Red Rocks Big Horn Sheep.

A forced rest day due to rain is not always a bad thing. I took the time to hunt down one of the herds of big horn sheep that roam the canyons here at Red Rocks National Conservation Area. I managed to find them in less than an hour and spent the next couple hours sitting still on a rock as they slowly grazed their way closer. They are usually a fairly difficult animal to get close to, but the heard here is fairly tame. These photos were shot with the 70-200 2.8 lens.

I have been down here at Red Rocks for 2.5 weeks now, and have shot a lot of photos. In the next week or so I will be sorting thought them and posting the best here on the blog.

Nikon 70-200 f 2.8 vr lens review.

A few months ago I purchased a Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR. This is a professional quality lens and certainly the most expensive lens I have ever purchased. It is a heavy lens, but not so heavy that I have to leave it at home on all of the backpacking trips. I have carried it above tree line on Mount Baker, and I did not find it so heavy that it is not worth carrying. Most people will claim that it is not really a long enough lens for shooting photos of birds, but with patience and a little luck even 200mm can produce some pretty good bird photos. None of the photos here were shot using a tripod. It is just not realistic for me to use a tripod for most of my photos since I am usually hiking. A tripod would make these photos sharper, but these are still pretty sharp. The VR makes on this lens allows me to shoot hand held photos like this while i am hiking.

In my experience the varied thrush is one of the most reclusive shy birds around. They tend to sit high in the trees and not make themselves visible very often. This bird is very common in the forests of Washington, and I have still never seen one there even though I hear them on almost every trip to the woods. Yesterday while walking with my dogs in Tofino, BC I scared this one that was sitting on the trail in front of me. I had the Nikon 70-200 on my camera and was able to shoot this photo.

This eagle photo was shot as I was walking to breakfast. This is one place where 50% more zoom would have been nice.

A couple of months ago I took this lens up to the north side of Mount Baker on a work trip. I was hoping to shoot photos of ptarmigan. Conveniently upon getting to camp a group of ptarmigan showed up. Unfortunately I did not have enough time with this lens in hand to get perfect photos, but this one was pretty good.

I have also used this lens at a political fund raising event and was fairly happy with the photos even though I am still in the process of learning the ins and outs of shooting indoor flash photos. In this case the lens far exceeded the photographer.

In the next couple months I will continue to post photos from this lens as I get more comfortable shooting with it.

Mt. Foraker Sultana Ridge Photos

I am currently scanning photos of past trips that are on slides. this group of photos is from my Mt. Foraker trip in 2000. This trip was a long time ago and I tried to put the photos in order of how they were shot, but I am not going to promise they are in the correct order. They do however cover almost the entire route, so they should give you a good idea of everything you will encounter on the route.

The flight in past Mt. Huntington

Mt. Crosson From Kahiltna BaseMt. Hunter from the base of Mt. Crosson

Camp on the summit of Crosson with Kahiltna Dome in the background

Looking at the summit
Denali from the summit of Crosson
Leaving the Camp on the summit of Crosson

Denali Photos

These are the photos from this years Denali trip. This was my third trip to Denali and one of my most successful. After a one day delay flying onto the glacier everything else went perfect. We summited on day 13. This was certainly the strongest team I have had on Denali, and a fun group of people to spend two weeks with.

This photo was shot on my first trip to the Alaska Range on a climb of Mt. Foraker. This is also the photo that I have sold the most copies of thanks in part to Denali Images Gallery in Talkeetna who have sold a lot of these for me. You can have your very own copy by ordering from here. That one won't have the route drawn all over it.

Crevasses from the plane.
Vaibhav on the flight in.
Kahiltan base camp and the ski equiped Otter that landed us there.
Ray.
Richard and Mary's rope teams just behind us.
A couple guys dragging sleds.
A snow sluff caused by warm temperatures.
A rope team ahead of us.
Two climbers on the lower Kahiltna Glacier.
AAI guide Mary Harlan.
Ascending Ski Hill.
7800 ft camp from the top of Ski Hill.
Camp at 7800 ft.
Richard at 7800ft.
Avalanche.
Ski hill

Pat taking a break.
Two climbers at Kahiltna Pass
Icefall below 11 camp.


Moving toward camp at 11,200 just above Kahiltna Pass.
Almost there.
The final few steps into camp at 11,200ft.
My good friend Ray.
Camp at 11,200ft.
Clouds signaling unstable weather while at 11 camp.
Two skier descend toward Kahiltna Pass.
Tony and Pat enjoy the beautiful weather.
Brian at the top of Motorcycle hill in high winds.
A cup of coffee and a sunset at 11 camp.
Richard and Mary enjoy the evening.
Richard and Mary enjoy the evening.
Seracs near 11 camp.
A campsite at 11,200ft.
Late evening light on Mt. Foraker and Kahiltna Dome.
Nearing the top of Motorcycle Hill.
Starting the climb out of 11,200ft camp with Kahiltna Dome, Mt. Crosson and Mt. Foraker in the background.
A very windy carry day.
Clouds spill over Kahiltna Pass from the north side of the range.
Richard and his rope team on Motorcycle Hill
Richard at the top of Motorcycle Hill.
Another team moving through Windy Corner in perfect weather.
AC Sherpa
Brian
Vaibhav, Brian, and AC Sherpa below 14 camp.
Angela
AAI Guides Angela and Mike.
Pat and Tony at the Edge of the World.
14,200ft camp with Mt. Hunter in the background.
Same as above.
14,200ft camp shot from half way up the fixed lines.
Park service helicopter at 14,200ft.
Vaibhav, Juan, and AC Sherpa on the ridge below me.
Vaibhav, Juan, and AC Sherpa on the ridge below me.
Richard on the ridge.
Tony on the ridge.
Richard leading on the ridge.
Juan and Vaibhav on the ridge.
AC Sherpa at the top of the fixed lines.
On the ridge near 17 camp.
What is unusual about this photo? Helicopters apparently can fly at over 17,000ft.
Richard in the tent.
Me.
Juan
Mt. Foraker from 17 camp.
17 camp.
17 camp.
Me calling in the dispatches, or talking to my lovely wife.
Me.
Two climbers taking in the view of Mt. Hunter.
Mt. Foraker from 17 camp.
Solo climber above Washburn's Thumb.
Climbers and Washburn's Thumb
Killing time at 17,000ft.
Juan

Seracs.
Clouds at Windy Corner.
Climbers on the ridge above Washburn's thumb.
Climbers on the ridge below 17 camp.

Richard at 17 camp.
Richard.... Looking a little wasted.
Sun shining through snow wall protecting the camp.
The team returning to 17 camp from the summit.
Clouds over Mt. Foraker.
The team coming down from the summit.
Decsending the Autobahn.

The team just below 14 camp on the way down.

A rope team above Kahiltna Base. Ash from the Mt. Spur eruption is clearly visible on the glacier in this photo. Crevasses on the flight out.