The Sierra High Route
So this summer some friends and I embarked on the Sierra High Route (SHR) which is an unmarked route developed by Steve Roper. It travels from Road’s End in Kings Canyon National Park to Twin Lakes, which is north of Yosemite near Mono Village. As can be expected on a journey of this magnitude, everything did not go as expected. Nonetheless, we completed about two thirds of the route and went many days without seeing another human.
This trip travels similar terrain to the John Muir Trail, but instead of following a nicely graded path over a dozen or so passes, this route climbs over precipitous passes almost every day. Miles were limited to around 8 per day, less than half of what I’d normally do. It really was an experience, and over the next few weeks and months I will be describing the trip and showing some of my photos. I thought I’d give a little teaser right now and show you a few of my favorite photos from the trip.
Enjoy, and stay tuned for more!
Digital Mountain Climbing Photography
Over on Luminous Landscape, a wonderful in-depth article on digital photography and mountain climbing by Alexandre Buisse has been posted. The discussion ranges from technical concerns to aesthetic decisions and everything in-between. The article is accompanied by a number of wonderful photographs from his recent trip to Peru. Be sure to check out his portfolio and blog. (Right now, since I don’t know the rules about posting other people’s photos, I can’t add any here, but I’d like to. If you know of a good resource about proper usage and crediting of images and content, please let me know!)
Kevin checks out the view from our campsite on the JMT, in what was my first true backcountry experience with digital photography in 2004.
I’ve been thinking a lot about digital photography in the backcountry and hope to use my upcoming hike of the Long Trail, where I will follow the fall foliage southward, to begin to articulate my ideas from many hundreds of days shooting in the backcountry. (By “backcountry” I mean anyplace where there is no access to electricity. Usually these situations occur many days in a row.) Stay tuned!
