Solo Mission, 4 Resorts in one Day

Woke up this morning to find a fresh coating of snow on the ground.  Nice!  After a few mouse clicks I found a forecast promising sunny skies.  Hum?  What the heck, I hit the road.  My goal?  To ski 4 resorts within a 30 mile radius of my front door. 

First stop, Okemo.  One of the classic family resorts in the state with some of the newest trails, lifts, and lodges.  When I pulled into the parking lot the fog and clouds had yet to give way to the promised sunshine.  I skied over to the newest addition to the resort, Jackson Gore.  If you haven't skied Jackson Gore yet I highly recommend it. 

a little socked in.

Jackson Gore

Next Stop, one of the smallest resorts in the state.  A little area called Bear Creek located in Plymouth.  Plymouth, Vermont is situated between Ludlow(Okemo) and Killington and is the birthplace of President Calvin Coolidge.  This little resort is not quite a full blown "ski area" but run more like a country club for the few who own houses in the area.  Bear Creek was awesome.  On one of the busiest days of the year there might have been thirty people skiing total.  Perfect.

Bear Creeks one lift.

Bear Creeks lift line....a killer.

The parking lot and lodge...I was lucky to get a spot.

The next stop was the Beast of the East, Killington.  Killington is a long time client of mine and one of the great ski areas in the East.  With so many lifts and so much terrain its possible to spend multiple days here and never ski the same thing twice.  As I pulled into the lower gondola area the skies started to brighten and the sun started to shine.

The clouds burning off over Killington.

Cool view from the peak.

Some of Killington's parking lot's...not quite Bear Creek.

Now it was time for some lunch.  Between Killington and my final area is the Long Trail brewery.  A perfect spot for lunch.

Lunch...a pint of stout and popcorn.

By this point the sun was shinning, the temperatures were warming up and I was pulling into the final parking lot of the day.  Suicide Six.  One of the oldest and most classic resorts in the whole state.  Sure it only offers 650 feet of vertical and 81 annual inches, but what it lacks in muscle it more than makes up for in character.

All six hundred and fifty feet of it.

KMS snowboarding

Yesterday was just too sunny not to be outside and shooting.  I called the head coach of Killington Mountain School Snowboard Team to see when they were riding.  Coach Coates said the team would be at Bear Mt at 1:00.  Perfect.  I grabbed the gear and headed out.  Here are a few from the afternoon.

Max with a sweet tailgrab

Max again

Eddy wall ridin'

Allison railslidin'

Back East

After a much needed uneventful flight home from Colorado I was enjoying a rest on my couch when I got a call from Kubas.  It was snowing out and he had a hair up his ass to go for a backcountry ski and shoot.  To be honest the last thing on my mind was to put on the ski boots and head out in the wind and snow, but Kubas was hell bent.  I was hell bent on watching golf on TV.  Against my better judgement I grabbed the camera bag, skis, skins and boots and headed up to Killington.  The long and short of it the day went from great to scary (thunder-snow) to deep to scary again (getting to the exit road in the dark) to cold. (having to wait for our ride in the dark while I was very sweaty and wet).  The day was a huge success from a picture standpoint.  I hope to nail a few published images from this afternoon tour.  Enjoy.

nice pole plant by Kubas

about as open as the East gets.

I took this shot at 4:45

and this at 4:47...we still have 45 minutes to get to the pick-up road

Snodgrass?

What is a Snodgrass?  Your guess is as good as mine.  All I know is that on our last day in Crested Butte we went for an afternoon tour of the area.  This tour I was accompanied by Mike and his friend Travis.  Enjoy the images.

Travis getting after it.

The Hippie.

Hornado

Splitboarding the white fantastic.

Red Lady

Day four in Crested Butte offered up a backcountry tour of a place the locals call Red Lady.  Red Lady was indeed a little bit "red" this morning as she threw fog, snow, wind and high avalanche danger at us.  Luckily we had Jayson, lead guide and owner of Crested Butte Mountain Guides showing us the way.  Due to the conditions we were limited to a low angle glade run but it was still super fun, deep and creamy.  Thanks for the tour Jayson.  Enjoy the shots.

The skin up.

Zach in a true face shot.

World renowned photographer Jeff Cricco showing his "O" face to the other side of the lens.

The writer working hard.

Our trusted guide Jayson enjoying his job.

Take Great Ski Photos

My friend and Yankee Magazine ski blogger Heather Atwell asked me if I could give her readers a few pointers on how to photograph skiing.  Sure, not a problem.  I owed her one from last year and it would be my pleasure to return a favor.  You see a year ago today up at Jay Peak, right in the middle of the now famous "Valentine's Day Blizzard", Heather joined myself and a few other models on a shoot.  It was bitterly cold, very windy and snowing.  Not exactly ideal photo conditions, not exactly ideal conditions for anything.  Let's just say if I wasn't on a paying job, I would have reconsidered skiing, even with all the snow.  So thanks again Heather.  You can read my advice as well as other great ski posts by Heather HERE.

Crested Butte part 1, inbounds

If you actually got through the previous post then you know I did eventually make it to Crested Butte, Colorado. (thanks again gals)  I was there on assignment with Backcountry Magazine and writer Mike Horn.  My first day in the Butte I took a little easy.  Mike and I and his friend Eric under cloudy and snowy skies went and did a little freeriding on our snowboards.  It was good to get out there and ride a little.  I figured it had been over two years since I had made my last powder turn on a snowboard.  The other four days in town were spent working.  We had two days of inbound shooting due to the very high avalanche danger and two days of backcountry touring.  Below are a few of my favorite images from two days of inbound/resort skiing.  I'll post some images from the backcountry tours in a few days.  enjoy.

