Lake Placid from Whiteface Mountain

Lake Placid from Whiteface Mountain, originally uploaded by vskiran.

I shot this while climbing the final steps to the whiteface summit. It was just a gorgeous view of lake placid from this vantage point. The lake itself was completley forzen. This lake is quite huge and has three islands in between it. Everytime I imagine this view, it fills my heart with awe and wonder. I cant wait to get here in summer.

Even though the sun was bright and it was a clear day, the view was quite hazy. The sun was located right above our head, making it difficult to make a picture with lot of detail. All I had to do was to pull out my polarizer out of my bag and slap it infront of my lens. But it never occured to me then. I was definitely overwhelmed by the beauty of the surroundings, my photographic instincts were definitely subdued a little bit. Further the extremely cold winds along with my frozen hands made my mind quite numb. At times I really had to tell myself to think. No wonder many people behave a little crazy when they try to climb peaks like the Mount everest. This hike has definitely taught me a lot about hiking in dead winter.

Whiteface Castle

Whiteface Castle, originally uploaded by vskiran.

The whiteface castle is about 4600Ft above sea level. I shot this picture when we were about 1.5 miles below the summit. As we got to the top, the wind was literally blowing us away. The final turn completely changed the circumstances. It was icy and we were struggling to hold our grip because of the gushing winds. At times the sound of the wind was deafening. Our heads were cold and we were holding it tight to keep it warm. We never hiked at these temperatures and our inexperience really showed up. We had lots of water, but it was of no use because it was completely frozen. We did keep the bottles close to our chest to keep them warm, but that didnt help. Supposedlly salty drinks like Gatorade would freeze slower, but even this drink was frozen at this temp. I just wanted sip but couldnt get it. Fortunately my friend brought a few choclate cookies, they really helped bring our energies back up. By this time my hands were frozen too. My fifty dollar ski gloves with two layers caught ice at the finger tips and started tearing apart. This is the reason why I got sore finger tips. I wonder if this is because of the sun. Even though the sun is nice it can hurt you at times. The little ice it melts at times can get into your shoes and gloves and eventually it gets frozen. At times I didnt know weather to feel happy about the bright sun or sad. Fortunately I had a second pair of gloves (normal fleece ones) that helped me while getting down the hill.
I would say that it was purely our mental energies that helped us scale this mountain on this day. I definitely wished it was warmer than -30/-40 degrees Celcius.

Getting to the castle was where the hike would end for many but there were some more steps to climb to get to the upper dome, which is like 300 feet above the castle. Next we pushed to walk up these steps.

View of Whiteface Castle at the summit

View of Whiteface Castle at the summit, originally uploaded by vskiran.

We were about 2/3rds of our way up when we stopped at lake placid turn along the toll road. Once again the vistas were just gorgeous. Here you could see the whiteface castle in distance.

We were hiking this mountain using snow shoes (the fancy orange ones), which provide strong grip on snow and ice when hiking a rough terrain. We loved these shoes on our hike up the marble mountain the day before (more about it later). Given that the toll road is not very steep, it turned out to be a bad idea. They really slowed us down. However they were definitely better than just using our hiking shoes. We had water proof hiking shoes that were rated to work upto -20F, but they were no match to the cold weather on this day. Even though they stayed relatively dry, our toes felt really painful and frozen at times. Fortunately we had a few chemical warmers, which made a whole world of difference. I put on the warmers under my wollen socks below my toes after hiking for about 2 miles. It had an immediate effect and my toes felt much better. I would definitely recommend carrying a lots of these on every winter hike. Without the warmers our hike would definitely have ended prematurely.

Later on we came to know from the other hikers that cross country ski's are the best way to go up this route. They not only speed up your hike , its a lot of fun coming down the hill with those on. Of course one better be good with their ski's, or else he/she might end up seriously hurting themselves. The valley is definitely not that friendly.

It was really cold and this was one of the very few moments that I took the face mask out for the picture. It was quite icy at this elevation and I took the opportunity to lie down a sec with the castle in the background.

We went Hiking in Snow

We went Hiking in Snow, originally uploaded by vskiran.

Me and a good friend of mine went hiking up the Whiteface mountain in Adirondacks New York. The mountain is about 4900 Feet above sea level. The snow was just fantastic. This particular day the weather was extremely cold. I was told that the wind chill was about -30 to -40 degrees celcius at the top of the mountain. The good news was the sun, it was bright and the vistas were beautiful and clear. This is my first time hiking in dead winter at such temperatures. I dont think we were quite prepared for the extreme weather but our common sense did provide us with good guidance. We not only got to the top of the mountain, we are still in one piece. It was one fantastic hike. I have a lot to say but my finger tips are still sore from the trip and my body would love a nice knead. Fortunately I captured some nice pictures along my hike. More pictures and experiences to follow.

Yes, thats my friend in the picture. He kept hiking and I kept taking pictures on the way. We both hiked it at our own pace, taking breaks at every beautiful spot.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, originally uploaded by vskiran.

On this occasion I plucked this flower from my photo garden.

Wishing you all the longing souls a happy valentine's day. In reality probably every day could be a valentine's day.. I guess it depends on how long one has been with their beloved :).

Sunset view through an aeroplane window

Sunset view though an aeroplane window, originally uploaded by vskiran.

I saw this beautiful view while travelling from New Delhi (India) to Bhopal on my way to attend a friends wedding.

Given the low light, I shot this wide open at f2 and the focus set to infinity. Looks like the dirty window also made it into the shot ;)

Snow board in action

Snow board in action, originally uploaded by vskiran.

always wanted to make some action shots of skiing and snow boarding. Given my skiing skills are still in their infancy, I never dared to carry my DSLR up the slopes. Further, I do enjoy falling down the slopes (not intentional) and you never know what could happen to the expensive piece of equipment on you. This time, I carried my film camera with a 50mm lens in my jacket. I did take a few nasty tumbles down the hill, but it was all worth it. I just loved the challenge of keeping my camera safe while rolling down the hill. But for the few falls, I did fairly well on the slopes. I guess little bit of responsibility made me a better skiier on this particular day.

I chose a relatively slow shutter speed to capture some motion in the shot. I dont remember the exact exposure but it was somewhere around f8/f11 with +1 exposure bias.

The snow boarder is taking a nice smooth turn down the hill. How I wish that I could do that with such ease.