Update

I'm stealin' my roommates Internet to post some pics, Each one has a cool story- Its been 'a hell of a week and lots of cool photos as soon as I get to the town's library; library's been closed of late. All of these images are in RAW format, but I cant wait to fool with 'em on my favorite computer program. Yesterday I worked the top of Chair #11- The storm broke after a miserable, blizzarding early morning. From nearly 9150 ft, the top of chair 3 looked pretty awesome through a coloured polarized lens. The crew thinks I'm kinda weird for takin' so many photos.

I rode up Chair 12 with my roommate, Josh- its a primitive fixed-grip which gives passage to some of the most exciting and least-known intermediate runs on the Mountain. Where the lift ends- high on WhiteBark Ridge- there was an incredible view of this awesome complete circular rainbow around the sun. A friend and coworker suggested that it was a sundog, but I recognize it as something different.

Mike and I had our randomly-assigned days off together. The mountain was smothered in discouraging storm-clouds and we werent going skiing. Instead we drove south- a joy ride of sorts...
And while my co-workers continued to struggle with the wind and snow, Mike and I enjoyed more than 80-miles sunshine, 60-degrees and the amazing scene of a boiling winter range.
The photo is of the mountains very near Mammoth, from the "Green-Church Road" which leads to the local hot springs and some secret fishin' holes.

One of Mikes spots on the Owens river just miles from Mammoth Lakes. We cast in 'a copper John, and I got a short hit, but neither of us could hook a fish.

Mammoth Mountain hosted a/the Olympic-Qualifying snowboard competitions this week. I got to see the famous guys compete in our Halfpipe and over the huge ramps. My roommate Josh took this photo of a qualifier flying over him on the Halfpipe. He got to watch from a bit closer than where i watched from work.

Work at 10,525

The snow report is 5 fresh feet on the mountain- nearly 3 feet in town.
It snowed Friday night, Saturday and Sunday- laying waist-high snow along streets and sidewalks. Car accidents are abound and power outages are equally common.
Work, though, is sweet. The mountain is offering me more hours now that the runs are open and we approach the holiday season. I'm working all over the ski-area: today at 10,525 feet on Lift#3 "The Face Lift Express." I get to the slope and back via bus and snowmobile- its always a bit more exciting than you'd expect work to be and the view cant be beat when its not snowing ! I took some pics early in the day, and experimented shooting through my polarized sunglasses when the sun faded out the horizon.
At work we stand in negative windchills. Infact the other day a gust of wind atop one of the chairs measured 140mph.. Winds over 40, which occur almost daily, shut the lifts down. I can tell you that it's no fun waiting for the lift to start up again in those conditions.

Blanketed

FRIDAY, NOV. 27

When I walked out of the library Friday evening the world looked much different than when I'd gone in. The miserable-grey sky had been replaced with a dramatic passing-storm one and the ground was all white. The Library looked extraordinary at dusk- with the dark breaking clouds above it. Instead of rocky and grand, the tall range that hid our sunset was nearly black.

I yanked the Canon from my pack and started the cold walk back to the apartment with a photo of the library. I leaned against a parked car to take the shot- the glowing building backed by our first winter storm. Not even a block away I found my shoes cold and packed with dense snow. It wasn't the powdery stuff.

The air was cold enough, though, that the ice in my shoes would not melt- a nice surprise when I came to realize that my toes were still cold and not numb. Some power lines ran down an alley towards the dark mountains to the southwest- I brushed off nearly four inches of snow from the rock that I suspected would make a fair tripod: It took the painful cold to drive me away from the scene some twenty-photos later. Most would surly be blurred; a brisk wind set in quickly and had me shivering over the 1/30 sec exposures.

The silly wind picked up again and I wasn't halfway home when the sun had failed our valley completely and offered passage for the second bout of weather.
...I turned my back to the wind which stung from the direction that I traveled.

