You know, I consider myself to be very fortunate for the amount of traveling I've been able to put under my belt in the last year. I also consider myself lucky (and unlucky, because I miss her) that my sister lives in one of the most beautiful states I have ever been to. My third, yes, THIRD, visit to Alaska this year brought with it the opportunity to shoot a new friend, Alex, and his Ski-Doo Summit 800 154', aka his snow machine. I was incredibly excited. Really.
We drove up to Hatcher Pass, and took off into the backcountry. If you don't know me, understand this: I. LOVE. ADRENALINE. Of course my heart started pumped when Alex hit the throttle, and the ski's went flying into the air. Boy, I get giddy just thinking of it.
Sure enough, we found a few powder fields/faces that had yet to be touched. He'd take off to test them, to make sure we weren't in any danger of avalanches, and come back to get me into position. That's when the real fun started. I could tell he was having a blast, carving left, wheeling up mountains, you name it. Then he offered to let me ride his sled. My answer? YES.
Now, I ride motorcycles all the time, but this was a completely different feeling. I couldn't quite adjust to the idea that if you fall off, you're not going to be shredded by pavement &/or ran over by traffic. You just kind of get tossed into fluffy snow, and then you get back on and keep going. I'm sure that's not always the case, but this day it was, and it was awesome. A few minutes into me riding around, Alex stops me and says, "Go over there, come to a complete stop, then slam the throttle". The kid is trying to get me to do wheelies on my first day! Well, of course I try it, and I felt like I was straight up and down. WHAT A RUSH. Shortly after, I saw a video he took. Believe me, it was nothing impressive. But, it was a blast.
We rode around for a while, stopping a few different times to shoot photos. I could not have asked for a better experience. Not only was I in a completely gorgeous place, with good company, trying new things, doing something I love...but I was challenged. Have you tried shooting action in snow? It's not the easiest.
Thanks, Alex, for everything.