Foothill Freak's Backcountry Skiing Blog

I feel kinda bad about the fact that it’s January and I’ve posted so very little about actual skiing. I feel it’s my responsibility as an irregular ski blogger to inspire the uninspired to get out there and ski. But, there comes a point when it’s just time to move on.

If winter doesn’t want to come, why act like it has?

So, since winter has been avoiding me, I decided to avoid winter. I went out to Antelope island with a baguette, goats cheese, olive oil, and my camera and tripod. I took my neutral density filter so that I could take long exposures in the broad daylight. I took pictures that required long periods of waiting. So here you go. Pictures not of skiing, but of waiting for skiing…

With things being what they are in Utah, a quick out-of-state experience was in order. Team Freak turned to the dark side and went to colorado. Mesa Verde, Silverton, Durango, Pagosa Springs, Wolf Creek Pass, and Ridgeway were visited in search of hot springs, killer tacos, and maybe even some nice surface hoar.

Interior of a kiva in Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

I like to take picture of doors, but in this case it's the passage...

colorado surface hoar near Wolf Creek Pass. Yes, there was powder and yes it was deep.

3 new inches, woo! We’ll take what we can get at this point..

If you get up high and don't probe around that much, it's just like winter

Powder Princess, still skiing through sticks and sporting a DanaDesign Bomb Pack..

At least enough of it to do some sliding on is…

Plenty of snow for some cross country skiing on the Alta Summer Road.

I’ve been meaning to do this all summer, take a quick trip out to west desert to see the Milky Way and take some night shots… Great way to be out in the cold while waiting for ski season.

The lights of I-80 heading off to a dying west desert sunset

The Milkyway, over Delta Utah

20ish minute exposure looking south

This reminds me of those spinning rooms in haunted houses...

And a short timelapse. (the cold killed my batteries faster than I thought it would, so it’s really short) Currently looking to invest in a larger battery pack. Plus, watch it in HD or else it will just look like a bunch of digital noise!

Wierd thing happened this week. I listened to a WireTap episode called “chasing rainbows”. The show, which interviews a real life rainbow chaser, ends with a hilarious song called “double rainbow” that I couldn’t quite get out of my head.

The real surprise came a couple days later.

We had a room at the Cliff Lodge with an incredible view of the fall colors on lower Peruvian Gulch. I thought that the rusty colors would make an excellent foreground for a time lapse video of the clouds scraping along the top of Mount Baldy. I set my little G11 on a flimsy tripod and timed it to shoot about every second, and left the room. When I returned later that evening, I instinctively previewed the last frame to check the exposure. It was pretty dark. Wondering how many dark frames I’d captured I quickly scrolled through the images.

Then I saw it….. Enjoy!

The grass on the foothills this time of year fascinates me. Here are some shots off my newish camera.

A Tiny Day in the Jackson Hole Backcountry from Tristan Greszko on Vimeo.