Early Season on Mt. Hood

in 2. Adventure, The Blog by Hudson — November 24, 2009 at 17:56 | 4 comments

What do you get when you combine a gorgeous early winter day, two feet of fresh snow, a group of die hard skiers, and a big volcano?  Perfect conditions to throw a camera into the ski pack!

Since I am off to Africa in a little over a week, I was looking for just the right day to shoot some skiing.  Yesterday the conditions couldn’t have been better.

Skiing on Mt. Hood is a special experience.  I’ve been wanting to get some shots that really showcase that feeling of big Cascade Volcano skiing that we here in the Northwest so often take for granted.  With my friends Woody Adams, Aram Ansel, and Jason Boursier (aerial specialist), I set out to combine making some fun turns and creating new images.

With Woody and Aram helping to spot Jason’s jump locations, relay messages, and protect the hapless photographer below, I was able to get some shots that I’m really happy with.

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My favorite of the day.  As carefully as we set this up, it was still a bit spooky to see Jason headed right at me through the wide angle lens.  He landed about 5 feet away from my skis at something approaching the speed of sound.

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Jason was a trooper for hiking up the mountain to get this picture.  Both of us had to ascend some very steep soft snow, but he really had to do a bit of rough climbing to get above the rocks.

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We had great light and conditions for this rock drop.  That is a lot of air on a day when the snow was rather windblown and firm.

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Everybody get out there and enjoy this winter!  I will keep you posted on my adventures in East Africa via this blog and Facebook as internet access allows.

-Hudson

Tags: skiing, volcano