Tag: winter

Utah Winter Roadtrip … plus Colorado and Wyoming

Utah is a wild west wonderland … and the perfect place for a winter roadtrip.

Right now my Insta and Facey feeds are full of deep, deep pow blanketing the Wasatch and Rocky Mountains … which got me harking back to just over a year ago when we were enjoying similar conditions on an epic snowboarding roadtrip through Utah and Colorado.

First stop after a delayed flight in early January 2020 was a night in magical Moab, and a quick tour of Arches National Park the next morning. I cannot recommend Moab and Arches National Park more highly – it was truly spectacular, made perhaps even more so by the layer of brilliant white contrasting the blood-orange rock and sand.

In Arches National Park you don’t even have to get out of your car to appreciate the natural beauty.
Park Avenue, Arches National Park.
Garden of Eden in the fog, Arches National Park.
The famous Delicate Arch without the usual tourist crowds.

After snowboarding at Telluride and Crested Butte (both deep in the Colorado remote mountains) we made our way back to Salt Lake City and Park City.

Welcome to Utah!
Wintry wasteland high atop the Colorado Plateau, Utah-Colorado border.
Does is get any more wild west-looking than this?
Surreal scenery just off Interstate-70 at the Utah Welcome Center.
Big trucks, big mountains, big sky.
Speed-blur at 70+ miles an hour.
Golden hour out the passenger window.
Winter moon rising…

After getting our powder-fill in the Cottonwood Canyon resorts (Brighton, Snowbird and Solitude) as well as Park City, we headed north into the frozen white to see what Jackson Hole, Wyoming was like.

Little Cottonwood Canyon is a magnet for heavy snowfalls … and sketchy driving conditions.
How’s this for a Interstate-80 roadside panorama with the iPhone!
In winter it looks a lot like this on the five-hour drive north to Wyoming … but it’s worth the trip to get to ride Jackson Hole.
Fog and early-morning light combined for a bitingly cold vision across the elk reserve at Jackson, Wyoming.
This abandoned motel is not one of Jackson’s highlights, however. But I thought it looked pretty cool.
Last light, somewhere on the lonely road in Idaho.

4 x GoodTimes With Nitro Snowboards

Four years of photo shoots with the Nitro Pro Team

With Melburnians landlocked from the mountains all winter with the COVID-19 restrictions, I wanted to look back on four fantastic years of Nitro GoodTimes camps in Victoria. The brainchild of Nitro Snowboards Australia/NZ’s Mark Bristow, Will Cheshire and “Master of Ceremonies/Mr Falls Creek”, Jimi Cordell, GoodTimes was a raucous weekend/week/fortnight to bring the extended Nitro family together with a bunch of the new boards, fresh from the factory, to shoot photos for each next year’s catalog.

I’ve been hooked up by Nitro since around 2009, so I jumped at the chance to lend my services … and it’s been a week that I look forward to most each winter. Good times, good crew … and way too many beers (bloody, Jimi!)

Please enjoy some of my favourite action shots from the last four years with Nitro.

2016: Hotham – Viking Invasion…

Led by Scandianavian slayers Marcus Kleveland, Torgeir Begrem, Sven Thorgren, Ludwig Biltoft, Jared Elston (honourary Scando/Aussie) and Silje Norendal, with Aussie Team Manager, Darragh Walsh, directing the troops, Nitro Snowboards held the first infamous GoodTimes Camp at Hotham. It was wild … and the vikings roared! My photos and words from this GoodTimes was a multi-page feature article in ANZ Snowboarding Magazine. See more photos here.

  • Nitro GoodTimes 2016, Hotham. Copyright Sean Radich

2017: Falls Creek – ANZACs…

A Trans-Tasman assault on Falls Creek coincided with one of the biggest storms of the decade. Rather than hitting the park, Nate Johnstone, Christy Prior, Harley Trivic and Toms Petrusevics (honourary Aussie) sheltered in the snowy trees … and in the warmth of QT’s balcony hot tubs. Oh, and this was the first time “Mr Falls Creek” introduced us all to his signature drink.

Pro tip: ask for a “Jimi” at Stingray next time you’re there … but don’t drink more than a couple!