The folks of Mammoth Lakes are much more accustomed to foot-travel than the big-city people that come to visit in their cars. Town is not big enough to risk the icy roads in a vehicle and the 20-min. buses are free to everyone. There were many people walking the same road as I. Some looked like simple masses of warm clothing and the rest of 'em were just frozen cowboys. The snow on the ground blew fiercely to my back as even more fell into the glow of streetlights and passing headlights. Six and eight inches accumulated on curbs, but the busy sidewalks were packed short from the rush hour to get home during the storm. I took photos on my walk: street scenes, Christmas lights and some cool ones when the silhouette of a bundled pedestrian walked in front of an SUV's snow-lit headlights. Most of my photos were disappointing, though: Blurred and dark. It was only those where I'd paid special attention to clean the lens of my camera and steady it on a ledge or mailbox that came out.



Icicles began forming by morning. The system was moving south violently, but our storm wasn't over yet. My ski-pass was revoked for the weekend for some silly flubs with administration in the workplace, but I could still ride the gondola on Saturday. I planned to take it to the top.
Saturday morning I hopped onto the bus for Main Lodge. The woman-driver jumped out frequently to chisel the ice from the steps with a small pick, and once we started moving the bus slid on every icy turn. She wasn't having a good time- turning off of old mammoth road the bus went so far as to miss the street-sign by inches and had an oncoming car make an exciting break.

The cars were more numerous than I'd scene them before. At the lodge there were snow-bound vehicles parked on the side of 203 for more than a half-mile down past the overflowed stump-alley lot. Maybe it is the fresh snow that brings them, or the weekend? At the gondola was posted:

TOP CLOSED

I gave the man my pass to see how far I could get- Only to McCoy station, though, at 9630feet in elevation.
The storm was much more than an examination from the bottom of the mountain would have revealed. I couldn't see the lodge or the peak of Mammoth mountain from half-way- only the most devoted riders and a few strips of dedicated conifers. Even the air was washed-out and crispy- It tore at my exposed face more awfully with each gust of icy wind. I walked from the station and up the flatter parts of a few runs. My meandering left me only cold until I found out just how deep the snow was where it wasn't packed down. The well of a tempting pine left me knee-high and unpleasantly surprised. The step I took destroyed my dry snow boots and sent me back to the station perhaps a bit earlier than I would have chosen. After shopping the unreasonable food-stuffs in the station I returned to the gondola and my apartment, assuming that I'd had enough of the storm. With my planned trip up 14-thousand-foot Whitney in mind, its now much easier to see how such a storm could leave you lost or in a bag!

BLACK and WHITE and blues, greys and greens

Snow is white- it naturally fills in the grey spots with something more exciting, but there is something to be said for the greens and blues of a snowy mountain scape, too. I rode down hwy 395 yesterday- they've opened most of the roads to vehicles with tire-chains or 4-wheel drives after our big snow-dump on the night of thanksgiving (I'll post storm-pics later!)

Anyways, I was somewhere north of the village of Tom's Place when I spotted this gorgeous scene on the foothills of the Sierra. . Took several photos in colour and then considered the black and white-potential of the rough, dark trees and the beautifully smooth slopes. With the shutter speed up only a single click, I leaned again against the railing on the side of the road and snapped several more. When they are together, I think I like the colored-photo better, but individually the grey-scale one makes a more awesome impression on me. Which do you like best?- what could I do to make either of these even better? Adjust the mid-tones? Ups the contrast? More colour? Each seems to be missing something that would make them great! I would greatly appreciate any feedback! THANKS!

East Shore

AUG 17. What fortune to have something like the East Shore trail to hike before work in the morning. The wind from yesterdays storm system- and the rain and clouds- disappeared over night, leaving Shadow lake glassy and calm. The opportunity did not go to waste!
Kelly and I hopped onto the trail and reaped the early morning spectacles- Osprey and geese, beautiful Cinquefoil and the last of the season's rose blooms. There is a designated Osprey Nesting site not too far in, lake-side. The Shadow Mountain trail was to be the point at which we would turn around to make it back in time for Kelly's housecleaning duties- I had work later in the day.

