admin | March 4, 2013
One comment

Attempting to climb east face of Mt Morrison.

I have been skiing at mammoth for the past 4 years and its hard to miss Mt Morrison as you drive by. Alex wanted to climb it as well so we decided to put it on our calendars pretty early in the season but of course it was all dependent on the weather.

We decided to climb it via the east face which has two routes to get to the main slope and we chose the east face variation route. In summer the east face is a considered a class 2 climb, its about 4-4.5 miles with about 4k of elevation gain. So we figured it shouldn’t be that bad of a climb in winter but it turned out to be something else.

The previous week it was full moon and on friday night the moon was going to be at around 85% illumination so we decided to take advantage of that and get a 3 am start to give us plenty of time for summit. We were contemplating taking skis with us for the ascent and descent but given the beta we got for the route and the expected conditions we decided not to take them along. One of the other reasons that we didn’t take them is that i would have had to rent the skis which i could do only on saturday and there was a small storm moving on saturday night so climbing during that time wouldn’t have been a good idea.

Since we were going to start at 3 am, i decided to leave work little early on friday so that i could reach mammoth before 9pm and get some decent amount of sleep. Alex stopped by and we divided the gear that we were planning to take with us, not knowing what to expect we took little bit of everything. Couple of cams, set of nuts, couple of hexes, pickets, a 30m rope, few biners and avy gear. We also carried a jet boil and emergency bivy, better to be safe than sorry.

Met Alex at convict lake parking lot and we were on our way by 3.30 am, the first mile of the route is along the lake and the trail is very well established so we had no problems getting to the main part of the climb. Even with 85% illuminated moon it was still pretty dark mainly because there was a light cloud cover. We knew the general direction in which we had to go so we started climbing on a ridge which would take us there.

The snow wasn’t firm at all, there was a nice crusty layer on top which would break as soon as we put some weight on it. Sometimes we would sink to our knees and at times it would get waist deep. It wasn’t fun and we tried to move around to find some good snow or get away from it. We managed to find a patch of scree but it was only a brief respite. It was really slow going and we had to pull ourselves up using the twigs and the bushes that were partially buried under the snow.

Even though the conditions were less than ideal, we didn’t want to give up so early and kept on going. After couple of hours of slogging, the sun finally rose and it did present some good photo opportunities of laurel mountain. My goal was to be at the saddle and facing the main slope of Mt Morrison by sun rise but that wasn’t the case to be. We took turns breaking the trail and it was a struggle, one can only imagine how tiring it can be at higher elevations.

Laurel Mountain

We found a patch of good snow where we could stand without the snow collapsing underneath but it only lasted for few feet. It was physically demanding but at the same time it was mentally frustrating as well and i was having a hard time trusting my foot steps because i couldn’t tell whether the snow would hold me or it would collapse causing me to sink up to my knees or further.

We were on top of the ridge by 7am, it wasn’t ideal but we weren’t late by any means but at the same time we were really exhausted. I was quite beat up from the slog and it was pretty slow going from there on. We got to the base of Torre de Miedra and looked at what lay ahead in front of us.

We still had a long way to go to get to the saddle.

It was going to be long day and to avoid the crappy snow we had to find rocks to step on and some time we had to step on snow. We sunk knee deep few times and it was the kind of terrain where one could easily twist ankle or something like that. After a few falls/collapses in the snow we had enough of it and it was time to turn around.

It was an easy decision to make, even if we got past this snow/rock area, we didn’t know how good the snow was going to be further up. If it was anything like that we faced earlier it could easily take us another 4 hours just to reach the saddle and then depending on the conditions we would have to climb for another 2-4 hours on the final slope. Not to mention we had to get back down and i don’t think it would have been wise of us if we returned back to parking lot in the dark.

We started descending back at about 8 am and i thought glissading back would be easy but no it was another adventure. We had started climbing on a ridge but there was a small gully which was an obvious route to glissade down so that we wouldn’t run into bushes or shrubs. It was little steep so we decided to use the rope while glissading for protection in case one of us slides out of control.

It would work as follows, We both were tied in at the end of the rope and then one of us would glissade and he would be on belay all the time. The idea is to let you glissade at your own pace but if you loose control there would be some protection to hold you.

I went down first and the snow as expected wasn’t firm so when i got to one rope length i just used my ice axe as anchor to keep Alex on belay. He got down to two rope lengths and now it was my turn to start glissading and after a while i hit this slick section of snow. Before i knew it i was gaining speed and i had to self arrest but the rope also got tangled somehow and i did come to a stop. Only if we had found this gully on the way up, it would have made our lives so much easier.

The snow was really hard and instead of glissading i was being lowered, glad we decided to use the rope. When it was Alex’s turn to start glissading i decided to use the picket along with my axe for the anchor.

We had to be really careful while glissading and not build up any speed which wasn’t easy. The proper glissading technique is to use the shaft of ice axe to drive the spike into the snow to slow you down but out here the snow was so firm that the spike wouldn’t dig in to slow you down. I had to use the pick of my axe to prevent me from building up speed. We did few pitches like this which were combination of glissading/lowering and then decided to get off the gully and into the scree/soft snow which would be lot easier to descend without using any rope.

Since i keep my nalgene water bottles on the outside of the pack, while glissading i lost both of them but at the same time managed to find them on the way down. Lesson learn’t on the way down don’t keep your water bottles unsecured specially if they are in outside pockets of the pack. It was easy going from there and we finally made it back to the parking lot at around 11 am.

Even though we didn’t make it to the summit it was a fun trip which gave us some valuable lessons. Sometimes it is very easy to get carried away (aka summit fever) and not make a decision to turn around. I am glad that we decided to turn back and i don’t have regrets whatsoever, the mountain is not going anywhere we can always come back at a later time and climb when the conditions are better.

