Posts Tagged whistler
March 24, 2010 – Hiking on Whistler Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day on March 24, 2010
Half Note Trail, Whistler Mountain
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1101
Here it is, folks. The last image you’ll be seeing from me for a couple weeks. I know, I know, you thought this day would never come. For awhile, it sure seemed like it wouldn’t. But, time kept rolling on, as time does, and now it’s time for me to get the heck outta town. I would promise that I’d miss you all, but I probably won’t. I’ll be too distracted by fun stuff.
This picture was taken along the Half Note trail on Whistler Mountain. I’ve posted some other pics (well, at least one) from this same trail before. Whistler is a great place to go in the summer as well as the winter, because they have those magical lifts that take you way up into the high country, without you having to do any of the work. Ah, it’s a beautiful thing. That’s why I love Europe, because those kind of things are all OVER the place. Here in the northwest, they’re few and far between, and the mountains are steep, and the roads all follow the rivers way down in the valley, so if you want to get up to the pretty stuff, you have to work your ass off. Unless you ride up the gondola (and the Peak Chair) to the top of Whistler. Then it’s almost free! (Well, not monetarily, but whatever.)
This picture was taken with my super wide angle lens (Tokina 11-16), which I only acquired at the end of last summer. (Thus, it hasn’t been used too much.) It should get plenty of use this summer. Although, it might not, because I *also* got my hands on the Tamron 17-50, which is itself much more wide-angle than any lens I was using before (previously 28 was as wide as I could get). The difference between 17 and 11-16 is a lot less than the difference between 28 and 11-16, so I may find myself able to get most of the wide-angle shots I want with the other one, we’ll see. Or, more likely, *I* will see, and you will just continue to see random pretty pictures. That works too.
Have a great couple of weeks!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 lens. 1/250s, f/11.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 11mm.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: a feed reader (RSS) or emailCheck out Flattr.com, it’s an awesome way to support the websites you love. Then, Flattr me!
Popularity: 36%
February 26, 2010 – Cheakamus Lake
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day on February 26, 2010
Cheakamus Lake
Friday, February 26, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1099
So I mentioned yesterday how I already had today’s picture picked out. That was true, but this isn’t it. I realize earlier that, while I absolutely LOVE that picture, the version I had online was a little bit over-sharpened. (This one is too, but it’s not quite as drastic.) So I need to revisit it, and maybe I’ll use that one in a week or two. Instead, you get this one, which was actually taken on the same day as that other one. Blah blah blah, I realize that it’s really all the same to you guys, as long as I post a picture at all. But this way I’m keeping it straight in my own head.
This is the view over Cheakamus Lake from the backside of Whistler Mountain. You can’t ski to where I was standing when I took it (well, you CAN, but it’s out of bounds, so it would require hiking all the way back up to where you started), but you can hike there. This was along the High Note trail on Whistler mountain. (Which makes a big loop, although you can shorten the loop to something easy to do in 2-3 hours by taking the Half Note trail which branched off about a quarter mile from where this was taken.) This spot is a little ways below the top of the Symphony Express, if that helps you place it at all. Obviously, it’s a pretty nice view from up there.
This trip took place very soon after I picked up my awesome super-wide-angle lens this summer, the Tokina 11-16. Since I wasn’t very happy with my other lens at the time (the super-zoom Tokina 28-300), I ended up putting the wide angle on the camera for the entire hike. Which was kind of an interesting experience. The pictures you can get with a super wide angle are way different from any other kind of lens, so it really makes you think differently about framing your shots. But it was definitely fun. Although now that I’ve gone to the Tokina 17-50 as my workhorse lens, I haven’t found myself reaching for the wide angle as often. (When your workhorse lens starts at 28, that leaves a LOT of ground on the wide-angle side. At 17? Not so much.) But that’s okay, it’s still there if I need it.
Hahahahaha, I just took a look at the EXIF data on the image, and it turns out that everything I wrote in the last paragraph is basically totally wrong. Whoops. Turns out this was NOT taken with the Tokina, in fact it was taken with my Tamron 28-75, which means I had ALREADY swapped out my 28-300. (And then I eventually traded the 28-75 for the 17-50, which is basically the exact same lens except that it’s more wide-angle). And, that’s the lens I used for this picture, which means that what I said about not changing my lens at all during the hike was also a complete lie. Ha!
