The Adventure

6 Reasons Hydration Packs Suck for Adventure

It was on a 10-hour bus ride across the Peruvian Andes from Lima to Huaras, the bustling town at the heart of the Cordillera Blanca, where my suspicions about hydration packs were confirmed.

The twisting mountain road and the banana pancakes from breakfast were already wrestling with my tummy. Then I looked across the aisle and saw a fellow tourist’s hydration pack tube. It snaked from his backpack, along the stained seat edge, and under the passenger beside him. My stomach churned, and from then on, I’ve referred to hydration packs as “germ samplers”.

Sure, there’s a place for hydration packs. They work great for some outings. REI has a good article on how to choose the right hydration pack. 

I use them on occasion. But only in environments where I’m pretty comfortable ingesting almost anything the mouthpiece might touch and when I need my water bottle to collapse when it’s empty. Some manufacturers now put little covers over the mouthpiece, which helps a little, but dirt and nasties still seem to find their way under the thing.

Including the Petri dish effect of hydration packs, there are six major reasons I prefer old-fashioned water bottles:

1. The Germ Sampler.
2. I love stopping, taking off my pack, sitting down, looking around at a piece of wild splendor, sipping from a cool stainless steel bottle, and having a little chat with my adventure partner. 
3. There are few things worse than being miles up the trail and hearing your partner say, “My water broke...”
4. In cold weather, even the fancy hydration packs with insulated tubes freeze much more quickly than wide mouth water bottles – as if a few millimeters of foam will keep water from freezing in a little tube.
5.  Sucking plastic, when you’re already sucking air, is highly unpleasant compared to chugging effortlessly as if from a glass.
6. With a water bottle, every time you take a drink you get a pretty good idea of how much water you have left. With a hydration pack, you get thirsty, suck down all your water without paying attantion, and then when you run out you beg your adventure partner to share their water.

Now I use stainless steel water bottles whenever humanly possible. Even if you doubt the potentially harmful effects of storing water in plastic, or prefer using old soda bottles for environmental reasons, water from a stainless steel vessel just tastes better.

Photo of enjoying a water break at while heli-hiking at CMH Bobbie Burns by Topher Donahue.

What Pack do I Need for Heli-Hiking?

The easy answer is: NO PACK AT ALL. 

For anyone who doesn’t bring a pack, CMH lodges provide daypacks that are small enough to hike or climb unencumbered, but big enough to hold your lunch, water, sunhat, and jacket.  With a helicopter to provide easy escape from the mountain elements, we have a lot of options and you don’t need to carry too much. 

If you want your own pack for heli-hiking and other summer adventures, that’s great.  Using your own pack is nice.  But don’t fret it.  That’s why we call it HELI-hiking.  It’s not about the pack.

Even a trusty book bag works, but a pack with a little more space makes packing - and then later finding your sunscreen in the bottom of your pack – that much easier.  If you prefer your own, here are a few things to look for in a good heli-hiking pack:

• Around 25 litre capacity - buy your friend the bigger pack.  

• Roomy exterior pocket for easy access to cameras and trail favors - tight pockets look cool in the store, but are a pain to use.

• Lightweight material and design with no frame or super-light internal frame - heavy helicopter should equal light pack.

• Hydration system is handy but not necessary – why not just stop and look around while drinking?

• Ventilation along the back area – it gets warm heli-hiking under the bright alpine sun.

• External strap system of some kind in case you need a little extra space - adventure travel doesn't happen by the litre.

• Bought in an actual, real, live, retail store like REI where you can try on several options for the best fit - as in not bought online with your iPhone while driving in traffic just before your trip. 
  

Touching mountains as wild, vast and un-developed as the Columbias of British Columbia with only a small daypack on your shoulders is a treat that only heli-hikers get to experience.  The light-footed sensation of moving easily through such terrain, surrounded by untouched wilderness the likes of which few modern humans ever see, is alone worth the price of admission. 

Heli-hiking-as-good-as-it-gets photo by Topher Donahue

Heli-Hiking: Too Easy? Too Hard?

The most common myth around heli-hiking, CMH Summer Adventure's core activity, is that it is either too easy or too hard.  The term conjures up...well, nothing consistent in the minds of travellers.

In reality, heli-hiking is just as hard, or just as easy, as you want it to be.  Here's why:

1. Our guests, not our guides, set the gait.

We're not kidding when we say this.  At the Bobbie Burns lodge, for example, we accommodate a maximum of 44 guests and we have 7 guides available.  That means we can have 7 different levels of walking, hiking, and trekking groups.  We've been working on this formula for over 30 years now and rarely do we have a guest leave without getting exactly the hiking experience they are after. 

2.  We cater to non-hikers.

Whether it's a hike, walk or amble, each heli-hiking day is tailored to each guests' fitness, experience and wishes.  Frankly, we'd be crazy to drag you out on a hike that's way too ambitious and send you home feeling battered and miserable.  After all this is your hard-earned vacation, not boot camp.  If you want to cover very little ground, but really take the time to appreciate the magnificent, awesome scenery, we've got a guide for that.

