Working on a Movie Set.

Yesterday Richard and I did a job for the Bandito Brothers production company. I have never worked on the film set before and I was blown away by the scale of these productions. It was a long day, but a really fun day, and when I was not hiding from the camera so as not to have my ugly mug in any shots, I managed to shoot a few photos of my own.

I my opinion, landing a helicopter here is a bad idea, and it is really a bad idea if I am in it. I dont trust these things.
Richard standing on the spot where the helicopter just landed. Richard and I forgot our lunches. Conveniently there was a ton of blueberries growing on top of the crag.
Sending the cameraman down to a good shooting location.
The cameraman in position ready for the first shoot.
The camera helicopter.
The Navy Helicopter.
Flying low.
Camera man on belay and in position number 2.
Dropping off the "victim"
Hovering below us.
Preparing for the rescue
Lowering the rescuer.
Lowering down a litter.
Victim and rescuer.
Rescue chopper heading out.
Camera man climbing out of his ledge after shooting was over.
Helmet camera mounted on camera man.
This sequence gives an idea of what we were there for. We did some rigging that allowed the camera man to jump off the rock and fall toward the ground. Our job was to make sure he stopped before he got there.
Flying above the trees.
Helicopter with Puget Sound in the background.
My ride out of here.

Photos from a trip to Mt. Baker's Easton Glacier.

I just got back from a trip to Mt. Bakers Easton Glacier. This trip was a 3 day Mt. Baker Summit climb. The weather was a little challenging on this trip, and the summit conditions were some of the worst I have ever had to deal with. These trips start with an early morning meeting and gear check and then a drive to the trail head at Mt. Baker. We then hike in and build a camp just above treeline. Day 2 is usually a skills day covering snow walking, ice walking, ice axe use , and roped glacier travel. Day 3 is summit day and the long hike out.

Fog covering the trees on the approach hike. I shot no more photos worth posting the first day due to crappy weather and zero visiblility.

Fog in Valley below on the morning of day 2.

Jeff and Jeff enjoying the morning.

Fog in the valley.

Dwayne and Alex.

The Twin Sisters range.

Cindy heading up for skills day.

A guy walking on the ridge next to camp.

A second shot because I cant figure out which one I like the most.

Tim and Cindy.

The first hint of light in the morning. This is the first time I have tried using the D300 at 3200 ISO. I like the results.

A little later on the summit trip. The weather is still holding out.

Clouds moving up the mountain. Us too.

Moving around crevasses.

The well beaten trail up the mountain.

Our Summit shot. Fogged lens. Between turning around at the summit crater due to heavy rain and temps in the 30s I put the camera away. It was just too wet to be shooting photos. The camera still got soaked, but there were not ill effects. The other rope team of five very hearty soles chose to continue to the top with Chris. The slightly smarter group agreed to go down with me. I owe Chirs a beer for the seriously rough summit duty.

Today I am still chasing off a case of the flu brought on by a few too many days of work in a row. As always, its still better than sitting at a desk. Even on the worst days.

Mt. Baker Storm Photo

I shot this photo last week. It was shot about 10am on a stormy day. The clouds made for some very dramatic lighting.

Mt. Shuksan

Here are some photos from Mt. Shuksan. I did a guided climb of the Fisher Chimneys route last week. Once again we dealt with thunderstorms. The warm weather is really creating some difficult summit days in the cascades with thunderstorms building at any time of the day so they are completely unpredictable. Ferns on the approach hike.
Craig
My tent set up with Mt. Shucksan in the background.
Thunderstorm building at 5:30am? That's unusual.
Mt Baker and thunderstorms.
The border peaks, and Mt. Slesse.
Climbing hells highway.
Interesting patterns on the glacier.
The summit shot.
Standing in the wind.
Summit
The first signs that a storm might be in the works.
Less than a half hour later things got real bad.
I shot no pictures between the above picture and this one. Things were fairly full on. Hail lightning, thunder, rain, hair standing on end, all while descending the Fisher Chimneys. Note: The Fishers Chimneys are not fun to descend in the rain, but they are really not that bad.