…we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size." - John of Salisbury

Looking forward to a ski mountaineering trip this weekend, humbling to know what’s been done before. Certainly not going to try to ski anything that steep, but I like knowing the history of how these things get started. 

May 21 skiing part II

The turns were much better than expected. 

Looking at Wolverine Cirque

Random, naturally releasing rollers…

Truck sized cornices…

Run away!

Much better.

May 21 Skiing part 1

Fisheye

Enter a Sigma 15mm fisheye.

I rented one last fall for a trip to Indian Creek, and was surprised by how much I liked the results. While there certainly can be too much of a good thing, the unique angle of view provided by a fisheye and the way it requires a different way of visualizing images outweighs the potential risk of overuse of a trick lens. 

I’m really excited to see what can be done with it this summer: 

Lens nonsense aside, alpenglow is always a great way to end the day. 

Best warning ever on Flickr.

As seen on the side of a 3-axis mill.

Zion Climbing

Zion free climbing: sandstone, steep, gritty, windy, and worth going back for more. 

It was windy and we thought this route in a chimney would be shelter enough. From wind, yes it was. From all the grit the wind was blowing into the chimney, no it wasn’t.

Do you want to climb one more pitch in the sandblaster? Nope.

So we ran away.

Yes, that’s a knot. Skinny ropes seem to have a mind of their own sometimes.

Polly was less than excited to find a chockstone to climb around…

Happy for tape gloves… good for fist cracks.

&

The rest of the photos are on the Climbing 2011 set on Flickr.

Boxed on Flickr.

What fraction of 25,000 makes the cut?

Great interview:

10 Questions: Photographer Jimmy Chin

7. Approximately how many photos did you submit to the National Geographic editors, and how many ended up in print?
Unlike any other magazine I have ever worked with, National Geographic looks at everything you shoot. I mean everything. I was really self conscious at first because I had always had the opportunity to edit before an editor saw my photos. I got over it eventually, and I worked with an amazing photo editor, Sadie Quarrier. She was really helpful and we got through a solid 25,000 images — they are very thorough over there and don’t want to miss anything! I definitely would have missed one of the shots that ended up in the magazine. In fact, I did miss it. Sadie found it and I never would have caught it.

I’ve read the Nat Geo article mentioned in this interview, and there’s probably less than 25 images in it… that leaves you with around 1/10,000…  

Me, and the Matterhorn on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
From an undeveloped roll of film I found this winter cleaning out a box from my basement.

This was from a trip to Switzerland during a summer interning in France. We didn’t summit (hadn’t gotten into climbing yet), but we did bivy just below were the Hornli Ridge route starts, one of the coldest nights of my life. All the film from the two rolls has an orange cast two it, but for 9 years old, can’t complain.

Zion

Textures and landscapes:

Climbing photos to follow.

Vintage Photographs of Moscow 1909

An amazing look back at the turn-of-the-last-century Russia. 

Zion climbing: sandy, steep and fun.

Going heavy on Flickr.

Going car camping and climbing in Zion national park, might as well bring it all… 

Spring is here

Winter seems to have finally let go over the weekend, its sunny and in the 70’s this weekend. 

But the end of winter wasn’t without some more good skiing!

On Saturday:

And on Sunday (out of the snow, into the sun):

Plus some good friends got engaged! Those photos to follow. 

Frustrating that the Canon 5d doesn’t connect on it’s own to an iPad, but this is an acceptable alternative.

The hard way

The elegantly simple solution is best, but finding or creating it is always hard. If it were easy, it might have already been done, and might not be worth doing (in an engineering sense). 

This jumble of lines should tell you that I’m still working on a better solution. 

“What we get from climbing is just sheer joy. And joy is after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.”

— George Leigh Mallory

3D woven carbon fiber loom. The future is here. Oh, and a car that looks like stormtrooper armor…

Still snowing here

So we’re still skiing.

Got to get up to Grizzly Gulch today with Ben for an introductory tour. Never gets old. Definitely a fun day out. 

;

Not the ideal location for a binding to release… time to crank down the DIN…

Portraits from the Utah Hills

Polly: “I’m a Joshua tree!”

Tamara, who doesn’t like being cold.

Chad: “the arm hurts right here.” and <sarcasm>”You don’t get a snickers for 10b, put up an 11a!”</sarcasm>

And a rare shot of the photographer with some silly glasses