Using the rope while glissading was a great call by Alex and it definitely saved our asses otherwise it would have been a real test of our self arrest techniques on 40-45 degree slope with real firm snow and not sure how that would have gone. Lets just say that i am glad that we didn’t have to find it out. Yes we could have found the same gully on the way up and saved us lot of effort/time but breaking trail in those snow conditions was an experience in itself.

Mountaineering to me isnt always about reaching the top, its about being out there in nature, climbing with your friends whom you trust with your life, making decisions together, learning from each other, having fun no matter what the conditions and most importantly coming back safe at the end of day.

Complete Set of pictures.

Category: Mountaineering | Tags: ,
admin | November 21, 2012
2 comments

5 years of Scuba Diving.

Five years ago i got my open water certification and it changed my life forever. The ocean is a totally different world in itself and a lifetime of diving won’t be enough to see it all, i am glad that i am experiencing some of it while sharing it as well through photography.

Over the course of my short diving life, i have had so many wonderful experiences, some not so wonderful, that i want to share them in this post. yes i will be going through my dive logs and recollecting everything and nothing them down in here.

How it all started.

I get asked this quite often and it all started in Hawaii during a cruise where i did an introductory dive, came within touching distance of a turtle it was amazing. Thats when i decided to get certified but i had little clue what i was getting into.

When i got certified i didn’t think that i would get hooked to diving, i just wanted to get certified so that i could rent gear once in a while thats about it. But before i knew it, i had bought all my gear within few months and i was hooked for life.

I am not a good swimmer and to this day i am struggling finishing the swim requirements for some courses, to get my OW certification i was asked to swim 9 laps in the pool (no timing restrictions) but there was no way i was going to be able to do it. But instead i could do 13 laps with my snorkeling gear which wasn’t an issue so i was on my way to become a certified diver.

Oil Rigs and Channel Islands

The dive master during my class talked about diving the oil rigs a lot and i was intrigued by it, It was the time when hollywood divers chartered Sea Bass for rigs trip once a month. My 13th logged dive is on the oil rigs and that is definitely not recommended but i didn’t know any better.

My next trip was on to dive anacapa island but i had to bail from the first dive because as soon as i jumped in my secondary regulator was over flowing and i didn’t know what to do, good thing too because the “brave” read stupid me jumped in alone without a buddy.

During my next trip to the rigs i had forgotten to clean my mask and was totally frazzled because i could barely see and was in somewhat of a panic mode. i was totally sucking up on air and by the time i surfaced i was completely out of air. That has been the only one time when i have ran out of air and its certainly not a fun experience when you want air and there it none. I can only imagine how painful it is for victims who die from suffocation, lets not even think about it.

In my first year i logged about 50 dives and out of them 9 were on the oil rigs which to till this day i absolutely love diving. Rest of the dives were mainly boat dives to catalina, san clemente, anacapa where i would just get on the boat not knowing anyone and hoping that someone would buddy up with me.

here are some of the older blog posts from those trips.

Diving San Clemente

Diving Catalina Island

Mixed Day of Diving

Diving Oil Rigs

Diving Anacapa Island

Another notable experience was when i buddied up with a scuba “instructor”, here is an excerpt of it from my mixed day of diving blog.

“So since he was the instructor out of respect and he being more experienced i asked him to lead the dive, a big mistake. He got into the water ahead of me and went in an opposite direction of the dive site, i didn’t think too much about it then. We dropped to about 70 ft and kept going deeper, I wasn’t sure why was he going deep since the dive site was in about 30 ft of water and on the opposite side as well. I followed him, didn’t have a choice and we soon reached 110 ft.

After 5 mins into the dive i saw his SPG was leaking air so i swam upto him and pointed it out. He said it was fine and we continued the dive, he briefly headed out in the correct direction and we came across a small reef in about 40 ft of water but then suddenly not sure what struck him he headed of into the wrong direction again. After a while all of sudden he signaled out of air and indicated that he was going to ascend. I expected him to take a safety stop at 15 ft and then after a while hit the surface but as soon as i came to 15ft for my safety stop he was at the surface.

Wow, what reckless diving from an instructor, skipping a safety stop after hitting 110 ft and we were at 100+ feet for a few good minutes as well. I completed my safety stop and then met him at the surface, he said he was fine and he just ran out of air. duh!!!! i pointed out that your spg was leaking so you should have monitored your air and immediately moved to a lower depth instead of loitering more at 100+. We could have also shared air and completed safety stop together but he didn’t bother. ”

Remember this was the noob me writing and i am definitely laughing as i read that how naive i was back then. out of air, how would a safety stop possible at 15ft but yes we could have shared air and ascended.

Egypt and Red Sea November 2008

I heard people talking about the live aboard experience and i wanted to experience it too so when hollywood divers announced the egypt trip i couldn’t resist. I spent a week touring around egypt and then a week diving. instead of boring you guys with the nitty gritty here are the two blogs i wrote,

Touring around Egypt

Diving the Red Sea

one of the notable things is that i got attacked or attracted a lion fish and almost got stung and it was interesting to find directions to the hotel from the airport in cairo.

Beach Diving and ADP Jun-Sept 2009

During this whole time i hadn’t done much of beach diving and i wanted to get more comfortable doing it too so i figured the best way to go about it would be to take the LA County Advance Divers Program which helped me comfortable with beach diving but still i don’t usually do much beach diving.

In 2010, i started skiing seriously so there wasn’t much diving in the winter but one memorable trip was a 3 day trip on Sundiver during memorial day weekend and it was an experience of lifetime for me which could have ended badly but luckily i survived.

