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 Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6908 Posts |
Posted - 03/24/2012 : 5:33 PM
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This trip report is dedicated to my daughter Janna who isn't able to enjoy such places on her own:
Two weeks my Chinese Landlady phones me, "Teem! I need to stay in China one more month" (That in and of itself is a bit of an amusing story) "Can you take care of Maggie for one more month?" (Maggie is their hardly trained 2 year old golden retriever).
What turned into one month of taking care of her has now become three months. Thing is though I had a 2 night trip planned March 22-24th to Artist Point as a solo venture, but fortunately I got a friend to take care of the dog during that time.
I had my sights set on getting myself a lighter 4 season tent that could be used as a one or two person tent and even be used as a 3 season tent if need; kind of like a tent that does it all.
I believe I have found such a tent, or the closest thing to it in Henry Shire's Scarp 2 tarptent.
http://www.tarptent.com/scarp2.html I got the 4 season version with the 2 extra crosspoles; weighing at 4.5 lbs altogether (3.5 lbs without the extra crosspoles). Not bad at all for a 2 person 4 season tent.
I had this baby shipped up to Ship Happens in Sumas for me to pick up on my way to Artist Point.
Okay so to the actual trip report:
I still had to work the Thursday so I didn't actually get to the upper parking lot and start shoeing up to Artist Point until 6:30 in the evening.
Saw this sign on a guy's fence on the way up:
I wonder if the dog's name is By-Tor?
Lotsa snow!
Good thing the weather was pleasant and there was plenty of daylight and a well-broken trail.
Got up on the ridge by around 7:30. Ah I'm not the only camper up here I see
I trudged on a bit further, looking for a somewhat decent place to set up camp. Now being a photographer I'm looking for a place with good camp photo ops, which isn't necessarily the most sheltered place to camp. I wanted both Baker and Shuksan in good view from where I was camped. I finally settled on camping on the ridge itself as the forecast was for good weather with light winds anyway. By the time I had camp set up it was quite dark.
At 8:30AM I was awoken by the nearby sound of snowshoers hiking past me. well I was camped on the ridge after all.
Ah good morning Shuksan!
Morning camp views:
  
Wow an actual sunny day! Hmm forgot to bring sunscreen. Ah well covering up is better anyway:
 
Morning camp:
 
My first agenda was to hike the ridge over to Huntoon Point, which from where I was, was only about 20 minutes or so of a snowshoe. Plenty of skiers/ splitboarders heading over there though.
 
The day before there was no broken trail to Huntoon, but by now there was a well established trail as many were heading up for backcountry adventure.
  
I had contempleted heading over to Ptarmigan ridge, but with the Avy danger still being rather high and me travelling solo, I thought it best not to try it even though there was an established trail. Instead I decided to head up to Table Mtn as many backcountry skiers/ boarders were heading up that way.
 
It's a pretty steep ascent but my bigger concern was coming back down as that's always the trickier way for me.
Fantastic views on top though! I skirted the entire plateau area before heading back down.
   
Back at camp, I declared "happy hour" with some Aberlour 10 year highland scotch that I brought along. Was definitely a beer day though and I brought no beer  Even one guy's tallboy of Pabst Blue Ribbon was starting to look good to me.
Here's some studies in Black and White:
   
Another camp shot (I took alot of them):
Getting close to sunset and I was hoping for some good Shuksan alpenglow. A couple other photogs came by for some sunset photo whoring as well. They were using Canon gear but I won't hold that against them 
Some sunset shots:
     
Experimenting with some night shots. I also bought the Snowpeak Hozuki LED candle lantern which gives some some very nice even light for lit-up tent shots:
  
And good morning Baker 
As I was about to start breakfast, a helicopter was dropping explosives for Avy control. I had a great vantage point for the show:
  
