Posts Tagged Snoqualmie Pass
September 13, 2011 – Snoqualmie Pass
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on September 13, 2011
Snoqualmie Pass
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Wow. I’ve been pretty terrible about updating this site lately. Only one post in all of August, and we’re halfway through September and I’m just getting around to making my first post. Sigh. And the bad news is, things probably aren’t going to change anytime soon. So, I hope you like this picture, is what I’m saying. Like, *really* like it. Hmm.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55mm kit lens. 1/1600s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 55mm.
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July 20, 2011 – Chair Peak from International Bowl
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on July 20, 2011
Chair Peak from International Bowl, Alpental Ski Area
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
I know, I know, another winter picture. Hey, it’s what I had handy. This is a view from in-bounds at Alpental (a ski area near Seattle), looking into the backcounty. That’s chair peak, and I was standing in International Bowl when I took the shot. I know I’ve said this before, but this is, more often than not, the kind of weather we get at our ski resorts. Lots of great snow, just not a whole lot of blue sky. Sometimes you’re skiing in the fog, sometimes the fog lifts a bit, but it’s generally pretty grey.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/200s, f/13.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 50mm.
Popularity: 29%
December 10, 2010 – Summit At Snoqualmie
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on December 10, 2010
View from Summit West / Snoqualmie Summit
Friday, December 10, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2222
Hey, you guys remember Monday? I mean, I know it was a long time ago and everything, but, do ya? That was the day that I posted a picture from my camera, because I didn’t have any other cameras with me at the moment. I said that I might post something that I got after I went back to the car to GET another camera, and that I would maybe post it later in the week. Well, it’s later in the week. And here’s a picture that I took after I went back to the car to get my other camera.
The sun was shining nicely on the back side of lots of the trees that were along the ridge, so it made for a nice scene. I didn’t get that nice illuminated ridge across the big valley that I wanted, but at least I got some decent stuff out of it all.
On an unrelated note, I noticed today that I’m getting frightfully close to having a total of 400 comments on this blog. (That only includes comments on this blog itself, not comments on my Facebook page, for what it’s worth. But it DOES include comments from me, which is probably 94% of them. Whatever.) So, I’m wondering if I should do anything special for whoever happens to post comment number 400. What do you guys think? Anybody care? Like, maybe a free print or something? It could be of any picture you see here. Well, it doesn’t even have to be that, it could be anything really, it doesn’t even have to be a picture I took!! Actually, yes, it does. Sorry.
Okay. Bye.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, 18-55mm IS kit lens. 1/250s, f/7.1, ISO 200. Focal length: 24mm.
Popularity: 15%
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.
Popularity: 10%
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%
July 26, 2010 – Lake Keechelus
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on July 26, 2010
Lake Keechelus
Monday, July 26, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1453
Okay, I’m back from San Francisco! And despite the fact that I was there in the middle of July, the weather down there felt like this. I don’t think it hit 65 degrees while I was there. Since when does California have crappy weather?? I had no idea, but apparently this isn’t that unusual? (Anybody want to comment on that??) But, I promise I will never again fantasize about moving down to the Bay Area when Seattle is trudging through another crappy spring. It was just under 80 degrees up here the whole time I was down there. Had somebody said early last week that there would be a time that I’d be leaving nicer weather in Seattle than I’d be getting in San Francisco, I wouldn’t have believed them. But, well, now I know.
So, this picture… This is Lake Keechelus. It’s right along I-90, just east of Snoqualmie Pass. I was literally parked in the shoulder when I took this picture, in fact. (Well, not a shoulder in the normal sense – there’s a large extra-wide shoulder right after Hyak that is presumably used as a truck stopover and chain removal zone. So it’s not quite as stupid as it sounds.) I can’t remember the details, but I think I was up there to snag a couple turns at Summit Central, but either it really sucked or it was closed, so I ended up just driving around for awhile, that’s why I ended up east of the pass. Not really sure. But, here’s the picture anyway.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-55mm f/2.8 lens. 1/400s, f/10.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 50mm.