2018: Falls Creek – The A List Arrives…

All the big dogs descended on lil ‘ol Falls Creek for the biggest GoodTimes yet: Marcus, Torgeir, Sven, Zoi (all fresh from PyeongChang 2018), Christy and Elias Elhardt destroyed the park – but it was Sam Taxwood who was MVP, styling all sorts of tricks that just should not be humanly possible on a 203cm “Big Pink” Quiver Cannon.

Falls Creek upped the ante with organised holiday packages for punters to get in on all the fun (and the “Jimis” at Stingray), and TM/Nitro legend Knut Eliassen just couldn’t help but throw a few handplants (when he wasn’t otherwise playing the party Pied Piper), while Nitro International’s Andi Aurhammer showed his commitment to GoodTimes by joining in the shenanigans.

But special thanks had to go to Falls Creek Terrain Parks/Events for hand-shaping the epic snake run down Last Hoot – one run has probably never received so much media coverage … and it was worth the guys getting in a bit of trouble for building it in such a high-traffic area.

2019: Falls Creek – The Good Times roll on…

Another GoodTimes, another epic storm! The crew scored … and took advantage of special lift access before the public was allowed up. Austen Smith brought his surf-styles to Falls Creek, and he was joined by the kiwi wonder women, Christy and Zoi, as well as lil’ ripper, Nico Bodi, with TM Darragh Walsh showing us all he’s still got it! And old Falls Creek/Nitro rider Jason Currie even managed to snag an epic pow spray like the good ol’ days.

  • Nitro GoodTimes, Falls Creek, 2019.

Good times, indeed! Thanks to Bristow, Will, but most of all to Jimi for being the life and soul of GoodTimes.

I hope we can all get back to a GoodTimes in the future.

Nitro have just launched their updated website with their 2021 range of snowboards (which Australia/NZ received in-stores this year). Take a look here.

Nitro Snowboards x Mint Tours x Hotham Goodtimes Weekend 2016

Nitro Snowboards method at Hotham

What a wang! Triple methods from Torgeir Bergrem, Marcus Kleveland and Sven Thorgren.

Run to the hills! Last year in late August Nitro Snowboards Australia-NZ called me up to join them and shoot their Goodtimes weekend at Mt Hotham. The Nitro International Team was in Oz, and were shooting their 2017 catalog at Hotham, and so I went along to document it all.

It was a ripping weekend with the crew, and some insane riding from the uber-pros on the features built by Hotham park crew and the inventive Rusty Toothbrush boys.

2017 Issue 1 of Australia-NZ Snowboarder published a five-page feature article using my words and photos from the weekend … but as always, there’s a lot of extra shots. So take a look at the gallery below.

And if you’re interested in joining in on this sort of action, Nitro has once again joined with Mint Tours for “Run To The Hills” weekend at Falls Creek from 4-6 August 2017. Scope the deets here. See you up there!

Click on the photos to open up the gallery…

Good times!
Torgeir Bergrem
Sven Thorgren
Darragh Walsh
Jared Elston, Sven Thorgren and Torgeir Bergrem.
Marcus Kleveland.
Darragh
Jared and Sven doubling up.
Darragh Walsh into the mist…
Torgeir Bergrem
Jared Elston
Silje Norendal
Torgeir Bergrem
Sven Thorgren
Marcus Kleveland.
Torgeir Bergrem
Run to the Hills! The pros and Mint campers bombing The Canyon
Sven Thorgren
Silje styling 1
Torgeir, Sven and Marcus.
TM Darragh Walsh still boosting with style.
Triple treat. Jared Elston, Sven Thorgren and Torgeir Bergrem.
Sven Thorgren
The Goodtimes crew
Silje Norendal
Torgeir Bergrem
Sven Thorgren
Darragh
Silje styling 2
Darragh Walsh wangin’ it out.
Silje Norendal
Bombing Gunbarrel

Australian Winter: iPhone Photography

Guthega panorama. Photo: Sean Radich
Making the most of iPhone’s panorama function and Photoshop Express editing app for this snowy Guthega view.

I’ve said it previously … and I’ll say it again: I love using my iPhone for photography! It’s not just having a conveniently-sized digital camera in your pocket, but it’s the apps to edit the photos, and the wifi & 4G internet connection to upload shots and share them with the world wherever you are … even with frozen fingers atop some of the highest mountains in Oz.

