Archive for the ‘Cool stories’ Category
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Skolai Pass, the north end; Sunset over Skolai Pass, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click the image to view a larger version of the photo.
Hey Folks,
Skolai Pass has rocked into March 2010. This month’s edition of backpacker magazine, which I wrote about earlier, has a full page image of mine from Hole in the Wall, accompanying an article about hiking the Goat Trail. And this month’s edition of Popular Photography includes another photo from Skolai Pass by photographer Doug Roane, taken on one of last year’s Skolai Pass Photo Tours. Check out a large version of Doug’s amazing photo here. Better yet, take 15 minutes and browse the collection of images on Doug’s website. Awesome stuff!
Skolai Pass, the south end; Waterfalls overlooking Skolai Pass and Russell Glacier - Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, AK. For a gorgeous larger version, visit Doug's website at www.dougroanephotography.com
Doug’s photo was voted 2nd place in the March “Your Best Shot” competition. Huge congratulations Doug, a recognition well-earned. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, Doug Roane, Landscape features, photo tour, scenics, Skolai Images, Skolai Pass, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Cool stories, Glaciers, Landscape features, Mountains, News, Photo Tours, Photography, Waterfalls, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 2 Comments »
Friday, February 5th, 2010
Winter snowshoeing, boreal forest, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click the image to view a larger version.
Hey Folks,
All photo sales are unique, but this one was pretty weird. My phone rings around 5:30am, I kinda half open my eyes, clasp for the phone, miss, knock it off the table beside my bed, try to catch it, bang my head on the guitar standing against the wall, drop the phone, and it crashes to the floor. My go-to response in this situation is pretty simple; I curse. It’s a sin, I know, but it’s a hard habit to break. So I curse again, and then pick up the phone.
Surprisingly, the person on the other end of the phone is still there. I gurgle a quick greeting;
“hello, this is Carl.”
“hello, this is special agent ——– ………. “ (more…)
Tags: Alaska, boreal forest, Carl Donohue, CIA, forest, hiking, Skolai Images, snowshoeing, Winter, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Cool stories, Snowshoeing, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 12 Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Skolai Pass, Hole in the wall rock formations, glaciers, Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. The flowers you see here are (white ones) Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala) and Dwarf Fireweed (Epilobium latifolium)
Hey Folks,
It’s always nice when a magazine editor wants your photo for their story, and you get published. But it’s WAY nicer when you get published in a magazine you enjoy, read and value. This image posted here is in the current edition of backpacker magazine, page 65 – full page vertical, which is nice. The image accompanies an article on backpacking “the Goat Trail”, in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve. This was the first route I ever hiked in Wrangell – St. Elias, and definitely a favorite of mine, so having my image chosen to accompany the story represents much more than just another published photo and a check to me.
It’s also cool for me because a few of my friends are published in the same edition of the magazine. It’d be remiss of me not to mention Bret Edge, Jon Cornforth and Ron Niebrugge, all of whom are photographers I admire. T (more…)
Tags: Alaska, Carl Donohue, Hole in the Wall, Landscape features, photos, scenics, Skolai, Skolai Pass, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Landscape features, Mountains, Summertime, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 9 Comments »
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Looking down from a great height at some of the amazing escarpments in the St. Elias Mountain Range, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Click on the image to see a larger version.
Hey Folks,
Have you ever thought about climbing the 2nd highest mountain in the US, the 2nd highest mountain in Canada, the 3rd highest mountain in North America, the mountain with the greatest vertical relief of any mountain in the world so you can ski from top to bottom? From 18 008′ to the sea? If so, this movie’s for you. Mount St. Elias. 2 Austrian mountaineers and an American freeski mountaineer set out to run the “ultimate vertical descent” – 18 000 of skiing from the summit of Mount St. Elias to the sea, to Icy Bay. Pretty amazing stuff to watch, I can’t begin to imagine what that kind of endeavor must be like.
“If you want to achieve something great, you have to risk more than usual – that’s the way it is.” — (Axel Naglich) (more…)
Tags: Aerial Photos, Carl Donohue, Elias, films, images, Landscape features, Mount, Mount St. Elias, Mountains, movies, Mt. St. Elias, photos, Saint, scenics, Skolai Images, snow, St., Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Abstracts, Aerial Photos, Alaska, Cool stories, Landscape features, Mountains, News, Photography, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 3 Comments »
Friday, November 13th, 2009
Tallest peaks in the University Range, Mt. Churchill and Mt. Bona rise dramatically from Russell Glacier, catching the last rays of the day, Fall colors in the foreground, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska.
