Photography is my hobby and my job, so it commands a good portion of my attention. Even though it is strictly a hobby, bicycle racing is a close second. One day I hope to travel in Europe during the racing season and be a spectator at some of the classic world-famous races. Until then, I am very glad that the Amgen Tour of California offers a week of professional cycle racing with some of the best riders and teams in the world, just a few hours drive from where I live.

This year, my brother Ian, Owner of Flywheel Bicycles in Talent, Oregon, and I followed all eight days of the Tour, camping in Walmart parking lots, eating burritos, cheering on our favorite riders and just being general bike racing geeks. We also had some fun making very low quality videos which we posted on his website for the southern Oregon cycling community to enjoy. If you want to see what the life of die hard cycling fans is like you can see the videos HERE. The videos are posted in reverse chronological order.

In Just three years, the Tour of California has become the biggest and most prestigious bike race in the US. It draws the biggest European pro tour teams such as Astana, CSC, Rabobank, Gerolsteiner and Credit Agricole, as well as top US teams such as Slipstream Chipotle, Rock Racing and Toyota United. This year’s roster included the Road World Champion, Paolo Bettini and the Time Trial World Champion and Paris Roubaix winner, Fabian Cancellara, as well as many national champions and other top pro riders such as Tom Boonan, Stewart O’Grady, George Hincapie, David Millar and Mario Cipollini. Levi Leipheimer, who was last year’s overall winner and third place finisher in the Tour de France, defended his title with a convincing second win.

I managed to take a few photos of the racers, but someday I’ll have to work on getting a press pass so that I can access the press areas, support cars and photo motorcycles, which is where the best shots come from.

Galen Rowell was one of the best-known photographers of the last 30 years, and he has been a major influence on me and my photography since the 1990’s. However, before I knew of him as a photographer I was aware of his exploits as a climbing pioneer, first in Yosemite Valley, then in the high Sierra and eventually in the greater ranges around the world. In July my long time climbing partner, Chuck Porter, and I ventured down highway 395 to the east side of the Sierras to try our hand at climbing a classic Galen Rowell route, the North Arete of Bear Creek Spire (5.8, 10 pitches).
Galen climbed the North Arete in the early 1970’s after he decided it was time to take the climbing skills he had developed in Yosemite to the higher reaches of the backcountry.

To get to Bear Creek Spire we took the Tom’s Place exit off of Hwy. 395 south of Mammoth Lakes and followed Rock Creek Road up to Mosquito Flat. At 10,200 feet, the trailhead is one of the highest in the entire range. Chuck and I began our approach at 4:15 AM hoping to be back at the car in the mid afternoon. The first three or four miles of the hike follows flat trails along numerous lakes in the Rock Creek Valley, a popular backpacking destination. The second half of the approach was more difficult, and involved traversing a couple of miles of steeper talus slopes. All along the approach we had excellent views of Bear Creek Spire sitting in its lofty location at the head of the valley.

We reached the base of the North Arete at nearly 13,000 feet by about 8:00 AM. From here we roped up and began climbing the arete from its lowest point. We had hoped to complete the climbing portion of the day in four or five hours, but quickly ran into sections of the climb that were too narrow to climb easily with packs on. This necessitated climbing some short pitches and hauling the packs past the narrow areas. These delays combined with the affects of altitude stretched our time on the rock to eight hours. However, the rock was excellent and the position on the steep buttress was amazing. The weather was warm and stable, so we were not too concerned about being behind schedule.

Further up we were able to simul-climb the 4th class and easy 5th class ridge to the top. The summit of Bear Creek Spire consists of a small pointed block with only enough room for one person to perch on at a time. Chuck carefully made the last few moves and pulled himself up to stand on the highest point in this portion of the Sierra.

Safely down on the lower angled west side of the mountain we ate our lunch and began the descent, which would prove to be the most strenuous part of the day. The upper part of the descent requires steep down climbing on dangerous loose boulders covered with dirt. Further down the angle lessened and the boulders became more stable, but there was still another three miles of rugged scree fields to cross before reaching the trail. We trudged back to the car right as the last light of the day was fading after 17 hours on the go.

My best landscape photography is often captured in a slow and thoughtful process, spending time finding the right composition and waiting for the right light, as many of Galen’s classic Sierra images were. However, for this trip it was Galen’s love of adventure and climbing that provided inspiration more than his photos. I was more than satisfied with documenting the climb in photographs as best I could while enjoying a day in the mountains with a good friend.