This brings to a close Whistler/Vancouver week on the Picture of the Day, thanks for reading! Come back next week for the rest of the world.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75 mm f/2.8 lens. 1/250s, f/10.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 28mm.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: a feed reader (RSS) or emailCheck out Flattr.com, it’s an awesome way to support the websites you love. Then, Flattr me!
Popularity: 26%
February 24, 2010 – Changing Leaves
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Fall Color, Macro, Picture of the Day on February 24, 2010
Changing leaves
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1088
Rather than suffocate all of you with a neverending set of mountain vistas from the twin peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb, I figured I should mix in some other stuff too. Like this one. This could have been taken anywhere, really. But it wasn’t, it was taken a little ways up the Singing Pass trail, which starts up the hill from right near the Whistler gondola. I really really wish I had gotten the bottom of the leaf in focus too, but I didn’t. It’s a textbook example of one of the really annoying things that can happen with digital. The shot looked great on the camera’s little screen, so I moved on, confident that I got the image I wanted. It wasn’t until much later (when I got home) that I realized my mistake. I was working with a pretty small depth of field as you can see, so what I *should* have done was gotten more square on that leaf in front, such that the whole surface would have been within range. Instead, I came in from a little bit above, so the bottom was just out of reach. (That, and the leaf was a bit curled in on itself.) Careless, careless, careless. Sigh.
Still a beautiful couple of leaves though, so it’s not a complete waste of time. Check back tomorrow, that’s going to be the day that I’m going to get the picture of Shannon Creek out of the way. (You didn’t think I’d go a whole week of PICTURES OF CANADA without tossing one of those in there, did you??)
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75 mm lens. 1/125s, f/3.5, ISO 400. Focal length: 59mm.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: a feed reader (RSS) or emailCheck out Flattr.com, it’s an awesome way to support the websites you love. Then, Flattr me!
Popularity: 40%
February 22, 2010 – Black Tusk from Whistler Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on February 22, 2010
Black Tusk from Whistler Mountain
Monday, February 22, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=869
Wow, Monday again. Not totally unexpected, but still. I decided that this week, I’m going to post only pictures from around Vancouver and Whistler in honor of the Olympics. This probably would have been more appropriate to do LAST week, but you know how it goes – with the time-delay broadcasting and everything, it took this long for the idea to reach the west coast.
Today, you’re looking at the million dollar view from the top of Whistler Mountain: the view out toward Black Tusk. (Yeah, that little cliff-thing poking up there on the left.) Given the predominant weather patterns we get here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s never a sure thing that you’ll be able to see it, but when you can it’s pretty cool. You can basically see it from anywhere along the top ridge (basically anywhere between the top of the Symphony Express and the Peak Chair), and I think this particular view was most of the way from the Peak Chair to the Saddle. (Blah blah blah, yeah, I realize you probably haven’t been there and thus these names are all meaningless. I’m totally just showing off how well I know the mountain at this point. Because I am awesome, obviously.)
Honestly, I’m fairly surprised that they placed the ski courses where they did. They put them all way down at the bottom of Whistler Mountain. But if you’ve been to Whistler more than once or twice, you know that the lower mountain sucks way more often than it’s good. I mean, you’re dealing with more than 5,000 feet of vertical here. The top of the mountain is nearly always fantastic, and the bottom of the mountain is nearly always crappy. So… why put the courses down where it’s crappy? Not only that, imagine how much more awesome the views would be as the cameras followed the racers down the hill if they had this kind of background instead of just grubby trees everywhere? I mean, sure, the visibility tends to be better down low (because when the fog rolls in, the upper mountain is worthless), but still. Hmm. Whatever, I’m sure they have their reasons. Grumble grumble grumble.
See you all tomorrow, right?
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/400s, f/11.0.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: a feed reader (RSS) or emailCheck out Flattr.com, it’s an awesome way to support the websites you love. Then, Flattr me!
Popularity: 23%
January 25, 2010 – Grass
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day on January 25, 2010
Grass
Monday, January 25, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1091
Another weekend, come and gone. Would have been nice if I had gotten out of bed to enjoy it. Oh well, too late for that now. Today’s picture takes us back to this fall, when I was up in Whistler for the weekend. The weather wasn’t what I’d call ideal, but of course complaining about it doesn’t help anyone. It still turned into a great weekend, because how could any weekend away from home not be great? This picture was a bit funny, because I just happened to turn around when I was walking the other way, and I thought it looked kind of cool. I didn’t actually think it would turn out though, or even if it did I figured it’d just be a throwaway. Heck, even on the camera screen I was kind of meh about it. But I liked it on the big screen. I mean, it’s not like my favorite picture ever or anything, but it’s good enough to look at. I think the contrast in the sky saves it.
