Mackie Images » ski touring

backcountry ski photos

Mackie Images — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:07:58 +0000

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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First Tracks: Day One on Mt Rainier

Mackie Images — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:20:52 +0000

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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Northwest Snow & Avalanche Summit

Mackie Images — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:34:07 +0000

For those of you who live in the Seattle area, next Saturday, Nov 8th, is the NW Snow & Avalanche Snow Summit. The day consists of talks from various folks in the know about avalanches (Martin Volken from Pro Guiding Service for example), ski touring in the Cascades and, for all you backcountry skiers, some useful discussion on stability tests. So, check it out! Following the summit is the Friends of NWAC’s annual Snowbash fundraiser at the Tractor Tavern.

You can buy tickets online for both:

Avi Summit – http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/44301
Snowbash fundraiser – http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/47281

All in all, it makes for a great day of avalanche awareness and of course, kicking off the ski season with some friends and a couple beers.

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A Sign Of Things To Come?

Mackie Images — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 01:41:21 +0000

A friend just forwarded me a link to some winter photographs taken up at Mt Baker yesterday. The images, showing about two inches (!) of snow up near Artist Point, could very well be (or could they?) indicative of a big winter in the Pacific NW. This is good news, no great news, not only because I’m looking forward to many days in the backcountry with friends, but I’m really hoping to get lots of backcountry skiing photos this year.

Here is the link to the Mt Baker images on Flickr

Pray For Snow!

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It’s all about skiing in Whitefish, Montana

Mackie Images — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:44:07 +0000

What do you do in a town covered in white 6 months of the year? Why ski of course!

Maybe I’ll participate in the next nordic ski race in town (click photograph to enlarge)

Or I’ll just keep on heading into the backcountry around Glacier National Park for some inspiring views into the rocky mountains…

And deep powder turns…

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