How not to get to Crested Butte.

I was in Crested Butte, Colorado last week shooting a feature story for Backcountry Magazine.  Turns out just getting to Crested Butte was the most difficult part of the entire shoot.  Here's how it all went down.

-Original flight on Friday morning from Burlington, Vermont gets cancelled due to a mega ice storm slamming New England.

-Spend an hour and a half on the phone with customer service for United Airlines (which happens to be in the Philippines) trying to get another flight to Crested Butte.  They tell me I won't be able to get another flight from Burlington, VT till Sunday afternoon.  I ask the woman to check other airports.  There is a flight from Boston's Logan airport Saturday, but it will cost me $125.00.  I decline.  I call back customer service.  (this time the agent is in India)  10 minutes later I'm booked on the flight out of Boston with no additional cost.

-6:45 am Saturday, I catch a bus from Hanover, New Hampshire to Logan Airport.  Very easy, it's direct to Logan, they even serve free bottled water, snacks and show a movie.

-Waste away three hours in the airport.  Get some breakfast, read the paper, even find a ten spot on the ground, sweet!

-Flight to Denver was fine and on time.  Things are really going my way.  Head out to my gate for my connecting flight to Gunnison, Colorado.  I even have time to stop for a couple of airport beers.

airport beers

-Flight to Gunnison gets cancelled.  This is where things stop going my way.  I sprint to the customer service counter. (this time the agents were right in front of me, not in India or the Philippines)  Seems that the next flight I can get isn't till 8:00 the next night.  Mike Horn, the writer of the story is in Crested Butte and reports it's going to snow for 2 days and he thinks there is no way I'd get in tomorrow.  CRAP!

-Options?  Sleep in the airport like Tom Hanks in the The Terminal?  Get a room someplace? (who is going to pay for that?)  I could rent a car and hit the road.  I'm told it's only five and a half hours to Crested Butte.  I call a few rent-a-car companies.  They want $225 for a one way rental.  I call Mike Horn to see if the Magazine would cover that.  He thinks he can get it covered one way or another, I think not a chance.

-I overhear three very nice ladies talking about renting a car and driving out that night.  Another gentleman chimes in that he would help split the cost and hop in for the ride, he's heading to Crested Butte himself.  Without much hesitation I too offer to help split the costs and be the fifth in the car.  I warn them that I have a ton of bags and gear, but they seemed unfazed.  Looks like it's a plan.  I tell the customer service woman that I will need my bags off the plane.  No problem but it might take an hour or two.

 

All my gear.  One boardbag with my skis, snowboard, backcountry gear and tripod.  Big rolling duffel with snowboard bindings, snowboard boots, ski clothes, various photo gear, and regular clothes.  Grey camera bag with all my lenses, bodies, flashes, slaves, cards etc... And one rolling carry on duffel with ski boots, computer, hard drive and jacket.  Gotta stay under the 50 lb. limit.

-The ringleader and motivational point woman behind this mission to get to Crested Butte is Deb.  She secures the SUV and heads out to pick up the car.  I meet the other passengers in this fur brained idea, Susan, Charlotte, and Gordon.

-We are now all waiting for our bags.  One hour leads to two.  We talk to the baggage counter.  Seems no one knows where our bags are.  Two hours lead to three.  No sight of any bags.  Finally after three and a half hours our bags are spit out onto the conveyer belt and the newly formed group of best friends are headed to the parking garage.  I have twice the bags as anyone and am now concerned it won't all fit.  I would be back to square one, sleeping in the airport.

Susan and Gordon waiting at the empty luggage rack.

The empty ski rack...waiting...waiting...waiting.

-I make all my gear fit into a Ford Explorer and my new four best friends and I hit the road.  The ring leader Deb takes the first shift behind the wheel.  Gordon is the copilot (not a very good copilot, he missed a turn) and in the back seat is Charlotte, Susan and myself.  The story is this;  Deb, Susan and Charlotte are all friends from Kentucky who like to take ski trips together.  If I recall correctly Gordon is from Ohio.  Deb is a pharmacist and Charlotte is an orthopedic surgeon, not sure what Susan and Gordon do.  Turns out that Charlotte is getting over a cold and is all doped up on codeine given to her from Deb.  (lucky her)  We chat and converse all 6 hours to Crested Butte mostly to just stay a wake and give support to whoever was driving.  Along the way I learn that Gordon grew up in Reno and his first concert was the king himself, Elvis.

-After 4 pee breaks, one gas break and a sketchy ride over Monarch Pass, we get to Gunnison and take the right towards Crested Butte.  We drop off Gordon at his fathers house and continue on to my hotel.  It's was now 3:45 in the morning Colorado time, 5:45 Vermont time.  I had been up for over 24 hours but am now in Crested Butte.  Mike Horn came down to help me with my gear.  After a few beers I sleep...

side by side

In the last post I showed you images of me from a recent park shoot at Killington.  Here is what the finished product looked like from my camera.  Again, thanks to Chris D and Killington for putting the shoot together.

Behind the scenes.

Killington's Chris D. dropped an email into the inbox a couple of days ago.  Seems while I was getting cool park shots the other morning he was getting cool shots of me getting cool shots...huh?  Below are a few of yours truly working hard while trying not to get hit by a wayward ski or snowboard tip. 

 

All images below are copyright Chris Danforth