Skolai Images

hey Folks,

One evening on this recent trip was gorgeous - so right after dinner I was scampering around trying to find images to make. The peak behind camp was glowing in the setting sun, and I set up along a small stream by our ‘kitchen’. This is the view east from dinner. Unfortunately, we didn’t get too many evenings like this, and this was the only we did where our camp was in a spot I could shoot something from. One evening later in the trek was simply amazing, but we’d had to camp in the middle of some brush up a small tributary stream, and compositions weren’t working for me.

Cheers

Carl

hey Folks,

Another image from my evening with some sun.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,
Well, this image isn’t from the Bremner to Tebay trek. Just a little break. This was from my trip down to Yakutat and the Tongass National Forest in June. Hiking in the forest is such a treat, especially in an ancient one like the Tongass. The mood of the place is simply awesome. I was a hundred yards from the Pacific Ocean here, yet the forest completely enveloped me, and it didn’t feel at all like a hike near the ocean to me.

The Tongass National Forest is a beautiful forest, and a national treasure. I hate to see the damage being done to it by industrial logging, and hope protections are put in place ASAP to help preserve what remains of this beautiful place.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s the follow up to the post of 2 days ago. I walked about 100 yards up the ridge from the pond, and found this Alaska Cotton Grass field, which made a nice foreground for the mountain, to me. The timber of the light had changed so much in just a minute or 2. I snapped a few photos here, and before I knew it, the peak started to dim. A cloud behind me blocked the rising sun’s rays, and within a few more minutes, the peak no longer glowed. Bummer. I lay on the tundra for a while, hoping for some more light, but by the time the light started to shine on the snow-capped Mt. Drum again, the warmth was gone, and a cold morning light wasn’t so great for photos - this tired cold puppy headed back to his tent for some rest.

I should be back from my Bremner - Tebay trip tomorrow, and will try to post something late tomorrow evening when I get in.

Here’s another image of this same scene:

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

So here’s Mount Drum at 4:40am. A far better sight than I am at that time in the morning, trust me!

I got up and headed out early, but not early enough to catch the color in the sky around 4:15 - the clouds glowed a fiery pink, and I was still putting layer after layer of clothes on. It was pretty chilly this morning. I shot this photo of Mount Drum maybe 50 yards from out little kitchen - the unusually heavy rainfall left a number of small ponds and pondlets scattered across the high tundra, giving me something as a foreground for this photo.

I took a few quick compositions, then headed across the tundra for something else as a foreground, and it was amazing how much the light changed in a few short minutes.

Mount Drum is typically shot from the north face, or the southwest face - we were a little east of it here, and the high peak caught the morning rays nicely.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

So here’s another image from the fabled ‘night of the forgotten camera’ - I turned around, and shot Kevin’s tent as he sat inside and read - well, he told me he was reading, but I never saw a book, just the headlamp - I’m not sure he wasn’t just turning on the lamp to make us think he was reading. The mountain in the background is Mt Drum, this was one of the few opportunities we got to see it, as clouds covered the sky most of the time. Prtty sweet view out a tent though, eh?

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

So I got back right on time - the last glows of the evening were just dwindling down, and I arrived back at the ‘house’ and grabbed my camera, and set up this shot. 10 minutes earlier and the color in the sky was gorgeous. 25 minutes earlier and the mountain was on fire. Zanetti and Wrangell, further south, were even more spectacular. As per usual, my impeccable timing got me a drab sky and no great light.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s a motley crew - the 3 Rascals. Left to Right, Sergei “Borat” Egorov, Steve “Don’t Dude Me” New and Dan “Two Plates” Kelly - only Kevin “Kayfer” Kelly escaped my lens on this shot - I think he was further up the ridge looking for a bear. We dayhiked from camp this particular day, and got back in time for a great supper and sunset over the mountains, alpenglow and all - of course, I wasn’t able to shoot any of that, as I was off on another hike, with Two Plates, looking for the rain pants he’d accidentally left behind on the hike up near a waterfall. We found them and headed back to camp, where my camera lay sitting under the tarp, neatly, where I’d left it - always leave your camera behind when you head out near sunset for a hike, that’s one of my Golden Rules. We had awesome alpenglow on Mt Sanford, Mt Wrangell and Mt Zanetti, all over 13 500′, and yours truly was walking around the tundra without his camera. I really do a great job, eh?

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s Steve “Don’t Dude Me” New - posing in front of the Arch. Every so often a rock or three would fall from the bridge in the background, and crash down onto the ice below - pretty awesome stuff. We enjoyed the glacier and moraine, but the hiking is tough on that terrain. Fortunately we didn’t have to hike too far across the rocks and ice - and the moraine made the river crossing WAY simpler than it would otherwise have been.

Cheers

Carl

Hey Folks,

Here’s an image from our first afternoon on the Sanford Glacier - well, on the moraine section of the glacier. We arrive at the landing strip, donned raingear to ward off the ever-present drizzle, and set off up the valley. Before long, we found a place to camp, setup camp, had a nap (always a critical part of a day’s hiking), and then we hiked up the valley to the moraine, and explored that a little. Right before we got on the moraine we saw a grizzly bear, maybe 75 yards away. The bear reared up on its hind legs, took a look at our intimidating crew, and then dropped to all fours and raced off into the brush. Good bear!

After hiking around the glacier a while, we found this arch, which was really cool. Of course, we didn’t have cameras with us, so we made sure the following day to take a short detour off our route up to this arch for some images. I’m glad we did, what a cool place this is. What’s really cool is that it changes on such a scale that it could well not be around next year. I hope it is, but I’m sure we’ll find something else equally as interesting if not. Such seems to be the way of glaciers.

I convinced Dan “Two Plates” Kelly to head up on the bridge of the glacier for a photo-opp. Dan’s never one to shy away from such a chance to shine, and he posed nicely for this. I’ll post another image soon of his brother, Steve “Don’t Dude Me” also at this arch, from below.

Cheers

Carl