Memorial Day dive trip

the experience which i am talking about went like this,

i decided to head back to the boat without any visual reference and had to do safety stops in blue water, all i could see around me was blue water and nothing else. i had no visual reference of where i was and wasn’t carrying a safety sausage either. I could have easily been carried away by the currents and surfaced miles away from the boat and would have been in huge trouble but luckily there was no current.

While doing my safety stops, i have to admit that i was little freaked out since i wasn’t exactly sure where i was in relation to the boat and it also gave me the feeling of how tiny, small and insignificant i was compared to the vastness of the ocean. But after a while a sea lion came by and was checking me out and knowing that i wasn’t alone in the ocean gave me a huge sigh of relief. Luckily i didn’t surface too far from the boat either.

The never ending dive master course

I want to be a dive instructor (dunno when though) and the first step towards that was being a dive master so i enrolled for the course and i thought that even though i can’t do the swim requirements enrolling in the course would force me to take my lazy ass to the pool. I am still laughing at that idea for motivation but at the same time i do need to try harder.

I still have to complete my swim test requirements for the course and haven’t been swimming regularly at all, i did take some swim lessons but now its a matter of going to the pool and working towards it.

Ship Wrecks and Sharks June 2011

Winter of 2011 was again spent skiing where i took the season long ski school and when this trip was put up by Hal i immediately jumped on it and also got my dslr rig. more on photography later.

This trip was a blast and all we did was dive ship wrecks with lots of sharks on them.

Diving North Carolina Wrecks Part 1

Diving North Carolina Wrecks Part 2

GUE Fundamentals November 2011

I have always wanted to get into technical diving and taking this course was a first step towards it and i have to say that this changed my outlook when it comes to diving. you can read more about it on my blog.

Gue Fundamentals

This was also the year i won a dive trip to philippines and so in april-may of 2012 i decided to take a 2 week dive vacation there. one week was a photography workshop organized by blue water photo and the second week i was going to redeem the prize.

In the summer again i dove quite a bit with few multi day trip but nothing worth noting out here though the two consecutive 2 day trips on peace were really fun and the blog post about them is a work in progress. (yes i am lazy i know)

One of the fun trips i did this year in summer was to dive in Monterey and participate in the shootout where i got placed second in the wide angle category. It was a good excuse to dive up north and i really enjoyed it.

Photography and Diving

As i have been diving my interest in photography has grown stronger and stronger. I have been hiking since i was 10 and even during the trips to himalayas i never showed any interest in photography but it all changed when i started diving.

I had canon C-740 camera when i started diving and i did get a housing for it which i still have kept for some reason. I still remember how excited i was when i took pic of anemone on the rigs and thought it was a nudibranch.

I upgraded in Nov 08 to olympus 1080SW mainly because the camera is water proof by itself and i used it for a solid 3 years before i decided that it wasn’t going to be enough.

When i booked the North Carolina trip i knew that i had to upgrade my camera since for wide angle shots my tiny point and shoot wasn’t going to be enough. I had a blast shooting with it and to my surprise i did win a dive trip to philippines when one of pics was judged best of the 2011 So cal shootout.

Shooting with my dslr underwater also got me interested in using it on land and i did start playing with night photography with some really good results and then the photography workshop i took in philippines definitely improved my photography skills underwater.

here is a blog post about what i learned in that workshop, Anilao Workshop

finally now i am at a place where i felt the need to upgrade my DSLR and just recently bought a Canon 5D Mark III which i am looking forward to take underwater.

This whole experience/journey wouldn’t have been fun if it wasn’t for all the awesome, helpful people that i have met and become friends with. It is just not about the diving part which makes it fun but being part of this wonderful community is exciting as well.

I am grateful to everyone who has been part of this journey and i look forward to many more years of diving.

Category: Diving | Tags: , , , , ,
admin | August 30, 2012
No comments

Hiking North Fork trail, Big Pine Creek

I have hiked this trail as day hike in 2010 and have been wanting to go back again to do it as a backpacking trip so this trail has always been on my radar. I had planned it out for new years but had to cancel it so when i had a friday off along with opportunity to hang out with friends in Mammoth i decided to do this trail as a quick backpack.

Got my permits and the plan was simple, hike in friday morning and then hike back out early saturday morning and then go to Mammoth for my friends birthday and meet everyone. I had to be back in LA on sunday morning for diving the oil rigs so i had to drive back saturday from Mammoth. It was going to be a crazy hectic weekend but not the first one so i knew i could pull it off.

I didn’t spend too much time packing for this since i was going to keep it simple and it was going to be a quick backpack. I recently purchased a tripod so i decided to take it along with me on this hike.

I got only 3-4 hours of sleep the previous night which wasn’t good and left LA around 6.30 in the morning which was later than i had planned for and by the time i got to the trailhead it was 11am. I wasn’t sure where the overnight parking lot was and after some confusion i managed to find it and i was off by 11.30am.

I was in no hurry to get to third lake, its only a 6 mile hike with around 2-3k elevation gain so i took my sweet time. The trail from the parking lot to the waterfall and the main canyon is not shaded but it wasn’t that hot and the wind was helping.

When i got to the waterfall, i decided to test out my tripod and play with it. I have always wanted to take pictures of streams with longer exposure times to freeze the water action and so i was looking forward to it. But soon enough i discovered that the light was too strong and i couldn’t expose for longer period of time but i did manage to get some decent shots. I figured on the way back i would set off early and then try to get some more shots in less intense light.

Other thing was that i couldn’t keep the camera in portrait mode on the tripod, the ball of the tripod doesn’t allow for it. Oh well, i am not going to complain too much since i bought the tripod at swap meet for cheap. Now i know for my next tripod purchase what features i should be aiming for.

