Skolai Images

Hey Folks,

Ahhh - the days feel longer already. It’s like Boxing Day for Solstice.

I told you I’d show a couple of photos of how big Mundaca is. This is my friend KC, from New Zealand, guiding a 16′ raft through the entrance wave of Mundaca. One guide plus 6 people in a heavy raft and the wave stands it up almost totally vertical. Some awesome power in the water here. KC’s a killer guide, he’s worked on rivers all over the world, including the Zambezi and the White Nile in Africa. Not too bad for a Kiwi!

Shooting whitewater rafting photos is kinda hard - I found the hardest thing was to not fill the buffer - mostly because the rapids were so big, I could shoot the whole series and still miss stuff. The D2x has a buffer of 17 shots when shooting raw files, and it’s amazing how quickly they go by when you shoot 5 frames per second. (more…)

Hey Folks,

Well, as I sit around and deal with html code and other assorted things web related, I thought I’d post a few images from throughout the year. This one is another from the Futaleufu River, in central Patagonia, Chile. One of the best known rapids on the river is called Mundaca, named after the gentleman who owns the land alongside the river at that particular rapid. The rapid is wicked. Earlier in the summer, at higher water levels, the main section of the rapid is this huge infusion wave, before you actually hit the main rapid. Sometimes, this wave catches folks by surprise, because they know Mundaca is in the middle of the river, and they think by skirting the rapid down river right they’ll be fine - and right as they cross this little drop, the wave surges and they get nailed. This guy here got totally worked in the hole before rolling back up and then got nailed in Mundaca. I’ll post a few more images from Mundaca in the next few days - it’s an awesome rapid, and lots of folks got hammered there, particularly rafters. Mundaca gave some big rafts a pounding! It’s amazing how much power is reeling in those waves, and only when you hit them full in the middle do you realize how absurdly powerful they are.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks

Well, I’ve not got a lot to tell you, unfortunately. For various reasons, none to exciting, I’m in Anchorage until after the holiday. Around the first of the year I’ll be heading to McCarthy. Not for a trip, but for the winter. That’s right, I’ll be staying just outside a town that has about 5 people in it during the winter. I’m not sure how often I’ll get internet access, but hopefully I can work that out and stay in touch. For those of you who don’t know much about McCarthy, the photo posted here gives you a little idea. This is a sign posted by the side of the McCarthy Road as you LEAVE McCarthy, headed back OUT of the park! How often do you see signs like this warning of danger as you’re LEAVING the backcountry? The road is 60 miles of gravel road, running between the tiny rustic hamlet of Chitina, on the Park boundary at the Copper River, and McCarthy. It used to have a sign as you begin the road claiming you were entering ‘The Worst Road in Alaska”. It’s not as bad anymore, but the road does lay claim to numerous tires every year, and the odd van as well. It’s not maintained very often during the winter, from what I’m told, but hopefully will be passable. I’ve got 4 snowchains and a bag of gumption - hopefully that’ll get me around OK.

Once at the end of the road, I’ll be living in a tiny cabin in the woods; (more…)

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Hey Folks,

This will be my last post here for a while. I’m heading off to the big wilderness again in the morning. This time, my plan is a little different. I’ll be over in the park until just before Xmas, when I have to return to Anchorage and baby sit 2 dogs, Keba and Musa, until the new year - then I’ll be back over to the park scrounging around in the dark.

This photo isn’t one I took, but it was my idea. This is from a trip this past summer down the Chittistone Valley. We had a GREAT time. The first time ever on one of my trips that a couple got engaged - Nick and April, 2 very cool folks from Seattle, WA. I was pretty impressed that someone would take a trip like this to propose, way to go Nick. Maybe when I get back I’ll post a photo of Nick and April. They had an awesome time, loved the trip, and even invited me to their wedding!

This little point is near a place called “Wolverine” that I hike to, and I knew they’d both love the sidetrip up to here. I took a bunch of photos of them both out on this overlook, and they wanted one of me for some reason. I said, “here, this will look very cool - shoot this”. I’ve actually done the entire route hop-scotch style, left, left, right, together, right, left, and so forth. Very artful!

Hopefully, my next post will be a little more inspired than this one.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s another photo from my trip this year to Tebay Lakes. We hiked south from the landing strip, at Upper Tebay Lake, and found this ridge on the backside of Tebay Falls, where we camped. I got up early one morning and had a blast shooting the dawn, with an array of wildflowers. Most mornings there would be an ever so slight breeze, which made it difficult to get closeup photos of the wildflowers, but I managed to get a few that were sharp. Fortunately there were flowers everywhere here - way more than probably anywhere else in the park that I’ve seen. This little patch of Dwarf Fireweed (the magenta or pink-ish flower here) and Arctic Daisy made a nice foreground for the distant peaks. I’ve never been very good at identifying flowers, but I’m pretty sure these are right. The yellow ones are either Alpine Arnica or Mountain Arnica.

This shot was taken (more…)

Hey Folks,

There’s a lot of things I’m not good at. I can’t do math (I quit, right around the time our class began studying something they referred to as ‘long division’). I can’t play basketball. I have a black thumb when it comes to all things computer. I’m not good at remembering where I put things ….. BUT!!!! ……. (more…)