For most of my life I have been strongly attracted to mountains.  When I was nine years old my dad took me on my first climb of Mt. Thielsen in the Oregon Cascades.  Since then I have spent a lot of time looking at them, reading about them, climbing them and photographing them.  No mountains have captured my imagination more than the Himalayas where all of the highest peaks in the world are located.  For years I have read about the geology, geography, people, culture and exploration of the high Himalayas, particularly the area around Mt. Everest, like I was reading of a fictional land in a fantasy novel.  With vicarious anxiety I have experienced the feats of heroic survival and agonizing tragedy that have played out over the last 100 years on peaks reaching so high in to the atmosphere that humans can only survive there for short periods of time.  In 1999 I took part in a trek through the Himalayas to Mt. Kailas in Tibet, but our route took us far west of the highest peaks in Nepal and monsoon clouds prevented me from seeing the big summits even from a distance.

            In April and May of this year I finally visited the mountain range of my imagination when I had the opportunity to go on a solo photography expedition in to the heart of the Khumbu region and right up to the base of Mt. Everest itself.

            It turned out that my trip precisely coincided with a particularly difficult time in Nepal’s recent history.  I flew to Kathmandu, the capitol of Nepal, smack in the middle of several weeks of strikes and protests aimed at dethroning the King, who in the last few years had steadily been dismantling the democratic government, violating human rights, taking power of the military and generally making things difficult in an already struggling country.  He responded to peaceful protests with tear gas, rubber bullets, police beatings and enforced curfews.

            After a couple of days of avoiding burning tires and flying rocks and sympathizing with the troubled citizens of Kathmandu I was able to catch my flight to the mountains to begin my trek.  For two weeks I hiked six to twelve hours a day, soaking up the views, meeting the people and taking photographs.  I dined with a reincarnate lama, joked with school kids, joined Buddhist nuns conducting their daily prayers, helped an elderly woman fix her rock wall and watched Buddhist monks lead a funeral procession into the mountains for a high altitude cremation.   Strikes and weather kept me from meeting up with my friend Laurie Bagley before she departed for her attempt to climb the north side of Mt. Everest.   But it was exciting to monitor her progress and subsequent success via the Internet knowing that she was just a few miles away on the other side of the hill.

            Significantly humbled by my experiences in the mountains I returned to Kathmandu to find a completely changed Nepal.  The King had wisely relinquished most of his power and avoided exile or worse, opening the door for the restoration of the democratic government, a cause for widespread celebrating all over the country.  It was great to see people looking happy and optimistic about the future.  I hope to see great improvements in Nepal’s quality of life in the months ahead.

            The entire expedition was a mind-expanding journey, one that has even depended my connection with Nepal and the Himalayas.  I hope that the photos I brought back capture a slight portion of the experience.  You can view a collection of images from my trip HERE…

On June 18, 2005 my climbing partner, Brock Rowley, and I will be flying to Alaska for a climbing expedition on North America’s highest mountain, Denali.  At 20,320 feet above sea level, Denali is also the highest mountain close to the Artic Circle and is infamous for big glaciers, seriously cold temperatures and nasty weather.  Brock and I were members of a 1998 six-man expedition to Denali and reached the summit on that trip.  This time around it is just the two of us.  We have named our expedition Cheese Wizardry in anticipation of the creative ways we will fit cheese in to our diet during the three-week climb.  It also alludes to our climbing abilities (or lack there of).  We will attempt a route called the West Rib, but if it isn’t in good condition or if we are too chicken the plan is to shift over to the West Buttress Route, the most popular route on the mountain and the route we took in 1998.  There is a chance that we won’t even be able to reach the mountain at all.  Low snow pack and warm spring temperatures may close the Kahiltna Glacier to ski plane landing early this season.  Without air transportation to the glacier reaching Denali is extremely difficult.  If the climbing season ends early this year, plan B is to explore and climb in an area near Denali called the Ruth Gorge.  “The Ruth” is an amazing alpine environment with 4,000-foot granite walls.  It is often referred to as Yosemite Valley with glaciers.  Either way, a fantastic adventure is in the making with many opportunities for stunning photography.  Stay tuned for the story and photos later this summer.