That’s all the time I have for today, I’ll try to make tomorrow’s post more substantive, it’s been a while since I’ve really written anything meaty.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75mm lens. 1/400s, f/16.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 40mm.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: a feed reader (RSS) or emailCheck out Flattr.com, it’s an awesome way to support the websites you love. Then, Flattr me!
Popularity: 16%
July 10, 2009 – Whistler Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day on July 10, 2009
Hiking on Whistler Mountain
Friday, July 10, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=611
So I had originally planned to post another picture from last summer’s Whistler weekend today, but this morning, I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe it just wasn’t the right picture for my mood, or maybe I decided the picture sucks afterall. Not really clear, we’ll see how I feel about it next week. But, to soothe your disappointment as much as I can, I at least decided to post a picture from the same area.
This picture was taken a couple years earlier, on Whistler Mountain. (The one I was originally going to post was from Blackcomb.) It’s still from the summer and all that though. This was taken along one of the hiking trails accessible from the top of the gondola. In fact, if you’re familiar with the layout of the mountain at all, this might help: this was overlooking Harmony basin. You know, the basin where the Harmony chair is. That mountain you see in the distance is presumably Overlord Peak, which is purely a guess given that the snowy part is the Overlord Glacier.
I love those pine trees. I’ve never seen that particular kind of tree anywhere but up here in the Pacific Northwest. That’s not to say they don’t exist anywhere else, I really have no clue. But that’s the only place I’ve actually seen them. They’ve got so much character tough. They’re so perfectly straight, but all the little knobbly things poking off of them makes for a great texture in a photo. But, I’ve found that I have to silhouette them against something else to really draw it out. They’re such a dark green that it’s hard to make them turn out in pictures. The light has to be just right, or you have to be contrasting them against the background as I’m doing here. They can be really frustrating, because this is one of those cases where our eyes see something different from what the camera sees. So it’s tough to translate something that looks fantastic in person to something that doesn’t just look like crap on “film”.
Some of you may have noticed that my post came a bit early today. Crazy, right? I’ve got an all-day meeting at work, so this is the only chance I’ll have to write anything up today. Not that I, you know, do this stuff at work, or anything. Yeah, whatever man.
Anyway, have a great Friday, and a great weekend!
Map: http://bit.ly/2xqwT
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, lens unknown. 1/125s, f/7.1, ISO 100. Focal length: 54mm.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: a feed reader (RSS) or emailCheck out Flattr.com, it’s an awesome way to support the websites you love. Then, Flattr me!
Popularity: 1%
May 26, 2009 – Whistler Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on May 26, 2009
View from Whistler Mountain
Tuesday, May 26, 2009.
Vote on this picture:
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=705
This was taken up near the summit of Whistler Mountain, which, as the name kind of implies, is a fairly large portion of Whistler-Blackcomb, the ski resort. Since it’s one of the closest large destination resorts to Seattle (and definitely the largest), those of us in Seattle that call ourselves skiers tend to spend a fair amount of time up there.
The valley that you’re overlooking in this image is the valley that Highway 99 comes up through. It leaves Vancouver, heads up along Howe Sound to Squamish, then cuts into the mountains to Whistler, then it continues on to Pemberton further north-ish. The mountains in the area are all super-young and glacier carved, so they’re super rocky and steep. There’s a huge Provincial Park in the area too, Garibaldi. (Province = state, pretty much). Lots of cool stuff to explore. Sorry if this description seems composed more of random fragmented thoughts than a cohesive story, I’ve been interrupted about 6 times while writing it, and I’m not motivated enough to go back and rewrite it. That’s okay though, just look at the pretty picture and move on. 
Map: http://tinyurl.com/ou2v67
Notes: Canon Powershot SD700 IS (Point and Shoot). 1/500s, f/8.0.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: a feed reader (RSS) or emailCheck out Flattr.com, it’s an awesome way to support the websites you love. Then, Flattr me!
Popularity: 7%