I trudged along at my slow pace, enjoying the nature and deep into my thoughts with few interesting ideas bouncing in my head. Since it was a friday i didn’t expect many people on the trail and i was right. It made the hike even better. I didn’t carry too much water with me since i knew there would be stream all along but i was surprised on how thirsty i was on the hike and i did manage to consume almost two liters of water before i even go to the first lake.

The hike is not steep but slow gradual uphill and since you are always gaining elevation i wouldn’t call it an easy hike, more like a moderate one. The first 3 lakes are really close by and i was there at the first lake at around 3.30pm, i took some pictures there and proceeded to the 2nd lake where i didn’t spend that much time. I wanted to get to third lake, establish camp and then hike around to take some pictures. My goal for this trip was to do a relaxing backpack and take pictures of the beautiful scenery.

I wanted to camp closer to a running water source and as i got to the lake it didn’t seem like there was a camp site which was close to the lake as well as close to a water source. I continued along further and was told that 4th lake is much prettier place to camp. But it was an hour away and then my permit was to camp at 3rd lake so i didn’t want to take that chance.

As i was on the trail, almost at the end of third lake i saw a campsite in middle of the trees which was about 50ft below the trail. I thought it would be a good place to camp since it seemed close to the lake and the stream which i could hear. So i descended down and decided that it would be a good place to camp but soon enough i regretted my decision.

I had thought the stream would be close by and there would be a clear path to it for me to get some water but it wasn’t the case. Since the camp site was in middle of trees, at night i couldn’t venture out too far from it and risk getting lost. All these things i realized after i had pitched the tent and unpacked my pack. So i just decided to suck it up for the night.

I went down to the edge of the lake to scout things around and see if i could find a way to get to the stream and fill my bottle but it wasn’t going to happen. I just took some pics, came back to the tent and thought about how i was going to approach the situation.

I had already filled one empty water bottle so i had enough water if i needed to cook something and drink. In morning i wouldn’t need that much either to make my breakfast so i decided that it wasn’t a big deal. I had my dinner which was chocolate custard (it was a big, big mistake. lets just say for the whole night my tent was a gas chamber, good thing that i was alone) and at around 5.30 pm i was ready to crash. The lack of sleep had affected me and i figured i could easily crash and sleep the night away for 10-12 hours.

Because of my choice of campsite i wasn’t too confident about going too far away in the dark and trying to take some night pics on the edge of the lake that is why i just decided to go to bed and then try to catch the morning light to take some pics but i was wrong again.

I dozed off at around 5.30 but then i was wide awake at 8.30 or so, no matter how hard i tried i just couldn’t go back to bed and it was starting to get frustrating. I wanted to do some night photography but at the same time not risk going too far away from the tent.

Finally i decided it was enough and i ventured out to take pictures. The moon was out which helped a lot and i found a clearing where i was able to photograph the milky way and play with my camera. After spending an hour or so outside, i felt much better and less angry about the choice of my camp site. Surprisingly the moon went away behind the mountains it was as if it was setting and it wasn’t even 11pm.

It was also a cue for me to head back to the tent. I set my watch alarm for 5am hoping to leave early but i suppose i was too tired and managed to leave at around 7am. I also didn’t feel like making any breakfast so i just munched on granola bars and then decided to start hiking back out.

On the way back i found a nice spot for me to take some pictures of the stream. I must have spent half an hour at this place and it was really relaxing for me to set up my tripod and just take pictures. I hadn’t imagined that i would feel so good doing so.

I reached the trail head at around 10.30 am and i decided to take a dip in hot springs near mammoth airport before going to Carolina’s place for her birthday celebrations. It was nice to meet some of the folks from the skiing group and i wanted to stay for sat night fun but diving the oil rigs was a priority over a night of partying.

The drive back seemed boring but with coffee as my friend i did survive it and the diving next day was simply amazing.

I really feel nostalgic on hikes like this, i simply love the sound of a river or a stream next to me while i am hiking or for that matter even at night when its quiet outside and all you hear is the stream. It reminds me of hiking in the himalayas. Greenery and beautiful views all around you with a stream continuously running next to you and you hear it all the time. Next time i get on this hike, the plan would be to camp out at fourth lake and hopefully hike up to the palisades glacier.

Entire Collection of Pictures from this trip.

Category: Hiking | Tags: ,
admin | July 23, 2012
3 comments

Sometimes its good to take a break.

This year my new years resolution was not to “waste” any weekends staying at home. I wanted to spend each of them skiing, diving or hiking. I would try to do something on both saturday and sunday but as long i did something on either of the days it was ok.

It went pretty well till beginning on June, by that time the only weekend i didn’t do anything was before my two week philippines dive trip. But then things really changed on Mt Baldy hike.

I had organized the hike to mt baldy from bear canyon trail, something which is very familiar to me but at the same time this trail is intense, 6 miles and 6000 ft elevation gain. It was the same trail which i took for my solo backpacking trip.

Only 4 people decide to come for the hike which was fine but come saturday morning I didn’t feel motivated to go for the hike but since I was the organizer I had to go, that is what I felt.

First hour on the trail I was fine but then all of sudden I didn’t want to be on the hike, I wasn’t enjoying the trail at all and all I wanted to do is return. I was confused as well since never in my life I have felt that way on the trail.

I continued slowly but I was hating it, the only reason I didn’t want to turn back is because everyone else was ahead of me and it won’t be fair for me to turn back without notifying them. There was other group who knew folks in our group so I asked them to pass the message that i intended to turn back mid way.

With the assurance that the team would get the message that I have decided to return I started descending. But something told me to stop and hesitantly i started hiking to the top.