Broke camp by 10am and back at the car by 10:40. A truly great photo/ camping experience |
Edited by - BillyGoat on 03/28/2012 03:16 AM
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Surrey, BC
Canada
1005 Posts |
Posted - 03/24/2012 : 6:14 PM
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Thanks Tim, I really enjoyed this. A magical experience, I am sure. : )
My favourite : )
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13466 Posts |
Posted - 03/24/2012 : 6:36 PM
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What a beautiful set of photos, you got all the great shots of the views we missed on our visit to Artist Point three weeks ago.
K |
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Chilliwack, BC
Canada
840 Posts |
Posted - 03/24/2012 : 8:43 PM
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Absolutely amazing...thanks for adding yet another place to visit to my list.
Wicked photos buddy!
Kelly |
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Hope, BC
Canada
7098 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 12:22 AM
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Rent Free??? I thought you lived in your parents basement Billygoat lol.
Kidding aside, That mask looks good on you LOL .
Those photos are awesome!
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Van, BC
Canada
2793 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 12:36 AM
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Very much like the night shots with interior lit tent :) What settings were you using?
-Ryan
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6908 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 02:20 AM
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| Oooh an EXIF data question! The first one with Shuksan Ryan was ISO 400 F6.3 20 seconds. The two night shots were ISO1600 F4.5 13 seconds. I wanted to keep the exposure a bit quicker to make sure the stars stayed sharp. |
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362 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 12:56 PM
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This picture is FANTASTIC
The composition and lighting are so nice.
Where do you park to access the TH? Is it at the Mt Baker ski area day lot? |
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6908 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 2:24 PM
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| Yes its the big lot thats to the right which I believe is also a maintenance yard. Its the same parking lot for the Bagley Lakes TH too. Its about 1200 feet of elevation gain from there and took me about 90 min up with a 45lb pack. |
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Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller
3838 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 5:30 PM
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Great pics, Tim.
This is my favorite.
quote:
Originally posted by BillyGoat
Morning camp:
Was the tent adequate, any condensation? |
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6908 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 6:25 PM
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No condensation whatsoever Wildman.
The inner tent isn't all solid nylon, but has a bit of mesh on each of the upper parts of the door so I'm sure that helps. These newer models also have 2 small vents near the peak on the outer wall too. |
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Van, BC
Canada
2793 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 6:37 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BillyGoat
Oooh an EXIF data question! The first one with Shuksan Ryan was ISO 400 F6.3 20 seconds. The two night shots were ISO1600 F4.5 13 seconds. I wanted to keep the exposure a bit quicker to make sure the stars stayed sharp.
Not much noise for ISO 1600 - impressive.
-Ryan
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6908 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 6:48 PM
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Here's a 100% view of part of the image at ISO 1600:
Noise slider in Lightroom 3 was set to 44. I could go for more noise reduction, but then I'd lose too much detail. |
Edited by - BillyGoat on 03/25/2012 6:49 PM |
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Chilliwack, BC
755 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 8:24 PM
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You almost make me want to be cold!
Great night shots!
- G |
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6908 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 9:18 PM
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Okay now here's an interesting thing about the Neoair that I use. The Neoair isn't technically a 4 season mattress but I always put one of those windshield reflector things underneath and my 36" ridgerest. Both nights for the first half I was shivering even with several layers on, but I have a slow leak in the neoair and found I slept warmer once the mattress was half inflated instead of fully inflated.
That leads me to believe that the excess air in the neoair actually draws away heat, but when it's half-inflated it's warmer as there isn't as much dead airspace. I think in the future I'll refrain from fully inflating it when it's cold outside. |
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canine loving, machete-toting bushwhacking lake seeker, Indiana Jones hat-wearing off-road 4x4 guru
Surrey Hole, BC
Canada
6788 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 9:48 PM
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Nice photoset Tim  |
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canine loving, machete-toting bushwhacking lake seeker, Indiana Jones hat-wearing off-road 4x4 guru
Surrey Hole, BC
Canada
6788 Posts |
Posted - 03/25/2012 : 10:25 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by BillyGoat
Okay now here's an interesting thing about the Neoair that I use. The Neoair isn't technically a 4 season mattress but I always put one of those windshield reflector things underneath and my 36" ridgerest. Both nights for the first half I was shivering even with several layers on, but I have a slow leak in the neoair and found I slept warmer once the mattress was half inflated instead of fully inflated.
That leads me to believe that the excess air in the neoair actually draws away heat, but when it's half-inflated it's warmer as there isn't as much dead airspace. I think in the future I'll refrain from fully inflating it when it's cold outside.
I use a ridgerest and a Syn -20 bag and that is it, good for -20C so far |
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Chilliwack
1270 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2012 : 07:14 AM
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| Awesome shots Tim but maybe ditch the mask? :) I look forward to returning to Artist Point this summer. |
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Burnaby, BC
Canada
908 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2012 : 07:40 AM
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| looks like you had a great 2 days up in the snow! Thanks for sharing |
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Surrey, BC
Canada
119 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2012 : 09:23 AM
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| Amazing pics :-) and you write so perfectly in the snow too!!! lol I hope one day to stay up there. |
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6908 Posts |
Posted - 03/26/2012 : 2:49 PM
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quote:
Awesome shots Tim but maybe ditch the mask? :)
Lol it wasn't my intention to wear it all day but it beats getting sunburned. People don't seem to be quite as social when I'm wearing it for some reason. |
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Artist Point Solo Trip and gear test Mar 22-24
