It's been a long time

Today's song of the day by a great band: HoneyChild - Driving Song. Enjoy it.

A lot has happened since I left off.

The reason behind my absence is that I had nothing to write about. There was nothing to discuss other than optimism for snow to finally fall. No riding was happening, I had no product to talk about, nothing to mention.

A while back I mentioned Aaron Robinson's movie: Manifest. Well it's out, and available to watch in full on a number of websites, and on vimeo. I recommend watching it on Funblock Films' website. It is a powerful movie and honestly the only snowboard movie to bring tears to my eyes. Read what Sam Tuor has to say about it before you hit play, it is definitely worth the read.

Tomorrow I am going down to South Lake Tahoe to shoot with a rider named Rob Hallowell. I will post some of the photos from that for sure. It should be a fun day.

Sorry for the delay. Hopefully now that there is snow it wont happen again.

Happy Snowboarding

First Looks: Hestra Gloves

Where do you really begin when you talk about Hestra Gloves. Do you talk about how they began in 1936, or that they are now in the 3rd generation of family ownership, or do you talk about how they are so detail oriented and ensure quality control at every step of the production process from purchasing all of the materials to owning their factory and everything in between. You could talk about all of those things and not even scratch the surface of why Hestra is the number one glove in the world for both skiing and snowboarding.

 Without quality gloves no one can pursue the activities that they love in the winter. Your hands are one of the first things to start feeling cold. Everyone knows that cold, numb hands do not encourage fun days to be had. As a photographer waterproofing, durability and mobility are the three big things that I look for in a glove. Which is why I tend to always drift towards Hestra. Their gloves are so durable that they recommend only ever replacing the liners because the outer-shell of the glove is expected to survive much longer than any of us will be skiing or snowboarding (with the proper care of course).

 I always have two pairs of gloves. Especially when I am in the backcountry. If one pair gets wet or lost I need to be able to reach into my bag and get another pair. That backup pair also usually is my daily rider glove. It is the Army Leather Wool. It has a ridiculously warm wool liner, and the leather exterior is not only waterproof but windproof as well. The removable liner of this glove also allows you to put in a thinner liner for those spring days where you're already sweating on the mountain and the last thing you want is an oven wrapped around your hands. I would highly recommend this glove for anyone, for any type of riding.

My backcountry and powder day glove is another story all together. It is bomb-proof. It is the XCR 3-finger mitt. It has a leather palm, includes gore-tex and has a polyester liner that allows for incredible warmth, quick drying (not that you'll need it) and a windproof cushion on your hands. The gore-tex and leather combination really are incredible. This glove is great for snowmobiling with the extra fingers you can really get a handle on the brake lever. It also becomes easier to readjust your jacket, open a backpack or really do anything without having to take your gloves off. The convenience, warmth, durability of this product make it one of a kind. You never have to worry about having wet, cold or uncomfortable hands on powder days again, which ultimately means more time can be spent riding the deep snow that we all crave.

First Looks: Illuminati Hero Twin Rev 159

Last March I got an email asking if I would like to be involved in a limited production run from Illuminati Snowboards. I jumped at the offer. Knowing the history of the brand and the passion that Lance has for snowboarding and the dedication he has for business I knew it would be an amazing board. What I didn't know is that this snowboard would change the way I view snowboarding and provide the best board control as well as the most responsive ride I have ever had two feet strapped to. 

This is the Illuminati Hero Twin Reverse 159. It is a 2mm reverse camber board with a Bamboo core and sintered base. It is the fastest, most under control board I have ever been on. It is truly amazing. The reversed camber of this board really allows you to feel every turn from start to finish and provides a skateboard like feel to even the smallest ollie. I genuinely have nothing bad to say about it. It is lightweight and guaranteed to be incredibly strong with a snappy core that wont soften out over time because bamboo is known to maintain its rigidity. I look forward to seeing what more this board has to offer as the snow starts to get deeper.

Weather, part two

There are so many sources for weather in the Lake Tahoe region. The weather blogs are awesome ways to learn about how weather systems work and to be able to formulate an opinion of your own. Unfortunately the consensus at the moment is that the Arctic Oscillation hasn't quite shifted yet to provide the region with the Arctic and Alaskan storms, and that we being 'cut off' in a way by a high pressure system sitting off the coast of California that is also preventing moisture from flowing south into our mountains.

This pattern is not unusual, and wouldn't you rather have the high pressure system now, than later in the season? There is still plenty of winter left, and we will get snow. The systems preventing it are beginning to change to create favorable conditions, which is great and it looks like we could start to see some significant storms just before the New Year.

Our mountains currently look pretty naked and in many ways it looks and feels like the middle of October these days. We will be snowboarding in powder soon enough. It will be deep and we will all be happy.

Check out these weather sources for more information:

Tahoe Loco Weather Geek
Tahoe Weather Discussion 
Squaw Valley Weather Blog
Porters Tahoe Weather Blog 
NOAA

First Looks: Crumpler Local Identity Large

Song of the day is another by Robbers on High Street. This time it is Hey Unbelievers off of their album Hey There Golden Hair.

Crumpler US was incredibly generous by sending me this backpack. It is the Large Local Identity Bag. It has a padded sleeve for a 15 inch laptop and includes the removable Haven Camera Pouch which is sized to fit a full sized DSLR body and two lenses. The bag is also water resistant which is great for those not so great weather days and of course traveling.

I am really excited to take this bag on some hikes and see how it feels on my back with some weight in it. Right now, empty, it feels great like it has great ergonomics and like it will be just as comfortable when loaded with some camera gear and a couple of layers to keep me warm on the hike.

The camera pouch is very well padded, secure and with it's velcro dividers can be arranged to carry any combination of gear you can think of. I am really excited to play around with it and can imagine that this will be my primary bag for traveling and vacations.

Thanks so much.

Throw Back Sunday

Anyone can agree that looking at things from the past has a way of teaching us about our future. We can learn from the photos we took to take better ones the next time we go out. Photography is a never ending learning process which is one of the things that I love most about it. There is always a new technique or something else that you can do to capture the best images possible. I put these photos in chronological order so that you could hopefully see the progression from one to the next. I know they are all of different subject matter but I think the progression is pretty apparent.

This superpipe shot at Cardrona was the first time I had ever really shot in the pipe. I didn't really know what to do. I have certainly learned a lot since then.

Another first. This was pretty much my very first urban shot. I still really like it because of the fact that it was one of the first but it definitely leaves a lot of room for improvement.

This is my first full page Ad. Martin Robertson really helped me out over the years and got me my first ad in Whitelines mag. I couldn't be more thankful.

This is a shot from my very first trip to Salt Lake. It was a very interesting trip to say the least but that is probably a story for another time. Javier Silva was always into the most creative features he could find, and we could set up. He definitely opened my eyes and taught me to refuse limitations in creativity with snowboarding.

Exhaustion

I'm exhausted. This song is really good and I hope all of you like it.

Today has been kind of a long day. Morning circuit training workout followed immediately by power laps at the Squaw Olympic Ice Pavilion, then indoor rock climbing.

The rink at Squaw is something else. No where else (that I know of at least) can you skate laps above the clouds with panoramic views of the surrounding valleys and peaks.