It was really slow going and i was hiking like a kid who has no interest in the thing he is doing. Eventually i did make it to the top but if i had ran into someone from the group just 10 ft away from the summit i would have given my message and returned, such was my mental state of mind.

The top was a zoo which didn’t help, there must have been around 50-60 people on the peak when i got there. Since couple of folks were going to descend from a different route we finalized the pick up plans etc and then i started descending.

I was fine during the descent and all it seemed normal at the end of the hike but this little episode caused me some worry and got me thinking what if don’t enjoy hiking anymore. I have been hiking since i was 10 years old and all of sudden i stopped enjoying it,it felt really weird and the thought of me having to give up hiking is scary. I didn’t want to experience the same thing again so i decided to cancel my plans for hiking for the next two weeks.

The weird thing is there is nothing else going on in my life which is stressful and cause me to think/act this way. It was one of those days and thats how i thought about it but it worried me for sure.

I just chilled at home for next couple of weekends while doing some diving but then i had to be ready for Mt Shasta so i did go on a training hike to San Gorgonio which turned out to be fine and it was a huge relief. Not to mention i throughly enjoyed the climb to Mt shasta which we summited on July 14th 2012.

In hindsight i feel that i might have gotten “burned out” and the break definitely helped me so i have decided going forward i will take such breaks once in a while for sure.

After all if i am not going to enjoy some activity why do it. I just put this incident as a “burn out” or one of those days where your head is not in the right place. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again with me in the future.

Category: General, Hiking |
admin | June 11, 2012
No comments

Anilao Photography Workshop

I recently took a two week vacation to philippines for diving and the first half was also a photography workshop organized by Blue Water Photo/Underwater Photography Guide.

I want to describe the trip in another blog post but this is dedicated to what i personally learned about underwater photography from this trip. If after reading this post you think that the things i learn’t very basic then all i have to say is “better late than never” :)

Its been only about a year since i have started shooting with DSLR and i love my Canon T1i even though its ancient. I use tokina 10-17mm fisheye for wide angle and have Tamron 60mm with 1.4x tele-convertor for macro.

Here are some thing that got out of this workshop and i apologize if i am not using the right terms.

- Using ISO to shoot at a higher f stops.

I usually never play around with my ISO but i found that by increasing the ISO i could shoot at higher f stop and control the lighting much better.

I normally set my camera to 100 ISO and forget about it but i took some pics with ISO 200 and was happy with them when i took them at a higher f stop. so i have started to mess around with my ISO little bit more than usual.

This has specially helped me while taking sunball shots.

I wouldn’t have thought about shooting this at 200 ISO before the workshop.

- Strobe Position

This was very important specially while shooting wide angle, there have been so many times that my shots would have backscatter around the edges and i found that by just moving my strobes backwards i could remove that backscatter.

If i had known this during my north carolina trip last year, i would have been little less frustrated while taking pics.

Wish i had a before and after comparison but this pic was saved by moving my strobes back, there is still some backscatter on the right but as i mention below, patience is something i am working on.

- Using Servo Focus Mode

I have always shot using the focus lock where i press the shutter half way and wait for camera to focus and then take the picture but with a 1.4x tele on the camera takes lot more time to focus and even though i can see that the subject is in focus it wants to focus again.

This got really frustrating and i would just give up on the shot. I found that with the AF focus mode i don’t have to wait for the camera to lock focus and then take the shot. I can still press the shutter half way so that the camera can focus but if i press it completely it will take the pic regardless whether the camera thinks its in focus or not.

I wish i had known about this before the mandarin fish dive where i couldn’t get a picture of them mating because the camera couldn’t focus fast enough in the red light.

- Composition

Most of my compositions have been without any specific theme or method in mind but it was good to know the different ways to compose the picture and how to make it better for different subjects.

Of course it is very subjective but still it was good to know the “standard” ways.

- Post Processing (White Balance)

When i used the red light on my sola the camera shoots little warm and i never touched white balance in lightroom, i always thought the the red was still present in picture.

It was helpful to know and finally figure out that adjusting the white balance i could make my pics appear as i wanted them to be.

- Taking Multiple Shots

I have read about this and seen people just shoot, shoot and shoot but i tend to get lazy and usually take couple of pictures of the subject and move on. I have to force myself to spend more time with a particular subject and take more shots.

One of the reasons is being courteous to other photographers too but still you can let them have their time with the subject and i can return when no one is waiting. Something i really need to work on.

I did take a few shots of this tree worm before getting this one, though i could have lingered longer and played more with different settings.

- Patience

This again ties to the point above, i do not wait and hang around a particular subject for long. i have learn’t that once you find something interesting do not let it go, of course you have to be mindful of other photographers , and keep on following if possible.

These are some of the things i learn’t on this trip through the different workshops, slideshows and just talking with Mike and Scott.

It was a really awesome experience and would love to do it again. Life is always a learning experience and i look forward to many more trips like these.

My albums on facebook from this trip,

Philippines Dive trip pics part 1: Anilao, Batangas.

Philippines Dive trip pics part 2: Anilao, Batangas

Philippines Dive trip pics part 3: Puerto Gallera

Philippines Dive trip pics part 4: Verde Island, Puerto Galera

Category: Diving | Tags: , , , ,
admin | May 21, 2012
No comments

Price of Reaching the Summit

I wrote this article in Aug 08 and today after hearing about the incident on everest, i had to visit it again and posting it on the new blog with few edits.

I read about the recent tragedy to strike the mountaineering world on K2, 11 climbers lost their lives and few suffered from injuries. 

