Nepal Expedition (Jan 2006)

Welcome to my blog. Scroll down to see some of the best photos from my adventures. First are some pictures from my most recent trip to Nepal.

A photo taken in Namche Bazaar on the Everest Trail. Everything used on the trail has to be carried up the mountain by Porter or Yak. It takes 6-7 days for them to reach this point.
Sunrise over Kathmandu. It is not a beautiful or clean city but it is interesting. The heavy pollution from burning rubbish, industry and India can be seen covering the sun.

The old city of Bhaktapur is cleaner, quieter, and nicer than Kathmandu. It is much more traditional. You can see people working in traditional ways amongst simple but interesting buildings. Some places in the city you feel like you are in a wold 500 years ago.

From the Khubmu Glacier looking north to everest basecamp and Tibet. We climbed up a mountain to the left, overlooking the icefall and Everest on the right. Up at this altitude (5550m - 18,500 ft) everything is an effort. There is less than half the oxygen of sea level, 40% of your energy is taken by breathing. Less energy is left over for everyhting else. We set out for the Summit of Kala Pathar before sunrise. It was about -20 celsius.

The sunsets always created an eirie light.

Nepal Expedition (Jan 2006) - Page 2

Here are some pics from my recent trip to Nepal.

The sunsets were great. This one is of Nuptse with the sun lighting up the clouds created by snow and ice being blown off everest (which is behind Nuptse).
This is of Lotse (8400 m, the 4th highest mountain in the world). I went outside and saw huge clouds spiralling at high speed up the face of the mountain then dissapearing as they came off the top. It was a mountain that looked angry. Earlier we hung some washing outside in bright sunlight but it froze solid in 10 minutes.
This photo was taken from Tangboche monastary (the highest in the world). You can see Ama Dablam (right) and the Nuptse, Everest, Lhotse trio in the middle. You can see the ice and snow being blown off Everest in the middle. Shortly before I took this photo I wandered into the monastary (off the left of the photo) and witnessed a tibetan buddhist ceremony where the monks, dressed in thick robes, used horns, drums, symbols and anchient chants to create a surreal atmosphere.
One of the many Buddhist monuments along the trail. You have to walk around these in a clockwise direction as the locals believe this released the prayer. The flags release the prayers into the wind. Understandable in this evironment their beliefs are often tied to the elements.
At the base of the Khumbu Glacier, Sherpas and climbers have places hundreds of rock pillars. Each one for someone who died on the moutain. While we were climbing the rockfall to this spot we noticed that one of our party was unwell. She had mountain sickness which caused her to become totally blind. Everyone was concerned as we were unsure whether she would recover. She had to be led down the mountain, step-by-step. After a few days her sight returned. Mountain sickness, which is quite dangerous and can easily lead to death, was a constant concern for all of us.
The local kids are without fear. This girl is the daughter of a local doctor. Part of our journey involved giving direct assistance to remote schools and health posts. As I took this photo we were being presented with a high Buddhist honour by her father and the community.
This photo was taken in the Annapurna region. You can see the heavily terraced hills, hand made stone paths that climbed 1000's of meters up steep mountains, and the ever present smoke.

The peak above always seemed to look different. It was one of the first big ones we saw.

Skiing

Me getting some 'air time'. As I landed this I twisted a ski and cartwheeled down the slope. Fun times.
Doing a 360 Heli over a home made jump in the yard of the house I lived in (in the background).
An unsuccessful landing. I had to get a lot of air to get over a lip half way down the slope. Obviously didn't make it. My friend holding the video camera just laughed and continued taping as I recovered.
This time I made it. The infamous lip is just out of shot on the bottom right. I cleared it easily and landed a long way down the slope.

And another one where I just clipped the lip causing me to do a front flip and slide down the hill. Funny for all watching.

Other USA (2001-2005)

A picture from Buena Vista park in San Francisco looking south across Postcard Row to Downtown. Some might remember it from the start of Full House.
Taken from a friend's house in Scottsdale, Arizona (just outside Phoenix).

Another sunset worthy of a photo.

New Zealand (July 2003)

A friend and I hired a car and decided to drive to Milford sound. Unfortunately a huge avalanche covered the only access road and we never reached it. It had been snowing and raining for days before. We were still very lucky though because the views along the road were incredible.
On the road to Milford Sound.
All day we were confronted with views like this. It seemed that we were always pulling the car at the side of the road to check out the view. The photo above is a great example of the glacial valleys, lakes, lush forests and snow covered mountains that are abundant on the South Island.


This photo was taken from the top of Cadrona Ski fields near Wanaka. The view over the clouds was amazing and every now and then a hole would appear in the clouds giving a window to the amazing scenes to the lake and valley below. Unlike anything else in the world.

Lake Tahoe (2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2004-2005 Seasons)

I spent 4 seasons working at Diamond Peak Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe. An amazing experience.

This picture was taken from the top of Squaw Valley Ski Resort looking over the valley and lake towards the east shore (Nevada side). The 1960 Olympics were held here. It was one of the biggest resorts I have ever been to and had some very challenging terrain.
The sunsets were always incredible and different every night. This was taken as I headed home after a big day of skiing. You can see the silhoette of a ski lift in the foreground.
The mornings were just as amazing. This was taken as I ate breakfast at my dining table.
Late in the season we had a massive storm that lasted for days. One night it stopped and revealed this the next morning. Needless to say I took a few hours off work to enjoy the fresh powder. This photo was taken in an area that resort customers did not go - fresh tracks all day.

The lake was often blue. But on a day like this, after a storm it took on almost unreal colors.

A cold night in Tahoe. This was taken from the edge of the Mt Rose highway from Reno as you decend into Incline Village (you can see the lights below on the lake shore).

Italy (Jan 2005)

This photo was taken from a hill overlooking Florence. Behind me was a replica statue of David and close by was a cart selling the best Gelato I have ever found.
As I walked into the Bassilica San Pietro in Rome I saw rays of sunlight streaming into the building. I have a few photos like this with sun hitting various interesting and significant objects. I thought the effect suits the location - within one of the worlds biggest churches.

Looking over the Forum towards the Colloseum. When standing in the middle of the Forum it is not hard to imagine what ancient Rome would ave been like. You can see buildings from different eras layered on top of each other.

South America - (Nov - Dec 2004)

I stayed in this bed for a number of days. I could look out over the forest canopy and watch huge thunder storms roll in each night. The noise of the storms, insects and animals was deafening. Just behind the hut was a creek and waterfall where I did my washing. The humidity was incredible.
This photo is of Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina. I saw it during a huge flood. There was literally kilometers of waterfalls emerging from the jungle and plunging in varous patterns. Everywhere you walked there was a waterfall ranging from groups of thousands of small streams to huge falls that dwarfed Niagra. The river feeding it was 2 kilometers wide.
Everywhere you look in the Amazon you see trees. Endless. Rather than taking dramatic landscape pictures you had to focus on smaller things. If you take it in as a whole it seems too much with nothing standing out from the wall of vegetation. Look closer and you find life surviving at all levels.

Until recently, this was the highest place I had been - about 15,500 feet. This hut sits directly over the equator. Behind me is a glacier.