November Skiing

Well it took a little while longer than I had hoped to get these out because I wasn't super stoked with the photos. The light was pretty flat this day I had a hard time getting anything other than grey. In the afternoon as the clouds started to break, I started to get some dramatic skies and low angle light. I've got a few landscapes that I've yet to work on. Anyways, after a bit of editing, and a little break, here a few few photos from early November. The skiing was great for two weeks.... and then the rain came.

We'll see what's in store for the weekend. Unless I start hearing good reports about the ski conditions I think Karl and I are going to head out and go ice climbing on Saturday.

Kid Around the Corner

After bumbling around Sunday morning figuring out how daylight savings time and our prearranged meeting times aligned, Karl, Cassie, Steffie and I drove two hours North of Anchorage to climb Kid Around the Corner. Typically Kid Around the Corner is a convenient climb with a short approach, three pitches, and then you can walk off back to the car. This was not the case. In the early season you have to hike up the bluff to the top of the climb, then rappel down the climb in order to climb back up because Caribou Creek is not frozen. Despite the extra work the climb was a blast. The ice was good, but thin and hollow in some parts, which made for some stressed, but non technical leads.

Besides starting the winter off with a bang, I was really excited to get back home and get my pictures worked up in Lightroom. It took a little bit of learning and experimenting to get used to the software, but for the most part it wasn't too bad to learn Lightroom. I feel like I can get around no problem in LR, but I still feel like I have hardly scratched the surface. I think that part of the learning curve for me are all the tricks that correspond with color photography editing, as all of the photography I've done has been black and white and in darkrooms. As far as color photography is concerned I really like that I can play with different colors individually inorder to make different things really pop. I think that one of my favorite features in LR is the nondestructive history. It is fun to see the progress though working up a photo as well as being able to go back and start fresh.

Anyone still there?

There is still someone on this end of the blog. Is anyone still listening?

Well things have finally started to turn around for this poor blog. I actually have a computer (that works), and I've got an internet connection. I'm always trying to be out and doing something and if I'm not doing anything I'll try to be editing photos and posting them up here. Recently I've realized that what I really want to do is go on awesome adventures with friends, and share those adventures with my family and friends that couldn't make it. So in other words, this blog is up and running again, so please stay tuned.

The biggest reason for getting this computer was to be able to use my camera to its full advantage. I've spent the last month trying to get caught up on old pictures (deleting duplicates and bad pictures, and doing simple edits). Once I got caught up, today, I installed a demo version of Adobe Lightroom to use for my DSLR. I thought that Lightroom would be pretty intuitive and that I could crank out a bunch of pictures today to share with you guys. But it has proven to be a little more tedious that I thought. I was able to get one picture done though.

Here are a couple pictures I've finished up from the Klondike this year. For those that don't know the Klondike is one part road trip, one part 100 mile running relay, and one part party thrown into a school bus and shaken for three days.

Stay tuned as the snow is here, and the ice has formed. I'm heading out tomorrow with Karl, Steffi and Cassie to go explore Kid Around the Corner up Caribou Creek. On that note, I'd better get my points sharpended, gear together, and camera in the bag.

Packayaking

So I'm hiking 5 miles in to run Jarvis Creek in the Alaska Range this weekend. I'm pretty stoked, it has been about 6 years since I've done the run. It is pretty much Fairbanks' version of Six Mile. Thinking about it, they should probably swap the names. Six mile would make more sense on Jarvis creek with the hike in. What does Six Mile refer to anyways?

Well I was looking for a good way to rig my kayak for the hike in. I think I've found it. I rigged the whole thing with the shoulder straps from my Gregory Denali Pro pack and an old hip belt I had from the last time I went into Jarvis Creek. I went to AMH and bought 5' of 2" webbing, 5' of 1" webbing, two dual locking buckles, two 2" sliders, and two 1" sliders to rig the shoulder straps with. I'm not sure what the whole set up weighs but it seems to carry fairly well (but what does a few straps matter when you are already carrying 44+lbs of kayak and gear?). So far running around my place with it on, it feels more comfortable than the set up I had going into Disappointment Creek. I'll have to let you know how it works after the weekend. Here's a little video I made with the set up.

Here is one of the last runs done on Jarvis Creek. (It doesn't get done all that often due to the level of boaters in the area, accessibility, and knowledge of the run).

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Schauers continue to dominate downriver race on Nenana River

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Schauers continue to dominate downriver race on Nenana River

Much thanks goes out to Kris Capps and all the organizers, sponsors and volunteers for this great event. It was a blast this year! Thank you!

Grand Picks!!

Really quick. After lots of questions regrading pictures of the Grand, here they are. I have a lot more, and I still need to do some edits and or geo taging. Here is a rough sample of some of the best. I'll let you know when the best of the best are ready for viewing. Its hard being an active perfectionist.