Van Epps backcountry ski photos – central Washington Cascades, in the vicinity of Mount Stuart

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On location -

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Taking advantage of stellar early season conditions, a group of us headed north to HWY 20 and the North Cascades, beating out a seasonal closure that shuts down the highway to all (except those w/ snow mobiles.) While coverage was thin in spots, it was an opening day not to be forgotten.

Morning light was tough for backcountry ski photos, but over the course of the day, the clouds parted and everyone quickly forgot about the long drive from Seattle to get here.

And one last image – a hand-held panoramic, taken from Maple Pass. North Cascades HWY meanders up the valley in the left part of the image as it heads east towards Mazama and Winthrop. Soon after I took this, the sun disappeared, the temperatures dropped to about 10 degrees and we left for Seattle, thankful for what the season has already provided.

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Ok, so it may be a bit earlier to ski Mt Rainier (at least from the summit) but I can’t help but think spring ski touring is right around the corner. Of course, if you were out last weekend enjoying the deepest snow of the year, spring feels a long long ways away.

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What a finicky winter we’re having here in the Pacific NW. Early on we had more snow then we knew what to do with. Last weekend, for this ski tour to Harding Mountain, we enjoyed spring-like corn near the summit and about 4-6 inches of hoar-frost powder in the valley and more shaded spots.

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Harding Mountain tops out at 7173 feet. The summit provided a remarkable vantage point of the central Washington Cascades, including nearby peaks such as Mt Stuart. With the help of snow mobiles, we accessed the peak from the Salmon La Sac entrance (think Roslyn & I-90), but once at the top we could see all the way to Asgard Pass, which is typically accessed from the town of Leavenworth.

Below is quick look at where Harding is located.

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You’ve seen it many times before, in magazines, calendars and postcards. A surreal-looking sun sinking below the horizon or sliding behind a mountain peak, streaks of light emanating from the center. Last time I checked, I didn’t think those streaks were natural, so how did the photographer do this?

You might be thinking a fancy filter is required to get this effect, and yes, there are actual star filters you can buy. You could also use Photoshop with similar results. But why bother, when all you really need to do is adjust the aperture setting on your camera.

Photo stats: f/20, ISO 200, 1/250 sec

First, a quick definition of aperture:

The aperture of a lens is the diameter of the lens opening and is usually controlled by an iris. The larger the diameter of the aperture, the more light reaches the film / image sensor.Aperture is expressed as F-stop, e.g. F2.8 or f/2.8. The smaller the F-stop number (or f/value), the larger the lens opening (aperture).

You can read more about aperture HERE

The secret to getting the star effect is to adjust your aperture to the largest F-stop possible. In the case of the backcountry skiing photo above, I shot this at F/20. The sea kayaking picture below was shot at F/16. I wouldn’t go much lower than f/16 or the star effect begins to fade. f/18 – f/22 seems to work best. (Although you will continue to get the effect above f/22, generally speaking, the quality of the image will begin to deteriorate.)

This sea kayaking photo was shot at f/16, ISO 200 1/320 sec

If you have a digital point & shoot camera, attaining the star effect may be a challenge as most P&S cameras don’t allow you to adjust the aperture to the necessary level.

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Sometimes you forget why. The other day I was reminded. Below is a photographic journey into the central Washington Cascades for a day of backcountry skiing.

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My wife and I left Seattle on Saturday. 14 hours later we were in Salt Lake City. Day one, skiing at Alta. Day two, skate skiing at Solitude. Day three, a backcountry ski tour up Big Cottonwood Canyon. This morning, drove to Steamboat Springs, CO. For the next four days I’ll be dividing my time between cheering on my wife at the Telemark National Championships ski race here in Steamboat Springs and snapping photos. Subscribe now and be the first to witness some road trip photographs when I return home and organize everything.

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Below is a short list of landscape and nature pictures available as panoramic prints.

Fine art prints are available as 5×15, 9×18, 10×20, 12×24 and, when possible, 10×30. Please contact me if you are interested!

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CLICK HERE to watch a slideshow of these panoramic photos

To view print pricing, see our Pricing Page

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Below you’ll find a growing selection of backcountry skiing photos, all of which are available as fine art photography prints.

View photos at SmugMug

Watch a slide show of these images

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The first ski tour of the year is always filled with a bit of anxiety. Like any other adventure, you’re constantly doing a mental checklist of gear on the drive, despite making the effort beforehand (even the night before!) that everything you need is in good working condition and ready to go. I laid all my backcountry gear on the floor, taking note of what I had, and didn’t have.

Let the games begin

Due to relatively little amounts of snow, the destination for our first ski tour was, wherelese, Mt Rainier. With sunny skies predicted and about half a foot of fresh snow, our expectations weren’t all that high but instead hopeful. Arriving at the Paradise parking lot around 9:00 am, we were quite pleased to see most of the ground covered in fresh snow, with the possibility of skinning from the car looking high.

Before I really had time to think about it, our small group began the skin up towards Camp Muir. No matter how many times I ski on or around Rainier (which is a lot) I am always blown away by how beautiful a mountain it is.

Taking very few rest stops, I found myself quickly gasping for air and the legs tired as I attempted to photograph “The Mountain” while keeping up with my buds. Soon I fell into a rhythm though and the Muir snowfield unfolded into a massive powder field. This was going to be good I thought…

My legs kept trying to tell me this was the first ski tour of the year, while my brain was just too enthusiastic about the current conditions (which are rarely that good towards Muir Camp at 10,000 ft) and the fact that despite a very slow start to the ski season here in the NW, we were looking at about 3000 – 4000 ft of very good turns.

And very good turns we did have. So enjoyable they were, we opted for two. Sooner or later though we had to listen to our tired bodies and so the adventure back to car began. A bit of walking here, some survival skiing there and our first day of backcountry was deemed a success.

There are a lot of folks in Washington who tire of hearing Mt Rainier stories, myself (sometimes) included. But on this day, the first turns of the year, it just didn’t matter.

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