Largest overnight total of the season at Alta today and although it was a bit upside down it did not disappoint.  Too manky and socked in to shoot action but I snapped off a few frames pre and post shred.

SKIING Mag.com paired my images up with a nice piece by Michelle Parker.  Check it out.

Another tough one…blue skies, warm temps and the charming McKenna Peterson to rip around Snowbird with.  Woe is I.   Not much doing with the ski action until we get some snow but we managed to cause some trouble up on the upper tram dock where her new Orage duds could be seen luminescing from outer space.

10/8/83 – 2/24/10

Last March I was invited to attend and shoot the Red Bull Cold Rush at Retallack.  As a total newbie to this industry it was both exciting and terrifying.  Walking into the lodge was a mix of emotions as I was surrounded by some very old friends and a crew consisting of the legends of the industry to whom I was and for the most part still am, a total nobody.  Intimidated is a gross understatement.  I had to muster the courage to even take the camera out of the bag much less interrupt anyone to shoot images.  The virtual who’s who of the ski world had me frozen like a deer in headlights and all I could do was try to not get in the way of Blake Jorgenson, Yorick Carroux and the Freeride Entertainment crew.

It was then that I met CR.  I was out in front of the lodge trying to remember how to use a camera and he just walked up and introduced himself. Here was a guy that needed nothing from me but made a point to go out of his way and let me know that I should just get on with it and do what it is I do.  It might not seem like much but at that moment it was exactly what I needed.  Over the next 4 days I shot some 3000 images but my favorite capture was one that I shot early the next morning on Day 1 of the comp.  The lodge was just waking up with only a few people slowly going about their jobs when CR walked in with a cup of coffee and sprawled out in the middle of the floor to get his stretch on.  I knew exactly what I wanted and got up on the balcony and shot a few frames.

10 minutes later the room was in full chaos mode as everyone tried to contain their energy in anticipation of what was in store.  We all knew that the entire Retallack tenure was blanketed with over a meter of untracked Kooteney cold smoke.  The game was about to begin and it was gonna be one for the ages.  What followed were 4 of the most magical days I’ve ever spent on snow.

Shooting pics of the best of the best and skiing terrain I’d known for almost a decade in the best snow conditions I’ve ever had was like a dream. The energy of everyone in attendance was pure joy.  The issue we’d face was finding breaks in the weather to get the contest run.  We only saw the sun for about 5 minutes that week and this image of CR was the only shot I had in the sun the entire trip.

Over the course of the event I grew more and more comfortable with the cast and crew and made many new friends.  Along with many others, CR and I kept in touch all summer with the random Facebook chat or a simple “like” on a status update and I had no doubt that our paths would soon cross again. It is with great sadness that I concede that to not be the case, for I was truly looking forward to the chance to thank him for that tiny act of kindness that meant so much.  I will regret not getting that chance.  So, fwiw, thanks CR.  Your generosity, humility and energy will stick with me for a long time.  RIP

While many of the images I shot that week were “held” by photo editors, for known and unknown reasons none of them ran.  Ironically or tragically or even perhaps cruelly, after not selling any of these images all summer they are now in demand.  Word is that there’s a charity being set up to honor CR and all proceeds from these images will be donated.  As soon as I have details I will post them here.

UPDATE:  Donation’s are now being accepted in CR’s name by the High Fives Non-Profit Foundation to setup a fund that will help to continue the legacy of CR Johnson in the winter sports community.

Here’s the link: CRJohnson.org

Spent the past few days up in BC for our annual gathering at Retallack Lodge.  It’s amazing to think that we’ve been making the pilgrimage for a decade now.  Great friends, great skiing and great hospitality are the hallmarks of this trip and this year did not disappoint.  While BC, much like Utah, is in another dry spell, we were put on clean lines of soft snow day in and day out.  Recrystallized pow and surface hoar made for fast riding under crystal clear skies.  As always we ate and drank more than we should have but that’s really what this trip is all about.  Barely shot the camera which I have to say was actually quite nice. Only skied with the rig one run and never even fired an action frame.  I’ve been on snow quite a bit lately but Retallack has some sort of magic that heals my soul.  Saturday was our last day at the lodge and I can’t recall the last time I was in such a good mental space for an entire day.  Really good stuff.

It’s not a party until someone loses luggage in Spokane.

Meredith Riley and I spent the morning suffering through blue skies and untracked snow @ Alta / Bird in order to kill time until beer 30.  I’m not sure how we got through it but somehow we managed.  It was truly horrible.  I’m not sure what I’d do if everyday was like this.  Too much to bear really.

Headed out to Echo, UT Sunday afternoon to shoot Clayton Butler, Kevin Chirico and Marshall Miller hucking their carcasses off a couple of 500 foot cliffs.  Having never seen BASE jumping in person and having never been to these cliffs before it was going to be a day of learning for me.  I knew that in order to really get a feel for the dynamics of the jumps I’d have to shoot it wide angle.  I also knew that the images would be less compelling but it was the best way to get a record of the trajectories, speed and scale of the place for future shoots.

Kevin sent a normal BASE jump off the stunning red rock wall and was followed off an opposing cliff by Marshall and then Clayton who added skis and a whole lotta speed to the mix. Marshall tossed a massive front flip that sucked the buffer on my camera dry before the chute deployed killing what was a pretty slick sequence shot. Then Clayton gave everyone a scare when his lines twisted after his chute deployed nearly sucking him back into the cliff face and then into the scrub on the talus slope below.  Somehow he managed to wrestle the rig to the ground safely.  Adding insult to near injury the images are completely out of focus.  I mean total crap.  I suck.  Argh…not sure how I can blame the athlete for this but I’m working on it.

Kevin Chirico BASE

Marshall Miller Ski BASE front flip (ran out of buffer @ 10 fps)

Stoked to get back out there and shoot this again.  Learned a great deal about what will and won’t work up there and have some really fun ideas for the future.  Hopefully we’ll be getting after this again soon.

Owen is 3. He rips.  He also thinks he’s a t-rex and along with his dad, Anton, showed me around Wolf Creek this morning.   It was fun.  It’s not everyday you get to watch one of your best mates bask in the glow of his son’s stoke.  It’ll be tough to top this one for a while.

With over 7 feet of snow from last weeks parade of storms the famine morphed into a feast in a hurry.  Unfortunately that buffet was laid out on a very angry table and the mountains have been biting back with a vengeance.  Sadly we’ve lost 2 soul’s in the Wasatch to the White Dragon this week.  RIP.  That said, the sun finally returned under stunning blue skies today and I was able to catch glimpses of the avalanches that caused so much chaos over the weekend around Alta / Snowbird.

Stunning view southeast from Mineral Basin.

Mineral Basin as seen from Alta.

Superior From the Alta parking lot.

Superior tweaked to show texture of slide paths. and amazingly, ski tracks.

Devil’s Castle

Devil’s Castle close up.

Oh yeah…and the skiing did not suck.  Sadly the return of blue skies offered little in the way of ski photography as the backcountry is dangerous beyond my comfort level and everything inbounds has been gorged upon by the swarming pow deprived hordes.  Bring on the next storm cycle Ullr!

Alta was reporting 6″ at 6 am but the radar was a green blob and it was snowing hard at the house @ 4900 ft.  Looked like an instant replay of Tuesday’s lotto jackpot.  What ensued is the stuff of lore.  Over the head choke on it blower pow.  Ridiculous.  Met up with Carston Oliver, Cody Barnhill and Kalen Thorien around 11:30 ish and we tried to stop the feeding frenzy long enough to shoot some pics in the non-existent light.