Saturday, November 28, 2015

Skinning is Winning


I got out for a tour yesterday and was fortunate enough to be able to skin up the East side of White River to about 8000'.  The East wind was honking and I was more or less driven back down a little bit to where I could tuck in below the ridge and wait for the Golden Hour to capture a few shots of the Sunset and the commanding view that you get from there!  The spindrift that was being thrown over the ridge felt like being sandblasted with tiny ice pellets, but it was getting caught up in the setting sun and was casting an incredible halo.  By using the flash and directing it with my hand and goggle lenses I was able to light up the ice crystals, giving it the strange appearance in this photo, almost looking like meteors or star stacks.  I stayed until the sun actually dropped below the horizon, scrambling from spot to spot in the waning moments of light trying to get as many perspectives as were possible before it disappeared.
Once it was gone, I put my skis on and started down, surprised by the pockets of super fun windpack that were available here and there, slashing a turn or two wherever I could.  The runnels from the rain on snow event of last week were mostly dried out and made for a fun, consistent surface all the way down to the bottom of Mitchell Creek where I could duck back into the resort and head back to the truck to end a great day! 

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