Firsts

First time I've ever had a photograph published in a magazine with Andy Garcia on the cover. So I've got that going for me. Celebrated Living is an airline magazine published by American Airlines for its "premium class passengers." So now we know what they're doing up there when the flight attendants pull the curtain — stretching out in leatherette seats and getting golf tips from actors in yellow slacks.

So, the magazine pretty much celebrates living. Which is good, because if you're not living there's probably a lot less to celebrate. Plus, it's gotta be harder to read magazines. Which makes you realize just how savvy American Airlines was to target the living with this one. Props AA.

Regardless of what you think of their demographic focus on the non-dead, one thing is certain: I've never seen so many ads for watches in my life.

On that note, I'll let Andy take it away...

 

North Fork vacation

Spent a few days in the North Fork valley recently. The North Fork of the Flathead River, that is. But in Montana most people just call it the North Fork. My last couple posts celebrated the northern half of the valley, which lies in Canada and is simply called the Flathead.
But this post is about the Montana side of the valley where my family has a rustic cabin. I spend as much time up there as I possibly can. Would live up there if I could, but kids need school, I guess.
So I was up there with the family for a few days. Chopped wood, skied every day, and spent evenings reading books and gazing into the fireplace. I love chopping wood...

Flathead Grizzlies

Continuing my celebration of British Columbia's Flathead Valley, I'm posting some images from a trip I took there two summers ago with my father and our friend Ron. My story from that trip can be checked out here. An excerpt to accompany the images follows...

The Flathead: a celebration

British Columbia's Flathead Valley is a special place. In fact, it might be my favorite special place on Earth. The last undeveloped and uninhabited valley in southern Canada, it's one of the wildest of our remaining wildernesses. An international border bisects the valley, and its southern half lies in Montana where my family has a small cabin. The North Fork of the Flathead River flows through the valley bottom and forms the western boundary of Glacier National Park. (It's also a river I had the pleasure of fording a few days ago on a ski trip into the park, but that's a story for future entry.)

For now, it's enough to know that the Canadian Flathead is a stomping ground for grizzly bears, wolves, wolverines, mountain lions, and every kind of toothy creature that lived there when Columbus landed. But for years this sprawling nursery for everything wild has been under threat. Turns out it's rich in more than animal life and soaring mountains. First there were proposed coal mines, then coalbed methane, then gold mines. Things didn't look good.

I started heading up to the Flathead for adventures — and for stories that could help inspire people to demand its protection. Then, just yesterday, out of the blue, the B.C. government announced that they've decided not to allow mining or energy development in the valley.

To say that I'm jumping out of my underwear with excitement is an understatement. I'm rocketing out of my underwear until it's just a speck far, far below me and I realize, wow, it's really cold up here with no underwear, but I'm so excited it doesn't matter, so I just keep rocketing and rocketing.

In other words, I'm excited.

Where the Wild Things Are, Part Two

On our third day in the wild, we awake early and gather water from an opening where Kintla Creek spills into Kintla Lake. Our goal for the day is several miles deeper into the park: Upper Kintla Lake.

There isn’t enough snow to ski, so we strap skis to packs and hike. No matter how deep the snow in the surrounding area, a strange snow shadow in this valley perennially limits depths to a few inches. It’s this consistent lack of snow that attracts deer, lots and lots of deer. This veritable venison buffet keeps the wolves here all winter and also explains the grizzlies — no need to hibernate when you can chase wolves off their kills and score free feasts all winter long.

Where the Wild Things Are, revisited

I'll be in the backcountry of Glacier National Park for the next four days, for we're taking a break from our normally scheduled programming to revisit the story of my trip into Glacier last winter. I'm heading into this same area again this year, with a few new twists. I'll post more about this year's trip when I'm back in civilization, but for now check out the story and photos below (note: this originally ran on Karhu's blog here).

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We set out for a remote corner of Glacier National Park on a sunny late winter morning, GPS and camera in hand, ready to record all of the wild and strange things we could find. Ben and I met here a few winters back working on a forest carnivore study; we spent that winter skiing and tracking together, and no place we explored harbored more odd and grisly findings than the area around Kintla Lake. When the opportunity came to ski back in and survey the area for park biologists, we jumped at the chance. Our friend Travis came along (who’s worked as a fire lookout in a tower on one of the peaks in the background — the same tower as Ed Abbey) and we set out for four days in the wilds to see what we could see.

My story in current issue of Mountain Bike magazine

Anyone that has enjoyed my recent posts of bikepacking images might want to head to their local newsstand (assuming they still have a local newsstand) and pick up the current issue of Mountain Bike magazine. It's been out for a while, so may not be on the stands much longer. The story is called "Riding Loaded" and it's about using the latest in ultralight camping equipment to take a five-day, backcountry mountain bike ride in the Canadian Rockies. A shout-out to Jeff Boatman over at Carousel Design Works who was a great riding partner on the trip and who designs the excellent bags we used to carry our gear.

Below are a couple pre-production spreads of the story. To see the entire piece, visit my issuu page here.