Amazing Trees

Today, Sunday 2nd January, was a ski day – at Wolf Creek in southern Colorado. We stayed in South Fork about 20 miles north but drove to Wolf Creek for breakfast at 8am. It was jolly cold, down to -17F.

Breakfast was interesting – a bacon and sausage croissant. Then we hit the slopes. Raven lift didn’t take us above the trees but Bonanza, the next one, did. There were good views to the hills and long shadows. Managed to find some snowy rocks and snow shapes for the foreground. I’m always looking for what to put in the foreground when using a wide angle lens.

Next was Treasure lift. We skiied off the lift and were confronted by conifers completely coated in snow and ice. I had never seen trees like it. Vail was similar 2 years ago but didn’t have the shapes and the trees were too close together.

After a quick lunch we headed for Alberta lift. This is for back-country skiing but I climbed up to the ridge above the lift for more snowy trees with a grand view behind.

Not many ski shots but the trees more than made up for it. I just picked out some nice shapes, put them against a plain background (blue sky) and pressed the button. With the big views I picked the view and then looked for a foreground to set off the picture when using a wide angle lens.

For exposure I used the shadows and less bright areas with my trusty Sekonic spot metre. I took a total of 7 rolls through the day, which is about 70 images.

Tonight we revisited the Steamworks brewery. The Backside Stout was very good but not that keen on the Powder Daze Porter. The steak was good too.

Tomorrow, Monday, we ski Durango ski area, about 30 minutes from our hotel in Durango town.