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%
June 2, 2010 – Chikamin Peak and Gold Creek
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on June 2, 2010
Chikamin Peak and Gold Creek
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=913
Hey folks. Hope you all enjoyed the long weekend, if you live in a place where this last weekend was a long one. This is a picture of Chikamin Peak and Gold Creek. It’s right near Snoqualmie Pass in Washington State. Right on the other side of that row of trees is Gold Creek Pond. There’s a nice little path around the pond, and a cute little picnic area. The story behind it is that, when they were building the interstate (which was not too far behind me), what is now Gold Creek Pond was a huge gravel pit. When construction was complete, they turned it into the cute little picnic area that it is now. How nice of them.
That all being said, I would like this picture a lot more if that little bushy thing at the bottom of the frame wasn’t there. Sigh.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300mm VC lens. 1/160s, f/8.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 28mm.
Popularity: 11%
February 8, 2010 – Snoqualmie Pass
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on February 8, 2010
Snoqualmie Pass
Monday, February 8, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1120
Hey everyone, welcome back from your crazy weekend! Today’s post is my humble appeal to the powers that be that, for god’s sake, it’s winter, can we please act like it?? To say that it’s been a crappy season is… well, okay, it’s not an understatement. It’s probably not even an overstatement. It’s certainly a little bit misleading. But it still feels true.
See, it’s an El Nino year. Which can mean very little for us up here in the Pacific Northwest. But it can also be really really frustrating. It can mean, like it has this year, that most of the weather systems miss us by just a little tiny bit, and what systems we do get rolling through are too warm to be of any use except dropping a couple inches of rain/snow mix that help keep the existing snowpack from disappearing any faster than they otherwise would. There’s been a couple nice big dumps, but they’ve been followed a couple days later by rain usually, which kind of defeats the point. Although the big saving grace is that we got absolutely hammered in the early part of November, so we haven’t really had many issues with coverage. It’s just a crappy surface, is all. Ah well, we’ve had a string of great seasons, so tossing a mediocre one in here and there is something we’ll just have to accept.
This is, of course, Snoqualmie Pass. Specifically, this is the view from somewhere over near the Silver Fir chair at Summit Central (formerly known as Ski Acres.) Most of us Seattle-based skiers are guilty of poo-pooing on the Snoqualmie ski areas besides Alpental, myself definitely included. But it’s not really THAT bad. I mean, sure, they’re tiny. And they’re low. And they have a maddening flat part at the bottom that you have to deal with both on the way down and the way back up, but if the conditions are right, it can be decent. And, the views can be a lot better than a lot of people give them credit for. On a midweek powder day, you’ll have Central all to yourself while all of the other hooky-players hit up Alpental and stand around in the 45-minute line for Chair 2. Ah, crap, I just gave away my secret. That’s okay, none of you will believe me anyway.
Speaking of midweek powder days… Nature? You there? A little help here? Please??
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/250s, f/11.0, ISO 80.
Popularity: 7%
October 8, 2009 – Chikamin Peak and Gold Creek Pond
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State on October 8, 2009
Chikamin Peak and Gold Creek Pond
Thursday, October 8, 2009
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1134
Hello again everyone, welcome back. I’m posting this picture for the third and final request I got last Friday, this one for “mountains and water scenes”. I’m taking that to mean “scenes with mountains and water”, although it could have been two separate requests, not sure. I wasn’t originally going to post this particular shot (not “I wasn’t planning on using this picture for today”, instead, “I wasn’t planning on this picture ever seeing the light of day”), but I was flipping through some pictures from soon after my kid was born, and I saw a couple of these. We went on a drive up to Snoqualmie Pass when he was just a few weeks old, so this was right before sunset while we were up there. This is Chikamin Peak, and the water is Gold Creek Pond.
Gold Creek Pond was the site of a big gravel pit during the construction of I-90 over the pass, so when they were finished building the highway, they turned it into this nice little pond, complete with picnic area. It’s a really pretty spot, and the view down the valley to Chikamin Peak is fantastic (and you can see it from the interstate). It’s a nice place to stop if you’ve got 20 or 30 minutes to spare, and you want to get out and stretch your legs for a bit.
Map: http://bit.ly/iGFnr
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/160s, f/10.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 77mm.
Popularity: 4%