The climbers had a very excellent window of opportunity to scale K2 and it would be very difficult for any individual to resist the urge to get to the summit no matter what, specially when they had waited a long time for that window to open. When they found out that the fixed ropes were in wrong places and they had to move them. It took them a long time to do so and also some of the climbers returned since they didn’t trust the ropes anymore. The entire climbing party could have returned but they wanted to make full use of that small window of excellent weather. They reached the summit but it was about nightfall, its really hard to believe why would someone want to reach the summit of a mountain regarded as killer peak so late.
 
you can read complete account of the tragedy in this article,

Article which gives account of survivor

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/tales-of-chaos-and-survival-on-k2/index.html

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/fears-k2-team-were-consumed-by-summit-fever-13930275.html

 
Many accidents happen because people always try to push themselves without realizing their limits, i am tempted to use the word most instead of many here, this is not limited to mountaineering but to every day life in general. you won’t drive an old badly maintained car at speed of 100 mph on a freeway would you????? Heck, i wouldn’t even go past 75 mph now in my 98 Sentra, give me a 08 BMW and its a different story :D . Its the same concept that can be applied to any adventure sport. Divers shouldn’t dive to depths beyond their limits or Rock climbers shouldn’t lead climbs rated way beyond they normally lead and so on. I have so far applied the same rule to skiing, if i don’t feel comfortable going down a certain run, i won’t and i just tell my friends that i would meet them at the bottom and go on different route.

 
http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1977025, Reinhold Messner mentions how one of his client wanted to go higher on the peak even he wasn’t in any shape to do so. The same problem caused the Everest disaster which Jon krakauer mentions in his book Into This Air. When someone pays 50-60K for an expedition I am sure they want their money’s worth out of it but at what cost?. Losing your feet or fingers to frost bite isn’t worth any amount of money neither is your money going to be of good use to you if you die.

 
The mountain is here to stay, another attempt to get to the summit can be made, its definitely not worth something to die for. I have abandoned my summit attempt of Mt Stok Kangri 6155m because i was not in any position to reach the top, if i had continued i would have been at summit at around noon or maybe later, something i wasn’t ready to do. I wanted to reach summit before a certain time and i didn’t so it was time to turn back.  

All this sounds good in theory and at high altitude with limited oxygen, you never know how your brain is going to react hence i can only “hope” i keep following the same principle on all of my future attempts on any peak and be able to practice what i am preaching.

Category: Mountaineering | Tags: , ,
admin | April 9, 2012
2 comments

Solo Backpacking: Camping on Summit of Mt Baldy

Since beginning of this year I have really gotten into night photography and since Saturday April 7th was a full moon night I decided it would be a great idea to camp out and spend the night on top of mt baldy.

In hindsight not such a great idea mainly because of freaking winds on summit and late moon rise but nevertheless it was a great learning experience and an adventure which i do not regret one single bit and most likely would do it again or maybe not we shall see.

I setup a Facebook event and was expecting few people to join me but no one did. I was on the fence about doing this as a solo backpacking trip and I have to say it took some courage on my part to get going.

I wanted to take the bear canyon trail which is only 6 miles but you gain 6000ft of elevation so it wasn’t going to be easy, i know what was i thinking. Initially i had company if I left early, a friend of mine was planning on doing it as a day hike but after we found that a meetup group had the same hike planned n were leaving earlier I decided to fall back to the original plan of leaving late and it turned out to be a good thing.

My car tire pressure was getting low for a while now and it happened again so as I was leaving I decided to get it checked out. Sure enough there was a nail in there and I was glad that I got it fixed before hitting the freeway.

I reached baldy village at around 10.45 and after asking about permit and conditions at the ranger station I decided not to carry my shovel. I didn’t need a permit but I was warned about the cold, the rangers forgot to mention the wind.

As soon as I started my hike around 11, I was sure that with a 53lbs backpack it would be a challenge. I wasn’t sure at this point if I would be able to make it to the summit and did think about returning but I told myself lets just get to bear flats and take it from there.

It also takes me a while to get into rhythm while hiking so I just hiked at my own steady pace. I got to bear flats in an hour which was pleasantly surprising so I just decided to continue and I knew one step at a time I would make it to the summit.

It took me about an hour to get to bear flats and i was really happy about it, i just continued on after a brief break and decided that i would take miniscule breaks on the trail instead of a big one after an hour. It also helped that i was carrying my camelback so water access was easy.

Met couple of hikers on their way down and they told me the snow levels were pretty high around 9000 ft so that was my marker to put on the crampons. I had also intended to reach the summit before sunset since the moon rise was around 9 and it made sense to setup camp before sunset.

It was a slow trek up and i wanted to stop couple of times to take pictures but didn’t feel like it, i thought i would take them on the way down but that didn’t happen either so lesson learnt.

I was getting closer to the main ridge and couple of guys on their way down warned me about couple of feet of snow further up, i wasn’t too worried since i had my crampons and gaiters.

It turned out that there wasn’t as much snow as those guys told me and i didn’t feel the need to put on my crampons. i completed the traverse to get on the final mountain to get to summit and took a break for the final push.

As i was going along, i thought all this while to myself that the conditions are summer like. I lugged all this gear for no reason, i could have used my 3 season tent, didn’t need any crampons or gaiters but later i found out how wrong i was.

As i got closer to the summit, it was getting little tricky staying on the right path. I was following some footsteps but they went little higher up and the route i know goes little lower and merges with the manker flats route before ending at the top.

After little bit of scrambling and looking around i managed to find the summit and decided to pitch my tent immediately. It took me 7 grueling hours to get there, i would have liked to do it in 6 but i was happy with the time considering that i doubts very early on. Luckily it wasn’t windy so pitching the tent was pretty easy but at the same time i made sure that i made dead mans with the snow stakes. At one time i did consider not putting on the rainfly which would have been a very very bad decision.

