The Bugaboos

Happy Canada Day! 

I finally made it to the Bugaboos with friends old and new. It felt all kinds of right waking up to this view on Canada Day morning. 

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Jetting Up Joffre

The plan was for Sphinx hut outside of Squamish, but I'm learning that plans don't stand for much when you're backcountry skiing. Everything is dependent on the weather and snow stability. So rather than slogging 15km in the rain and wet snow on Saturday to spend the night wet in a hut without heat, we chose to "camp out" in Alex's Whistler abode. We exchanged the cold, wet night for beds, a wood-burning fire, and beer. We would have been happy either way, but it was nice to be dry and warm. 

Sunday we headed to Joffre, past Pemberton, stoked that there were signs of improving weather.  

Alex

Cameron

Once we past Keith's Hut, we aimed for Anniversary Glacier. The Avalanche ratings were considerable, so we had to play conservatively. Since I'm a newbie when it comes to reading snow stability (and skiing for that matter), I had lots of questions for the others. It took a lot of convincing to keep me going. 

But then we all felt it. The famous "Woommff"-ing sound of a large slab of snow settling beneath us. I had just risen my camera to my face to take a photograph when I felt the snow I was on drop an inch or so. My heart dropped an equal distance within my chest. We decided not to go any further, and stripped off our skins for our decent. 

Alex and Maddy, just after we felt the snow settle. 

Alex and Maddy tearing off their skins.

It was a shorter ski down than anticipated, but it was still lovely!

Back down the way we came.

An instance of sunshine in the valley.

All smiles after the first run. 

Cam and Maddy

Alex

Maddy

After refuelling, we started up Vantage. We heard the first sign of other people in the valley, but still made the first tracks on the hill. Nothing beats a blank canvas made of soft snow. 

Looking over the ridge into the next valley.

Maddy and Cam getting blasted by snow and wind on the ridge.

Cam dropping in for a smooth ride down Vantage.

Not a bad way to spend a Sunday on BC's coast mountains. 

The hike out was tougher than expected and I swear we had to go up hill to reach the car, but it felt great to wrap up the day safe and sound and exhausted. 

Thanks to Alex, Maddy, and Cam for inviting me out for the weekend!

Alex, Maddy, Cameron, Me

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Winter Wanderings

I recently purchased a pair of new-to-me touring skis, and my brand new Garmont Luster AT boots are in the mail! I'm very excited to try skiing again for the first time in nearly 15 years! In the mean time, I'm happily wearing in my snowshoes from Christmas last year. After a fulfilling Christmas dinner with friend's friday night, I got up early Saturday morning to make my way up Mt Seymour for the low morning sun. I couldn't believe how much snow there was and fresh snow too!! 

After that perfect little hike in a sparkling wonderland, I'm even more in love with winter. 

Get out there! 

Photographing a Wednesday on a Monday

I met Wednesday at a friend's wedding this summer. After chatting briefly, I found out that she was passionate about music and also a dedicated musician.  We decided to meet the next day for this shoot.

We stopped to photograph our first shots against a wall of an old building in Fernie, B.C. and stumbled across some good fortune. The building was empty and rundown—either about to be torn down or being prepped for a major renovation.

 When we took our first shots in front of the back door I noticed there was a lock but it was not closed. We cracked the door open and stealthily snuck inside. It was a perfect space to work with. I wish I had access to a building like this every day!

Thanks to Wednesday for being keen for the shoot and an easy subject to work with. She wasn't afraid to get dirty; believe me that floor was dirty. No rats though, not that we saw.