfect shot (locals always have the advantage, because they have the flexibility to go when it’ll be great, and often they also have the knowledge to know when that will be), but I was still hoping. Next time, I guess, next time. In the meantime, here’s Montana!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Quantaray 70-300mm lens. 1/500s, f/5.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 218mm.
Popularity: 10%
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: 14%
September 22, 2010 – Blackcomb Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on September 22, 2010
Blackcomb Mountain
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=162
So since it’s about to be fall (later tonight), I suppose I should start thinking about posting some fall color shots to get everyone in the mood. Perhaps I’ll start hitting that up later this week. In the meantime, you get winter. This is (yet another) shot from Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort. As with the last picture I posted from the area, this is from the 7th Heaven area on Blackcomb. (Although, that one was just taken a couple weeks ago while *hiking*, not skiing. And, I’ll be posting several more shots from that hike in the next couple weeks.) It’s totally true that the area around Whistler (including Squamish) have been represented more than their fair share of times in this blog. But, quite frankly, it’s because the area is probably the prettiest area that I go to with any frequency.
When I took this picture, back in 2003, I had some weird practices for taking pictures. First, this picture was also taken in that period between when I used my 35mm SLR and when I got my first digital SLR, so I used a pocket point and shoot digital exclusively. (I used the word “also” because I posted another picture a week or two ago from the same general time period, if you were wondering.) I suppose that’s not “weird” per se, but roll with me here. Next, associated with Moore’s Law, flash memory is a heckuva lot cheaper now than it was even a few years ago. Or, to say it in a way that’s more applicable to the discussion, flash memory was a whole lot more expensive per-byte than it is today. So, back when I shot this picture, I was using a 128 mb memory card in my camera, that cost more than the 8 gb card I currently use in my SLR. That’s pretty ridiculous. It also meant that I found myself needing to download the images off my camera pretty frequently. And, related to that, it meant that I spent a fair bit of effort strategizing about what image size to take my pictures at.
Wait, what? Yeah, whereas these days I just leave the camera set at the largest size and highest quality, back in the day I’d take the vast majority of my pictures at a very small size (640×480 for my first camera, incrementally larger with the next couple), and then if there was a picture that I thought I may want to blow up or something some day, I’d bump it to Large. (Most of my pictures were just of my buddies and stuff, so the large size wasn’t needed. But if I was, for example, taking a picture of a mountain, I’d bump it up.)
So, why does this all relate to this picture? Well, because, I umm, took this picture at 640 x 480. Meaning, you’re looking at the full-size image. Meaning, if you loved this picture and wanted it printed out nice and big and hung on your wall, you’d be out of luck. It’s unfortunate too, because I like this picture. When I took it, I didn’t realize it was set on small until after I took it. So I then moved it to large and “took the picture again”. It was bright sunshine out though, so I couldn’t really see the details to see if I had actually gotten the same shot again or not, I could just basically see that the sky looked basically the same. Of course I realized later that the full-size version was crap, and only the little tiny one (this one) was any good. So, whoops, live and learn. That actually burned me a couple times before memory cards actually got cheap enough to just leave it set on Large all the time.
So, there you go. Not only was today’s picture taken with a point and shoot, it was taken with a point and shoot set to the smallest picture size that the camera could do.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S230 (Point and Shoot). 1/1500s, f/9.0.
Popularity: 11%
September 7, 2010 – Mt. Baker Ski Area
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on September 7, 2010
Mt. Baker Ski Area
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1736
Hey everybody, welcome back! Hope you all enjoyed your long weekend if you live in a place such that this last weekend was a long one. Alternatively, I hope you enjoyed your regular-length weekend followed by your fairly typical Monday! My traffic dropped fairly precipitously over the weekend, so I’m guessing that means that most of you were indeed not around a computer. Either that, or you had very little confidence that I’d actually be posting anything. Or, most likely, both.
The weather around here was crap this weekend, which cancelled my plans to go backpacking near Glacier Peak. I still hope to make it back to that trail, but this weekend wasn’t looking like the right time. Instead, Julie and I headed over to the desert, where the forecast (which was correct) said it would be 70 and sunny. I didn’t really realize it until this weekend, but holy crap! There’s some absolutely GORGEOUS terrain over there! I definitely need to get out there and explore it more. You can probably tell that today’s picture is absolutely not from the desert, and if that’s what you were thinking, you’re correct. I’m still following my rule that I won’t go through my new pics until at least a couple days since I’ve taken them. Which means, I’ll start looking through them tonight or tomorrow.
So, since I couldn’t look through the weekend’s pictures last night, I ended up instead looking back through some old pictures that I’ve still got on my hard drive. (Eventually I archive them off to DVDs, but I’ve got a few years of pics that I haven’t done that with…) I’m still slowly trudging my way through my old pictures, digging out any that are even remotely interesting. I’ve mentioned this several times. But, last night, I went even further back than that, and revisited a bunch of pics that I had already dug through and grabbed everything that I thought was worthwhile. But, I suppose I was in a different kind of mood or something, because in 4 or 5 months worth of images, I found 23 that I had previously passed over that are at least worthy of putting in Rate Dave’s Photos (which is a pretty low bar, honestly.) This being one of them. Not all of them are any good of course, but some of them are good enough to toss up here. (Well.. okay, yeah, still a pretty low bar. Shut up.)
