Oot and Aboot.

I've been in Whistler for a long time as of late. A few months without escape, but that's alright with me, it has been a good winter. Here is a random selection of shots from the past few months:

No Boys Allowed!

Video of the trip here.

 

 

For those that can't wait to see what we skied, here you go. For this one I was actually taking a picture of my favorite peak, Fissile, but there's Decker in the foreground. Of course Jen caught some air!

We headed out fairly early with a plan to ski either Trorey or Pattison but Decker was looking mighty fine, and the clouds were rolling in as we headed down toward the lake. We could see Jen's tracks from the day before and they were still the only ones in the line on the left, so we chose to ski that one first. I've been eyeing that one for a while and it didn't disappoint.

Jen looking out at our destination.

Finding some fresh turns after no new snow in a looooong time.

Jen skinning up Decker.

The snow was fast and smooth and a lot of fun to ski. We had originally planned to head home after the first line because we were both exhausted from skiing all week, but it was too good. We headed back up the long way (the wrong way) and skinned up forever to ski the line on the right. It ended up being worth it though, as proven by the POV footage that Jen and I took.

On the skin up we had the chance to check out the view and suss out some lines on other peaks, and we'll hopefully have some more trip reports for you soon.

Taking a peek at our line.

Jen Ashton showing me how to ski big mountains in a big way.

Ski Ski a Go Go

So I came back to Whistler after the holidays and it had snowed a fair bit- I went for a walk out to Corona Bowl with Ryan, Mike, and Yu, and took some photos on my Panasonic LX3 point and shoot camera.

Another Decade Past

The Hood Internet - The Mixtape Volume Four by hoodinternet

Some tunes to relive 2009, which went way faster than I could have expected.

Thinking back on the past year, the standout moments were as follows:
- champagne around a bonfire
- cat-skiing near Revelstoke
- moving to Whistler again (for good this time I swear)
- finally getting some shots and writing published
- winning school (well, winning best portfolio, best editorial shot, best photo essay, and best photojournalist)
- ... then not really doing anything photographer-y for work
- finally got my own website:
- joined a bike gang
- experienced the snowiest November of all time at Whistler/Blackcomb

Come to think of it, I didn't do nearly enough in the past year. My resolutions are to explore the Duffy backcountry, shoot more photos, and visit Sweden. Nuff said.

The year in photos (click to enlarge, otherwise they're cut off):

No snow?! No problem!

So it hasn't snowed in a bit (after I was complaining about all the precipitation, oops.) So we hike.

no sunshine no take photo

So, what with all the crazy precipitation we've had lately, and being a fair weather fan, it's been hardly inspiring to go out and take photos as of late. I've also been rather busy with my various jobs, and that sucks. So until the rain lets up and touring season gets rolling, I think I'll be taking self portraits inside the home.

Pump, pump, pump it up.

"I think you should have a date, you have nice handwriting." Says JJ, in response to the note I left him that said "Dear JJ. Thank you for building that pumptrack. It has provided me hours of enjoyment. Have a lovely day. Sincerely, Amy."

So we've obviously been having fun at the pumptrack lately. DH bike has a broken fork and my pumptrack bike fork is barely holding it together, but when you can't ride the park it has to do. This time we were playing a little closer to the village. And I obviously still suck at flash, and my remote trigger stopped working, so I had a buddy press the trigger for the shots of me.

As it stands, none of us seem to be ambiturners.

Rocktober

Wow so I guess I haven't had a lot of time to shoot photos lately. Either that or I'm riding my bike too much. Let's blame the latter. The only solution to the problem is to do both at the same time. Easier said than done, especially when the remote trigger decides to stop working.

That's me in the blue pants, bike gang sister Johanna in the blue hoodie, hmmm, blue must be our gang color. Watch out Crips.

My bicycle gang has a skiing problem

As fun as it is to ride your bike alone, it's better to ride with friends. They're the ones with spare tubes when you've forgotten one, they're the ones that take you down a trail you've never ridden before, and they're the ones you create a gang with. A bicycle gang, obviously.

The most important part of gang formation is the initiation. Our initiation was to survive a ghost-busting, cougar-slaying adventure to Parkhurst, an abandoned logging town in the greater Whistler Valley.

Gang names are almost as important as the initiation. They often form naturally based on the behaviour of the gang member to whom it is given. Our gang names: Slayer, Thrasher, and Sniper. Johanna is Slayer because of her love of death metal and Schleyer in the Whistler bike Park. Jess is Thrasher. She is so called because of her kidney-bruising, muscle-tearing, rip-snorting good time ripping down In Deep and taco-ing her front tire. I am sniper. (Probably because I snipe photos.)

Future gang initiates will have to do a far more heinous initiation- slug licking. If a girl wishes to join the gang and get themselves a really sweet bike gang name, a slug will have to be licked. Cougar slaying and ghost busting is only for the top tier of bicycle gangsters like Slayer, Thrasher, and me.

Anyway, we survived the initiation and are a full-fledged bicycle gang. We're looking into matching jerseys. Here are some photos of Team Bike Gang:

Feeling Musical.

After spending time on High Note, the next week I played (on) the Musical Bumps with the girls. Here are some shots: