Going into the Light (,Steep, and Deep)
No, really, I used to huck it. Scanned from a photocopy of an image taken by Rhonda Kelly
I haven’t skied n 2 years, but I had a good run. There was a time when skiing defined me. I would work 150 days straight so Rhonda and I could ski every snow day for the next 150 days, which once included 55 out of 60 days with one foot or more (on a $100 season’s pass). We would get up in the morning and check every snow line in the state. I quit my engineering job to teach skiing and almost taught in Switzerland one year. I used to race at Mt. Hood and Whistler in the summer, heli-ski in Alaska and BC, cat ski in the Cascades. I speed skied in a World Cup race (where I crashed at 100mph and still placed 4th, still looking for that footage), did avalanche control for a ski movie, have run into the Warren Miller crews in the back country, and even have a “cameo” as our helicopter flies over in Off the Grid when they were filming up at Points North, which is ski Hollywood. There, I’ve played beer pong with the Deslauriers twins, fly-fished for dollies with the World Champion Extreme Skier, drank with gold medalists, and talked shop with the best ski photographers in the word. My fear of heights was so bad, for two years they had put me in the helicopter between my friends with my hood up so I couldn’t see the cliffs. I got over that on my last run there when we had to rappel into it. One year we skied every month, including climbing Rainier and Baker to do it. I’ve gone 100mph and jumped 50′.
Bernard and Eric atop the Hemispheres.
I’ve made a lot of good friends and been and seen things many people will never see or do. There are tons of pictures of me, and many better skiers, skiing here: Bernards Skiing Photos. Which is why I always have, but rarely use, my camera. Pretty much anything in there with a red coat is me, and I have a pretty good representation in the Favorites gallery. Pictures like this pretty much explain everything. I will admit to perusing those in down times because he does make me look much better than I actually am.
Most of these images are so old I had to pull them off of hard drives. They were often taken in bad weather or with the intent of post processing later which never happened. And yet I realize I’ve never really posted on the topic. As I look through them I realize they sort of form an homage to my friend Bernard Hymmen, whose ski photography is amazing, and without whom there are many places I never would’ve gone, many things I never would’ve done.
P.S. Who Are You and Where are You From?
WordPress gives me these awesome reports and I can see how people find me, where they live, how they found the blog, what pages they visited. I see people from Europe, Asia, South America, and I always wonder who they are. I would love to get comments from you!
gointothelight 
Bernard
May 16, 2014
It’s great to finally see some of your skiing photos! Lots of great memories in there.
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jontobey
May 17, 2014
Honestly, I can’t find most of them. I think they are on my dead XP machine upstairs.
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Tom O'Brien
May 17, 2014
Great shots! I wish I’d taken you up on your offer to give me some lessons, as I continue to struggle with the intermediate rut.
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jontobey
May 17, 2014
It’s never too late. One lesson, and some practice. You, or anybody else, are always welcome to visit for a little slope time!
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Rob
May 31, 2014
You’ve managed to pull of a lot of these action shots really well. The mountain scenery shots are great too but of course, they don’t move as much.
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Elizabeth C Jewell
July 25, 2014
Majorly impressive.
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