Bermuda Triangle

We found a pretty cool new place to shoot today in the "three" inches of snow that fell. A few notes for next time...bring more batteries for the flashes and power them way up. Keep the triggers in chest pockets, straps and clear bags in the other. Get the flashes higher and in front of the skier. Don't pan with subject. If using small aperture such as f16, you may have to bump iso up to keep a decent shutter speed.

Impeccable Ski Etiquette

On my way to 13 turns (or unreliable) I was careful not to knock any snowboarders off the edge. I didn't pee in the boot pack. I waited my turn as others put their skis on. I didn't hike above the existing traverse. I didn't traverse across the slope and I stuck to my fall line the whole way down...and i got extra etiquette bonus points for spraying a snowboarder at the end.

13 Turns from Aaron Stanford on Vimeo.
These next two photos where taken by powdershots at the same time I was taking the GoPro footage. They're pretty underexposed as it was super brilliant white out there. Kind of an armature mistake, as many think they should drop down their exposure a little in order to compensate for bright situations. Or maybe he was using a Canon rather than a Nikon.
You can buy great photos from there website here:
http://www.powdershots.com/

On Ice and Snow and Rock

Since the age of about 9 or 10, maybe earlier, I have been fairly obsessed with the mountains, with skiing and with climbing and mountaineering and with adventure of any sort. We had a book when I was growing up called "On Ice and Snow and Rock" by Gaston Rebuffat. I'm pretty sure my father brought it back with him from Chamonix. It had many full color pictures of Gaston climbing the beautiful granite spires that rip up through the brilliant glaciers around Mont Blanc. For anyone who has seen this book you know how great these pictures are. The images stick with me more than those of my other children's books. At night my father would pour a cup of Cognac, light the lantern and read aloud from Annapurna in which Gaston performed such human acts of heroism while so out of his home alpine element. His knickers and wool sweater seemed so impossible and out of place in this high Himalayan darkness which I already understood was another world. Jill and I are leaving for Chamonix in 9 days.

The book wasn't the only thing my father brought back from chamonix. He brought back a bunch of great stories, a bunch of great color slides, some cool glacier glasses with beads sewn on the side by the hand of some hot french chick. He brought back two ice axes....(if anyone knows where they might be, please bring them back to the ridge) and I'm pretty sure that he came back with a bunch of memories that I wish he would write down or tell to me as a story.

I'm so excited for this trip that I can hardly think. I have been obsessed with the planning of this trip and with ensuring that I can keep my wife and I safe here, in what some perceive as a Disyland of mountains, that in spite of all the hype, can unknowingly give anyone the ultimate beat-down like horse shakes a thousand flies off its back and continues eating. I will be out of my element and I know enough to give these mountains the respect they deserve. Just because there are three espresso machines within a 1 mile radius doesn't mean that the stone falling at 150 mph will hurt less. For some reason it is with quite a bit of emotion that I travel to Chamonix.

Mmm... but the espresso will be good. For anyone planning a trip to Chamonix for skiing here are a few weather links that you may find helpful:

Good basic weather for quickly viewing on a phone
http://chamonix-meteo.com/bul/metPreMatEn.php

SnowForcast – with extended
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Chamonix/6day/top

Welove2ski
http://www.welove2ski.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=000

Seblog video report
http://www.welove2ski.com/snow-report/Chamonix/

Chamonix.net – webcams, snow report
http://www.chamonet.com/

Compagniedumontblanc
http://www.compagniedumontblanc.fr/index.php

Intellicast
http://www.intellicast.com/Local/Weather.aspx?unit=F&location=FRXX0212

MetoFrance With avalanche…needs to be translated using Google…
http://france.meteofrance.com/france/MONTAGNE?MONTAGNE_PORTLET.path=montagnebulletinneige/DEPT74

First Run on New Planks

I was pretty psyched to find an untracked line this long inside the ski area for my first test of the new boards. This is my favorite kind of snow...technically this type of snow is called baby butt.

First Run on New Planks from Aaron Stanford on Vimeo.

More Testing of Skis and Camera from Aaron Stanford on Vimeo.