Hey Folks,
Here’s an image that I am amazingly lucky to have made. Probably luckier than I deserve to be. Not because of the luck involved in catching this scene like this; this image has been a long, long time in coming. The scene is taken from the south end of Chitistone Pass, near Skolai Pass, Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, Alaska. I’ve spent more time here than I probably should admit to, waiting, hoping and wondering if I’d ever actually happen to catch it in the light that I knew graces these peaks from time to time. Finally, this September, I was up there with our phototour and we were really blessed with some great weather. I was giddy with excitement and I’m sure the folks along on the trip were wondering just what they’d got themselves into. Within 20 minutes of landing we’d already found and photographed a Least Weasel, which I’d never had the opportunity to photograph inside the park previously. Next up we ran into some Woodland caribou, apparently the only woodland caribou herd in Alaska, so that was pretty awesome. Then we saw some Dall sheep rams, and managed to stalk up on them a little. Next up was sunset, (more…)
Tags: Alaska, alpenglow, Carl Donohue, Chitistone Pass, colors, Fall, fall colors, glacial, Glaciers, horizontals, ice, Landscape features, Mountains, Mt. Bona, Mt. Churchill, photos, Russell Glacier, scenics, Skolai Images, sunset, University Range, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Adventures, Alaska, Backpacking and Hiking, Cool stories, Fall, Glaciers, Landscape features, Mountains, Photo Tours, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 5 Comments »
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
Hey Folks,
Here’s an interesting thought; there’s been a lot of discussion in Alaska on wolf and other wildlife management, particularly ‘predator management’ (aren’t ALL animals not predators of some creatures, and prey of others?), and this raises the issue of orcas (Orcinus orca) and northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni). In more recent times, for various reasons, it appears that orcas have begun preying more heavily on northern sea otters in the Southwestern part of the otters’ range – South Central Alaska out across the Aleutian Islands. Orcas, “Wolves of the Sea”, appear to be extirpating the sea otter within this Distinct Population Segment (DPS), and this sea otter DPS is now listed as threatened on the Endangered Species Act. So, what of it? Should the ‘wildlife authorities’ fire up the choppers, Cessnas and Supercubs, hire a sniper or 2, and begin an aerial ‘predator control’ program? (more…)
Tags: AK, Alaska, Carl Donohue, endangered species, endangered species act, killer whales, mammals, marine, orcas, photos, sea otters, Wildlife, Wolves
Posted in Alaska, Cool stories, Environmental Issues, Musings, News, Rants, Wildlife | 5 Comments »
Saturday, October 17th, 2009
Hey Folks,
Even though they might only be little, grizzly bear cubs are pretty bold – bold enough to climb on a stick and poke their tongue out at my camera. They know full well, of course, that their mother outweighs me by several hundred pounds, is a coupla yards quicker than my aged legs can carry me 
, is quite a bit stronger, has bigger, pointier teeth, sharper, longer claws, and is a little more willing to get in a tussle than I am. Hence, they’re pretty bold.
These cubs were actually not doing so well – only days earlier there had been 3 of them. (more…)
Tags: AK, Alaska, animals, babies, bears, Brown bears, Carl Donohue, cubs, Grizzly Bears, images, Katmai, Katmai National Park, mammals, photos, twins, Ursus arctos, Wildlife, young
Posted in Alaska, Cool stories, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Wildlife | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Hey Folks,
They say 3 is a lucky number – so here’s my third grizzly bear photo in a row. This was one of the prettiest grizzly bears I’ve seen, a really light blond color, with darker bands around the lower legs and face – simply a beautiful animal. I spent a lot of time shooting this bear, and got a number of runs like this, the bear coming directly at me, great light, nice background – what’s there to not like?
So what exactly is going on here? (more…)
Tags: Alaska, bears, Brooks River, Brown bears, Carl Donohue, chasing fish, Fall, fishing, Grizzly Bears, images, Katmai National Park, mammals, photos, salmon, Wildlife
Posted in Alaska, Cool stories, Fall, Grizzly Bears, Katmai National Park, Wildlife | 9 Comments »
Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Hey Folks,
Here’s another image from my recent trip to Skolai Pass. This, along with the previous image posted of Mt. Bona and Mt Churchill, was taken on the first day of our arrival in the pass. Pretty nice day, eh?
These caribou are part of the Chisana Herd (pronounced ‘Chushana’) and are, according to legend, the only Woodland Caribou herd in Alaska, and maybe ought be listed on the Endangered Species Act, possibly the strongest environmental legislation in the US. Woodland Caribou are found mostly in Canada (possibly a very small population in Idaho and Washington – often referred to as a separate subspecies, Mountain Caribou), with the great herds of Alaskan caribou, such as the Porcupine Herd, or Central Arctic Herd of the north slope, like the caribou more seen in Denali National Park, being Barren Ground Caribou. (more…)
Tags: AK, Alaska, animals, Caribou, Carl Donohue, images, Landscape features, mammals, Mountains, photos, Wildlife, Woodland Caribou, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Caribou, Cool stories, Environmental Issues, Landscape features, Mountains, Summertime, Wildlife, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 5 Comments »
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Hey Folks,
I was really, really hoping to get some wolf photos on this last trip. Just one would’ve been fine. Wolves aren’t as common in the southern reaches of the park, though they’re certainly around, so I was hoping to get lucky enough to maybe see, perchance to photograph, one on the north side of the park. The habitat on the south side isn’t (generally) as wolf friendly – more heavily forested, and lots of alpine mountain country, snow and ice. Dall sheep and moose are the main prey for wolves in that part of the park, and though there are a lot of sheep, the numbers are smaller than the herds of caribou that wander through the north part of the park in the fall and late winter/early spring. (more…)
Tags: Alaska, carcass, Caribou, Carl Donohue, howling, kill, pack, photos, Winter, wolf, Wolves, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Wrangell St. Elias
Posted in Alaska, Cool stories, Miscellaneous, Wildlife, Winter, Wolves, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park | 7 Comments »