This was taken at Mt. Baker Ski Area, which is in the northern part of Washington State. I’ve only skiied there once (the day I took this picture), although I have also snowshoed there, and I’ve been up there a whole bunch of times in the summer (it’s inside Heather Meadows Recreation Area). This was I believe on closing weekend a few years back, so mid to late April. Checking the timestamp on the image says yes, April 27. So, almost into May. Now you can see one of the things that frustrates me: why do they have to close these mountains so early?! They clearly still had plenty of snow. I suppose you could argue that by then, most folks have already hung their skis up for the season, so it becomes more and more difficult to keep running the lifts profitably, but whatever, I’m not concerned with the bottom line, I just want to ride a line to the bottom! Sigh, oh well.
It’s worth noting as well that Mt. Baker Ski Area holds the world record for snowfall in a single season. I believe it’s not just the world record for ski areas, but for any point where snowfall is measured. That could be wrong, but I think it’s right. Anyway, the record was set in the 1998-1999 season, when they had 1,140 inches of snow fall. (That’s **95 FEET** of snow, or 29 meters!!) That was a La Nina year (you know, the opposite of El Nino). Oh, did I mention that La Nina is also scheduled to make an appearance this season? Yes. Yes it is. Excellent.
I should also note that this picture was NOT from the record breaking season. This was just from a more typical season, where they average 647 inches. Still not too shabby, kinda makes you wonder why I’ve only skiied there once, huh? Oh, right, it’s more than a three hour drive. That would do it.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300mm VC lens. 1/500s, f/11.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 109mm.
Popularity: 17%
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: 13%
July 19, 2010 – Flathead Valley and Whitefish, MT
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on July 19, 2010
Flathead Valley and Whitefish, MT
Monday, July 19, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1420
It’s the middle of July. It’s perfectly sunny, hovering right around 70 degrees. Summer has finally arrived here in Seattle. And all I can think about is how badly I’m pining for winter. 6 months from now, I’ll be kicking myself.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-55mm lens. 1/200s, f/9.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 47mm.
Popularity: 8%
June 24, 2010 – Snoqualmie Pass
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on June 24, 2010
View from Summit Central, Summit at Snoqualmie Ski Resort
Thursday, June 24, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=884
Apparently this week’s pattern is to post pictures from cameras of lower and lower quality each day. Monday, it was a photo from my most modern SLR body and the “new hotness” lens. Yesterday, it was my old SLR and my crappy lens. Today, it’s from a no-longer-current pocket point and shoot. Tomorrow? It’ll be a pencil sketch on notebook paper.
This was taken from near the bottom of the Summit Central ski area, which is one of four that make up the Summit At Snoqualmie. Summit Central was known as Ski Acres only a couple years before I moved out here, but that’s not relevant.
In other news, I suppose this is a fine opportunity to once again give a tepid encouragement for all of you to vote for me in the Blogger’s Choice Awards. For those of you who aren’t familiar with those awards, it’s a website where you can nominate yourself, and then tell all of your readers to go vote for you. Thus, it’s totally just a dirty trick to get folks like me to do their marketing for them. You have to register an account (with a valid email) to vote, so it seems pretty skeezeball. However, I *can* say that, since I gave them my email a year or so ago, they’ve never send me any kind of spam or anything. That’s not to say they won’t ever, but it’s definitely not QUITE as skeezeball as I expected it to be. The award itself is meaningless, but what ISN’T meaningless is the traffic they send to my page, simply by me being in the running. So, if you feel like helping a guy out, go ahead and vote for me. Here’s how:
1) Go to bloggerschoiceawards.com. I’m not going to link to it, because I don’t want to give them my linkjuice. But type that into your browser’s address bar, and create an account.
2) Go to the Best Photography Blog category. (Also, Best Travel Blog, Best Hobby Blog, and Best Blog About Stuff. I know, I know, shut up.)
3) Vote for me. At the time I’m writing this, I’m in second place.
Woo, thanks!
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/250s, f/14.0, ISO 80.
Popularity: 10%
May 26, 2010 – Whitefish Mountain Resort
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on May 26, 2010
Whitefish Mountain Resort
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1370
No, that’s not my kid.
I was fartin’ around on the mountain trying to get pictures of people skiing with the town in the background, when I saw her skiing by. I thought it was a really cute moment, so I went ahead and snapped it. This was taken at Whitefish Mountain Resort (formerly Big Mountain) if it wasn’t already obvious from, you know, the title of the post. And that means that the town in the background is Whitefish. I think the picture’s tilted. Damnit.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Quantaray 70-300mm lens. 1/1000s, f/6.3, ISO 200. Focal length: 70mm.
Popularity: 13%
May 14, 2010 – Snow Ghosts
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on May 14, 2010
Snow Ghosts, Whitefish Mountain Resort
Friday, May 14, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1397
Hey guys. Today’s post takes us back to Whitefish Mountain Resort (formerly Big Mountain) which is just outside Whitefish, Montana. I realize I’ve posted a few pictures like this already, but I just can’t help it, those snow ghosts are just irresistibly photogenic. When you toss them in front of a blue sky, magic just sort of happens. They seem to be pretty common in the high country at most inland ski resorts in the northwestern US and western Canada. (I’ve seen them in Montana, Idaho and BC mostly, but I’ve hardly been everywhere, so what do I know.)
I realize that it’s basically summer now, so winter and snow is the LAST thing on most of your minds (do I have any southern hemisphere readers?? Anyone??), but I’m not quite ready to let go yet. In fact, my original plan was to head up to Whistler this weekend for one last gasp, get in just a few more turns before the long hot summer. But sadly it didn’t work out, so alas I’ll be hanging out in and around Seattle this weekend. Sigh, oh well. Hope it’s nice wherever you’re at!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/320s, f/10.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 47mm.
Popularity: 12%
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: 13%