Halfpipe 
 Monday, February 20, 2006
The halfpipe at Stevens Pass, outside Seattle

Please excuse the flare

In honor of the ongoing Winter Olympics, here's a view of the halfpipe at Stevens Pass from the Brooks chairlift. The sun was directly in our faces as we rode up, so even my lens' hood didn't save this shot from some flare in the upper-left. Sorry about that.

I watched the men's and women's halfpipe finals highlights, but I have to say I'm not nuts about halfpipe as an olympic sport. The runs are over way too fast, and I feel like you don't get a very good sense of the rider's style from a few quick tricks. I would like to see an all-mountain downhill race over broken terrain, with points for style. Something where snowboarders could really be in their element, on ungroomed snow.

« prev    trackback   purchase    next »
Comments

What about snowboard cross? Isn't it a fun race on broken terrain? Well I guess it is groomed and the points are for being aggressive, not for style...

Cool picture!

Interesting shot!

and I thought you said you weren't happy with the shots you took on your trip! This is great, love the black figures scrambling all over the white ground!

Ah; I had mentioned that I was ambivalent about the handful of landscape shots I had taken; there were shots like this that I was more satisfied with.

I guess I should have watched the snowboard cross events; I didn't watch them at all. I think the point I'm getting at is just that skis seem better suited for going really fast on packed snow; I would like to see an event that showcases the deep-snow, all-mountain side of snowboarding. Maybe this is just because I think of myself as an all-mountain rider, not just a park monkey :-)

Fantastic shot! I love the silhouttes of the snowboarders. I think I may have to take a trip over to Stevens and do some snowboarding next week just because of this shot =)


Post a comment

(Your comment will be held for moderation)





 
Image Data

Taken 12 Feb 06
Canon EOS 20D
f/5.6
1/1600s
ISO 200
EF 80-200 f/2.8L