I’ve wondered for a while why the pocket digicam makers haven’t incorporated Android (or Apple) operating systems and touch screens with their wifi? Then you could carry a better camera around to snap photos on the fly, edit in Photoshop Express or VSCO directly on the camera, then upload to Instagram when you get to a wifi hotspot. I wonder if the Canons, Nikons and Sonys would have kept selling lots of point-and-shoot digital cameras, rather than lose ground to iPhones, Samsungs and iPod Touches, if they had features like that?

While you’re pondering these things, take a look at some photos that I’ve shot, edited and now posted on WordPress all via my iPhone. Technology is marvelous.

Click on the photos to open up a gallery…

What a view from the top of Mt Perisher.
Winter hit the high country, with snow covering much of the land around The Alpine Way.
When you don’t have chains, catching the Skitube to Perisher makes life much easier.
Catching a train up to the snow reminds me of my time at the Garmisch glacier GAP Camp.
Zee train, zee train!
About to enter the earth…
So frozen and windblown up top, I thought I was on Planet Hoth.
Guthega panorama
Frozen. Brrr…
The Mile High 2015 riders meeting in the fog.
15 year-old Josh Vagne already has Blue Steel (TM) on lock.
Staying at The Station for the duration of The Mile High is a little bit like school camp. Pod land.
About to drive into a super-intense microcell storm on the Monaro Hwy.
It’s an impressive building.
A bit like a solemn temple.
Church-like inside.
Colourful domed ceiling.
Very modern annex, like Jeff’s Shed in Melbourne.

The Mile High 2015: Snowboard Photography

MileHigh2015-Josh_Vagne-photo-Sean_Radich-0480
All eyes, and lenses, on 15 year-old Aussie up-and-coming ripper, Josh Vagne during the foggy Mile High 2015.

The Mile High presented by Carlton Dry has become a highlight of the Australian winter, and it draws the best snowboarders in the world to Perisher’s terrain park. It’s not just the World Snowboard Tour International points rating of the contest that brings the best shred boys and girls to Jindabyne, but Perisher’s epic and inventive park built by master shaper, and good mate, Charles Beckinsale.

So many of the international pros I spoke to said how much they enjoyed the freestyle set-up at Perisher – easy access to the mountain, fast laps of the park on the T-bar or 8-seater chair, a fun halfpipe also in front valley and a fun park around the corner on the Leichardt T-bar. They all said that they enjoy their summers in Oz much more than New Zealand, and that Perisher has become “the new Snowpark”. High praise, indeed!

This year I was fortunate to spend two and a half weeks in Jindabyne, to compete in the Transfers Banked Slalom at Thredbo, have a bunch of days riding the resorts, and then working for The Mile High writing the press releases, running the website and taking photos. Unfortunately the weather rolled in for the four days that the contest was scheduled, literally putting a real dampener on proceedings. The competition finally ran on the Wednesday, but due to the misty fog, the last two jumps were excluded. It was a shame, as in the clear days earlier on in my stay, the riders were displaying some seriously mind-blowing riding and uber-inventive lines. But, a result was obtained, photos were sent out and video edits posted … and the all-important WST points were awarded to help set up a bunch of riders for the forthcoming northern comp season. Congrats to Jess Rich, who I shot with back in Tahoe a few years ago, for winning the women’s.

Click the link to read the write up from The Mile High presented by Carlton Dry 2015.

Click the images to open a gallery of some of my photos from my time in Perisher.

And scroll down for a wrap-up video edit of the event. 

Style master and snowboarding big boss, Torstein Horgmo, just lofting a tweaked frontside nose grab during fun laps through the Perisher pipe.
Scotty James just cruising through the Perisher pipe with a nice lil’ handplant.
Unknown rider with a solidly grabbed spin during the sunny couple of hours of the Sunday practice.
Olympic silver medallist, Stale Sandbech, is one of the most stylish snowboarders in the world.
Chas Guldemond always enjoys his time down under.
Stale Sandbech is just one of the many big dogs that has flocked to Perisher’s park.
Max Parrot crippler off the side-hit pipe wall.
Young US ripper, Kyle Mack is full of style.
Max Parrot dropping a casual triple cork during the sunny Sunday practice for The Mile High.
The big boss himself – Charles Beckinsale – just surveying his fine park-building work.
Darcy Sharpe double-corking through the mist on the way to his win of The Mile High 2015.
Jess Rich perfecting the backside 540 in practice that helped her win the 2015 Mile High.

ESPN put together a great little edit about the whole competition. Take a look here: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:13525680

And here is the official video:

I can’t wait for next year…