Silence

I leave tomorrow morning for Canada from Sandpoint so I decided to head up to Sandpoint this afternoon and hopefully get a few turns in before the traveling began.

I had been looking forward to getting back out in the mountains alone. It wasn't backcountry by any means but it was really nice to get out there in the mountains and hike for some turns. Definitely a really mellow little trip so I was planning on bringing a lot of the camera equipment and be to the top by sunset so I could capture a few images.

My season is about to get crazy, Canada then Jackson then Mammoth before Christmas, so I really wanted to just get up there to clear my head before all of the craziness started. To me there's nothing like being up in the mountains with nothing but my skis and my dog... its also nice to have the camera to capture the moment but it is definitely not a necessity.

Turns out that the weather didn't cooperate for my sunset. Kinda a bummer from the photo side of things but I definitely was able to get up there and clear my head. Even though the sun didn't set I was able to sit up there with Brooks, my dog, and watch as the day slowly closed and darkness started to creep its way in.

Everything changes when the light leaves, it's hard to notice when surrounded by the town but up there things are interesting. As usual I'm at a lost for words to describe this but this time I feel that the photos don't really portray it that well either.

I feel that silence is too negative of a word to describe when the light leaves but nothing else comes to mind. The weather calmed, the wind stopped, and things seemed to just pause. It was complete silence. Not the akward, tense silence most of us are used to, it was a calming silence, the kind of silence you can only experience when your somewhere like the mountains.

Next time your away from the usual craziness of life and you have a chance to be alone somewhere outside of the town take the opportunity to really experience what happens after the sun sets and before complete darkness sets in. Just sit there and listen.

I was so focused in on what was happening all around me I lost track of the time and I ended up skiing down in almost total darkness, that was another whole new experience in itself. I've skied the same area many, many times in the daylight so it wasn't too big of a deal getting down with very little light but it was still something I've never done.

Usually I don't bring up equipment but I just got a new pack from F-Stop gear and I was completely amazed at how well it worked. It had all of the essentials my other backcountry packs had but it was also able to take my entire camera block(body, 2 speedlites, 70-200, 16-35, 50, and a fisheye) and a tripod but on top of that it skied amazing! Definitely skied just as well as a backcountry pack I use when I'm not taking any photo gear. Good stuff, check them out http://www.fstopgear.com/.

And finally here are a few from a roller disco party that went down this week: