Epic Wasatch Backcountry Day

We had a big storm last Friday and Saturday I did an awesome backcountry tour with my friend Dorothy and her husband Greg, a very experienced backcountry skier. They got married last October and for a wedding gift I told them I'd give them a backcountry photo session. Schedules and weather finally allowed us to get out there and give us a shot. And boy oh boy was it a great ski photo day. I'm sure all of the pro ski photogs were out in force on Saturday taking advantage of the blue sky and powder.

I took the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 16-35mm f/2.8L II and 70-200mm f/4L IS lens, along with the new Casio Exilim EX-G1 waterproof / shockproof point-and-shoot camera. I packed the camera gear, food and avalanche gear in Clik Elite Contrejour dedicated ski camera pack. It's a pre-production test pack and it was my first time out with it. It worked very well hiking, skinning and skiing. I'm not sure how much ground we covered, but I was worked when we finished. We rode one way up at Brighton ski resort's Millicent lift to about 9500 feet then hiked and skinned to about 10,600 feet. From there we skied and hiked back to the Brighton base at about 8500 feet.

I think the EOS-1D Mark IV / 70-200 f/4L IS / 16-35mm is a great all-purpose backcountry kit. It is heavy and I would have loved to take the 7D instead. But I'm still testing the 1D and it does have more speed, better high ISO performance and better continuous auto focus. That said, I think the 7D would have done just fine. But it's my job to pack the heavier gear. And what doesn't kill me...

My standard google-reflection self-portrait. It has to be done. This one was taken with the Casio G1, which I'm pretty happy with, except that I wish it had a wider zoom. Nice ice beard since it was a relatively warm, sunny day.

Great captures John! My fav. is the second set / first image..EPIC! is a good word to describe.."the day"

Rick

John,

Wow! You live in some great country! Gorgeous views, gorgeous photos. It doesn't get better than this.

They are all beautiful images. Thanks for sharing them here.

Liz

I had to add one more to this thread. The photo of those sweet powder esses just isn't adequate. This is the drop-in that skier had to navigate before he hit that wide open pow field. This is crazy, sick skiing. If you look at the upper left corner of the photo you can see some other skiers watching. I only saw two actually drop this. No way would I ski it. Not a chance. Greg told me all the chutes up there (Wolverine Cirque) are named after skiers that died in them.

Nice trip, John. That last chute looks a little crazy. Right out of a Warren Miller movie!

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Originally Posted by Photo Dad

Nice trip, John. That last chute looks a little crazy. Right out of a Warren Miller movie!

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That chute probably has been in a Warren Miller movie, Dad :)

Nice shooting John.

Wow, those are amazing shots!

Nice!

Glad I missed the snow. Too cold for this CA boy. ;)

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Originally Posted by jorgemonkey

Nice!

Glad I missed the snow. Too cold for this CA boy. ;)

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Oh, that's ok. It's snowing right now :p

Nice shots , looks like a ton of fun

Great shots! Looking at the cirque shot makes my sphincter kind of contract.

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Originally Posted by Bob Snow

Great shots! Looking at the cirque shot makes my sphincter kind of contract.

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And for good reason! Imagine standing there with your skis hanging over the lip...

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Originally Posted by Photo-John

Oh, that's ok. It's snowing right now :p

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I know, they had to de-ice my plane Wed morning when I flew home.

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Originally Posted by jorgemonkey

I know, they had to de-ice my plane Wed morning when I flew home.

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I missed you again? You know we're never going to meet. It's not meant to happen.

Doing the tour again tomorrow. More snow and colder. It's gonna rule.