I took some pictures of the sunset and between the time moon would rise i was planning on cooking dinner. I wasn’t expecting any company but a lone hiker showed up around sunset, he wasn’t carrying camping gear just wanted to do a night hike. After a brief chat, he left and i was left all alone again.

As i was making dinner the wind picked up quite a bit, initially i didn’t think too much about it and went about my merry way eating dinner and heating water. I would have liked to have some hot chocolate but i forgot to bring any but i certainly was looking forward to having chai tea in the morning.

I was happy taking some night pics while waiting moon to rise but it was definitely testing my patience. I was done trying to figure out what else to take pics of and the wind wasn’t helping either.

I was almost about to call it a night but i saw a fiery red thing in the horizon, i got really excited and indeed it was the moon rising. It rose pretty quickly but the red glow around it was really amazing. All this effort was totally worth it for that couple of minutes.

 

I didn’t want to spend too much time outside anymore and immediately crashed in my tent. The sound of the wind felt like rain drops falling and it was little weird. I didn’t try to think too much about it and just tried to go to sleep.

My sleeping bag really kept me comfortable throughout the night but whenever i woke up i could hear the wind howling outside and i was like, glad i didn’t bring my 3 season tent and decided to really bury those snow stakes.

I woke up at 6 am and the wind was really ripping, i wasn’t sure if the tent would hold or not at certain times but at the same time before going to bed i put some extra rocks on top of every stake just to be extra safe.

I was hoping that the wind would die down and give me some time to make my breakfast and tea. i waited patiently for an hour but no respite, tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t and finally at around 8.15 i had enough of it.

i didn’t have motivation to fight the wind to make some tea and breakfast and had 2 liters of water from last night which would be enough for the hike down. So i decided to shake off my laziness and start packing.

It was going to interesting with the wind trying to take down the tent and i had to come up with a strategy to make sure it didn’t go flying down the hill. I decided to take down the tarp first as it was obvious but didn’t take everything out of the tent and made sure it was weighted. The poles came in next and finally the tent, it wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be but i still had to be careful.

On my way down since the snow was little firm i decided to use my crampons for a bit, i also met couple of guys who were planning on climbing denali this year. One of them wanted to hike in ladakh and it was nice to talk to him about it.

The crampons didn’t last too long and i decided to take them off since the snow was getting softer and there were footsteps for me to follow in. I had blisters on my heels from the hike up and they were starting to bother me.

Getting to the ridge was easy and i did manage to do it at a decent pace but then i felt blisters happening on my toes as well which wasn’t a good thing. I had moleskin on me but it usually doesn’t do anything at all, i forgot to tape my feet before the hike and was paying price for it.

My target was to get down in 4 hours but with the blisters and barely anything had come out of my pack so it weighed almost the same it was baby steps on the way down. I was expecting couple of people who passed on their way up, pass me on their way down as well and indeed it happened. i was that slow and taking my own sweet time.

Finally after 5 hrs i was out of misery and managed to get to the car. The blisters were killing me and when i got back home just looking at my feet made my head hurt.

Overall, it was an interesting trip and it definitely gave me the confidence and courage to go backpacking by myself. In past when i haven’t had any company to go for a hike, i have been skeptical about going alone and ended up staying at home but not anymore.

Surely i would have loved to enjoy the trip little more, have some company, could have done without the wind, would have loved to stay out longer in the moonlight, enjoy the morning tea without the wind or not have gotten blisters but its all part of the sport. You never know what to expect when you are at high altitude and that is why you have to respect the mountain and be prepared but even that won’t be enough sometimes.

More Pics are here.

The mountains are calling and i must go – John Muir
Success lies in Courage – Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, India.

 

Category: Hiking, Mountaineering | Tags: , , ,
admin | March 6, 2012
No comments

Ski Performance Development Program: Classes 2-6

I am being lazy here and going to be combine 5 classes in one single post.

Most of the times, i get asked what i am learning in this class or what runs are we doing. When i tell people its mainly the basics and most of the times we are on blue runs doing drills, lot of times they give me surprised look.

Being an “advanced” class one would expect us to be on harder runs which we are slowly progressing towards but at the same time if our basics are not solid we are going to struggle on those runs.

The things we are working on,

Short Radius Turns:

Making short radius turns and making sure that we stay in the fall line. This mainly involves isolation of the upper and lower body which sounds easy but its not. Bringing the knees and the legs around at the end of turn without moving the upper body, keeping the shoulders straight and looking forward always is a real challenge.

One of the drills we did to help with this is that our instructor was at the bottom of hill, he would make a number and we had to say it loud as we were skiing. This was to make sure that we were looking downhill all the time while making our short radius turns.

Position of Hands and the Shoulders:

Personally this has been a bane but at the same time has helped improved my skiing a lot. I have a tendency to drop my uphill hand which tends to push me backwards specially in moguls and choppy conditions. It also results in closing of shoulders which makes it harder to lean into the new turn and control the skis.

Heisman drill is something we did to help us with this, i tried to find video of this drill online but surprisingly youtube had nothing on it. let me try to describe it as best as i can.

We left our poles and hopped on the bunny chair and we had to push out our uphill hand forward after initiating the turn. this would force our shoulders to open up during the turn and they would be facing the slope remaining perpendicular to the fall line. While skiing you look like the heisman trophy hence the name.

First it was hard to get the co-ordination right and i kept pushing out with the wrong hand but once i understood the objective of the drill it became lot easier.

I have gotten much better with my hands and shoulder position and on steeper slopes or moguls make a conscious effort to bring them forward, its a constant work in progress.

Flexion/Extension and Leaning Forward:

Right from the day 1 our instructor mentioned about leaning forward and submitting into the turn, feeling that pressure on the boot all the time.

