The Haps.

I'm re-surfacing from my longest blog hiatus since 2006. Pretty fair run I had there for a while... Anyway, since releasing the film Rocky Mountain Highball last month, I've been traveling a good bit, climbing, and shooting lots of photos. I've spent most of the summer developing boulders and shooting at Mount Evan's Lincoln Lake, sport climbing in Ten Sleep, WY, and I just returned from a two week trip to Squamish, BC. Life is grand. Here's a photo from Squamish.

I was invited by Arc'Teryx to compete in the 2010 Squamish Mountain Festival Steep Shot Photo Competition. Six pro climbing shooters competed in the event. The rules were simple: Give a 5 minute slide show presentation, set to music, no words. In an effort to try to gain a creative edge on my talented competition, and combine my artistic passions, I wrote and performed a funky instrumental piece on the guitar to my show. It was the first time I've performed live (solo) to a sold out crowd (i know, i know, they weren't there to see me play my guitar, and it was only for one song, but, it happened, and it took some balls.)

I was so psyched for the opportunity, and although I ended up placing third in the event, I was a crowd favorite for sure and received many compliments that evening and in the days following. Congrats to Paul Bride and Andrew Burr on taking a well deserved first and second place! It was one of the most fun evenings I've had in a while and by far the most fun slide show I have given this year. Thanks to Arc'Teryx for bringing me up and letting me loose, and to Scott Milton and Sandra Studer for the place to crash, gear, and food!

I stayed an extra week following the festival to focus on a few climbing goals of my own. Of most importance, climbing "The Grand Wall" (10 pitches, 5.11, A0) on the iconic Chief. Sheyna and I did just that, and although I have climbed several bigger walls in the last few years, nothing compared to the exposure and difficulty of this climb. We topped out early evening and watched the sun set over Howe Sound. Pretty amazing experience and not so bad for an off-the-couch photog!

Other than that, photography work is going stronger than ever. I've been promoted within the Climbing Magazine/Urban Climber Magazine family when the company was sold to Active Interest Media (AIM). I work now as Senior Contributing Photographer for Climbing as well as for Urban Climber Magazine. I'm stoked to have shimmied my way up a little higher within the industry and thankful to still be able to do what I truly love for a living. More posts to come...

Below are some pictures of the "Steep Shot Comp" from the Mountain Festival courtesy of Arc'Teryx. Cheers!