Shrubby Cinquefoil, Dasiphora fruticosa

We made the dip where the big National Forest information board is and rounded the bends- Then there was a Moose. It wasn't until we'd just began playing with the idea of heading for home that we came across the big guy- Kelly spotted him before I did.

It was his Moose-Butt that we saw- right in the center of the trail!. it stopped us both in our tracks. I took some pics, and I'm sure that she got some very nice butt-pictures herself! The moose was aware of our presence- he turned his head just enough to catch a glance before turning again to repossess his space-out on the smooth water. The act appeared to be one of insolence. We dared not pass- thick brush to the left and a drop to the lake on the right left us no safe opportunity to pass, and the moose was definitely not going to move. We were silent. Kelly and I whispered back and forth, but words were useless in communicating the awe that we shared. He was massive- the size of the moose alone was more than impressive- intimidating.

Once our shock was overcome we walked quietly back towards where we'd come from and let the arrogant beast alone. He sensed our movement and gave another glance as I tried to turn my own eyes away. The moose began a slow walk- surly not as careful as ours.

We talked about the encounter for some time on the way back- Kelly checked the time and we'd made the reverse with none to spare. Conversation changed toward artwork- We talked about hers and mine. Kelly has been an accomplished artist since her high school years and she seems to find talent in my photographs. She again proposed the idea of sharing a booth at Grand Lake's Fall Festival at the end of September- she's got the thing planned out, and Bob intends to help us get a booth. I'm not sure that my silly photos have a place in the world of professional art, but it could be fun..?... We talked about the things on the trail and took a small side-trip up a mysterious clearing that looked to lead up the Mountain. We didnt get far- we didn't see much, either: Some rocks and a good puddle.

The 'trail' seemed to disappear and we were finally deterred by a good fallen tree. Some passer-bys expressed their curiosity as we met the main trail again. Kelly's reply to their inquiries was vague- she told them something to the effect of 'dont know whats up there- we didnt find anything exciting. She told them about the moose and made it back to work on time to conclude another successful trip. .

Our creeping sun

August 18 __It was a day of only four pictures. The morning's sky was a less-exciting grey, and a light fog smothered the valley and lake same as heavier clouds continued to conceal Flattop Mountain through the afternoon hours. As the sun fell closer to the obscured horizon of the Never Summers, however, western clouds began to break and we were gifted with a few minutes of beautiful light-play on the mountains.
Guests and staff alike fled into the porch's sunlight for the infrequent bursts of warmth- It put a smile on everyones face! For a moment , a wave of light rolled over just the top of Shadow Mountain, and another in the dramatic foreground of Flattop's cold scene. Over the Grandby area- far to the south appeared a brighter sky where the clouds had blown away. i wondered how much warmer it was just 10 or twenty miles south. I bet they didn't get the magic that we were experiencing! The Gore's were lit and colourful for Sunset- we didnt get much more than what they contributed to our dusk.

Sundog

'Walked to the Library on Sunday afternoon- after my last training session on the mountain. The library was closed, but I spotted a bright sundog over Mammoth on my long walk back to the apartment. The thing was about 35 degrees from the blocked horizon and there was only one. I noticed the isolated rainbow several minutes after the last of the sunlight had left the valleyand it disappeared as quikcly as it seemed to have come.

Sundogs are a phnomenon which occur when the plate-like ice crystals in high cirrus clouds are shifted with the wind so that direct light is refracted through each crystal at 60-degrees. Sundogs can also form in low-lying ice clouds and generally become further from the sun as it rises and closer as it falls. Sometimes, when there is a sundog to one side of the sun, there will be an equal and opposite sundog that creates the appearance of a halo around the sun. They are said to appear anywhere in the world and at any time of day, but I have seen few in my lifetime and they seem to concentrate in early-spring for Kansas and Missouri.