The key about flexion and extension is the angle your hips make in relation to the boots, while extending the hips and the boots should be in a straight line since the ski boots are already at an angle forward this straight line will cause the hips to be forward and all the body weight in front of the ski and not back.

We did quite a few runs in the art park near canyon lodge so while going over series of small bumps we would lean forward and get to used to the feeling of submission. I have gotten into a habit of leaning forward while waiting in the ski lines or on flat terrain. It has helped to build that muscle memory.

Edging and Carving:

This is another area which can be worked on all the time, Skiing is all mainly about using the edges of ski and how much pressure needs to be applied and when. It also depends on the snow conditions.

I haven’t been leaning forward enough and engaging the edge of my skis to initiate a turn. most of the turns have been completed by bringing out the tails of my skis instead of using the front. I am also pushing too hard with my heels while turning and not giving the edges time to engage.

By leaning little bit more and using my ankles to start a turn has helped me to start using my edges. This weekend was the first time i felt that i was using the edges of my skis to carve out a turn. When it first happened, i was like oh wow this is how it feels when i use my skis how they are mean’t to be used.

I feel that overall my skiing has improved a hell lot and i was courageous enough to try out my first double black run, even though it was a small one at June Mountain it made me feel better than i can ski it in a much improved fashion as compared to last year. Its no where close to being perfect or looking good but its a start.

Category: Skiing | Tags: ,
admin | February 3, 2012
No comments

Ski Performance Development Program: Class 1

Last year this was called the season long ski school at Mammoth Mountain but this year even though the name was changed the format remained the same. 10 weeks of skiing lessons every sunday with the same instructor and the same group.

Earlier in the season i wasn’t sure about taking it again but then i decided to and i am not regretting it one single bit.

Basics and Short Turns:

Saturday was the first proper day of the season and at the end of the day my legs were simply toast. It wasn’t my first day skiing but i was surprised to be so sore and was hoping that we didn’t do any crazy stuff in the class.

Sunday morning met everyone at main lodge for the class and once we got the groups going we headed out practicing our short turns. The goal was to make easy controlled short radius turns with proper pole planting, hand position etc.

While my hand position has gotten better i still tend to drop it and don’t hold my hands always in front. I also tend to close my shoulder while making my turns, that is something i have to avoid.

Making those short turns was easy but keeping my hands in front of me was lot difficult. We moved to canyon area to ski our favorite mogul run acts and we were going to put into practice short turns there.

I have definitely improved skiing moguls but it still needs a lot of work and the main problem was the timing of my pole plant to initiate a turn. I am initiating a new turn when there is enough pressure on my heels and just by trying to get a new turn going half second earlier it made a huge difference.

Hopefully this rudimentary sketch will explain it better, with practicing the initiation of turn early, it has made a difference.

One other thing i need to work on is the flexion and extension, when i extend my knees out at end of turn i tend to stand up little taller and push my body backwards. I need to extend only a little so that i don’t go back all the way.

After skiing acts we did a fun exercise to practice the positioning of our hands, our hands were bound by tape so that they would in front of us all the time and we were unable to drop them. We did it for one run but i see us using the tape in future, so if anyone saw few people with tape around their arms skiing down to canyon lodge, it would have been our group.

After couple of more runs on acts it was time to end the class and we were given some homework i.e. to practice lunges and try to isolate upper lower body.

After the class as i tried to isolate my upper and lower body while taking turns, i started using muscles in my legs that i didn’t know existed. All i did was to hold my arms out and looking in a straight line, do my ski turns without any pole planting or moving my arms.

It is interesting on how much i had forgotten after taking this class last year and it felt really good to have someone tell me what i was doing wrong.

the things i need to work on going forward is holding my arms out while skiing and not letting them drop specially while making turns. Upper/Lower body isolation and finally improving my weaker side.

Being left handed, my right turns are little weaker, specially when i bring my knees around at the end of turn and it is harder for me to make a hockey stop with my right side downhill so i just need to keep that in mind and practice more on right side stops.

Category: Skiing | Tags: ,
admin | January 28, 2012
No comments

I love Skiing and Mammoth Mountain

As i start another season long ski school at Mammoth, i sometimes can’t help but think what motivates me to undertake the 600 mile round trip journey every weekend.

Of course the obvious answer is to get better at skiing and my ultimate goal is to get into ski mountaineering/back country skiing but there is lot more to it than just that.

Initially this year, I was skeptical about going to mammoth every weekend but it all changed during my first trip of the season during thanksgiving. I was riding on chair 1 by myself and all of sudden it hit me, that i am in love with the place.

It was a feeling that, i daresay, i have never experienced before. I was just happy to be there. The crowds or the lack of snow, these things didn’t matter to me, all i cared is i was there in mammoth on a beautiful sunny day, going down the slopes on my skis without worrying about anything else happening in the world.

Skiing for me is not just about finding deep powder or good snow to ride on. Its about the whole experience, the drive to mammoth after lone pine is beautiful with the snow capped sierras glistening in full moon light. The camaraderie, friendships that i have developed, wonderful folks that i meet add to the whole experience.

Skiing by itself presents different thrills and challenges. Sometimes (well most of the times) i like to go fast but there are times when going through the trees making those quick turns on fresh powder is equally fun.

Another hobby of mine is photography, while i am still hesitant to carry my dslr on the slopes but night photography is something i just started experimenting with and it is quite interesting and fun to play with my camera at night specially on a full moon. I do plan to take it on most of the trips to mammoth and capture the sierras.

My first himalayan experience was when i was 10 and since then i have always loved spending time in mountains and skiing adds another dimension to the sport of mountaineering. The idea of climbing a peak and skiing down is very appealing. In future i definitely see myself doing ski descents of some himalayan peaks. :)

Category: Skiing | Tags: ,
« Older Entries