3. We challenge experienced hikers.

Last summer I hiked in the Bugaboos with a couple from Toronto in their mid-40's.  At the start of our hike on day one, Karen looked our guide Kevin in the eye and said 'I want to hike until I cry.'  She wasn't kidding. Kevin wasn't quite sure what to make of her but he and his mile long legs set off and she was right on his heels.  They hiked all day, stopping only for water and snacks and lunch along the way.  I dropped back to join a less-ambitious group! At the end of the day I asked Karen how her day was.  "I had the best day of my life."   Funny thing, two other people in the lodge told me the same thing that night at dinner - a Grandmother in her 70's, and a 17-yr old travelling with his Mom and sister.

4.  We have a helicopter.

The glory of using the helicopter to access the remote ranges of the Canadian Rockies is that we eliminate days of bushwacking (because there are no trails where we hike, and few other people have been here) to get you to the kind of hiking you want to do.  If you aren't keen on uphill, then you and your guide and group will fly to a high mountain ridge that you can meander along, or to an alpine meadow where you can wander through the brilliant colours of our wildflowers.  If uphill gain is your thing, then start in the valley bottom and climb, climb, climb to your heart's content.  We've got a guide for that, too.

Whatever kind of outdoor, walking experience it is that you desire, we guarantee that you will find it on a CMH Summer Adventure.  You can choose your adventure - mountaineering, adventure trails, zip lines, via ferrata, yoga, painting retreats and Girlfriend Getaways.  All of it as hard, or as easy, as you would like.

Last Child in the Woods - It's More Than a Holiday

I just read one of those books that could change the world.  Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv, is a best seller of such magnitude that its implications will send ripples through families, universities, and - hopefully - our entire culture.

In it, Louv coins the term “nature deficit disorder”, and gives the reader a shocking view into the wide range of issues today’s children face and how many of the issues can be blamed – at least in part - on how little direct contact with nature they have compared to earlier generations.  The book opens the floodgates of contemporary studies that are in the process of proving that our electronic, indoor, hyper-compartmentalized lifestyles are liable for issues including ADHD and obesity – and that time in the natural world has therapeutic potential to help with the very same issues.

The other day I watched my twin three-year-olds grow hyper and irritable as a spring snowstorm prevented even a short play in the garden.  It seemed obvious that the time outside was crucial to their learning and happiness as I reread a few of Louv’s best lines:

“Increasingly, nature is something to watch, to consume, to wear – to ignore.”

“As far as physical fitness goes, today’s kids are the sorriest generation in the history of the United States.”

“They (researchers) say the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at an almost cellular level.”

“Pediatricians now warn that today’s children may be the first generation of Americans since World War II to die at an earlier age than their parents.”

“The CDC found that the amount of TV that children watch directly correlates with measures of their body fat.”

“A study of Finnish teenagers showed that they often went into natural settings after upsetting events; there, they could clear their minds and gain perspective and relax.”

“There is a real world, beyond the glass, for children who look, for those whose parents encourage them to truly see.”

“Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle maintains that each hour of TV watched per day by preschoolers increases by 10 percent the likelihood that they will develop concentration problems and other symptoms of attention-deficit disorders by age seven.”

“I was intrigued by the way children defined play: often, their definition did not include soccer or piano lessons.  Those activities were more like work.”

“Typical Americans spend 101 minutes in their car daily, five times the amount they spend exercising.”

“Time in nature is not leisure time, it’s an essential investment in our children’s health (and also, by the way, in our own).”

“Two-thirds of American children can’t pass a basic physical: 40 percent of boys and 70 percent of girls ages six to seventeen can’t manage more than one pull-up; and 40 percent show early signs of heart and circulation problems.”

Louv reveals that even our playgrounds, parks, and arenas are not providing the experience in the natural world that has nurtured children’s development since the beginning of time.  And the Internet, while a gateway to the world in so many ways, is entirely devoid of the very same sensory experiences that nature supplies in abundance: the smell of a pine tree; the deep vibration of a wave crashing into a rocky shore; the tickle of a cool breeze blowing off a snowfield.  

For adventure travelers, skiers, mountaineers, hikers, farmers, gardeners, sailors, surfers, people like us in the business of providing exceptional experiences in the natural world, or anyone who finds time in nature is essential to their health, "Last Child in the Woods" puts to words something we have been feeling for a long time.

Photo by Topher Donahue

5 Favorite Mountaineering Photos

For the past 20 years I’ve been trying to capture the mountain experience with a camera.  It doesn’t work. 

Somehow the experience is always so much more.  In choosing these five favorites, I learned that I am partial to pictures that show the person small and the mountains big - just like it feels when you’re out there.  Here are my top five, a little taste of the adventure surrounding the photograph, and why I like each photo:

#1 Summit Ridge, Silberhorn Arete, Mt. Tasman, New Zealand
Mt Tasman is, to put it simply, the most geometrically beautiful peak I’ve ever touched.  From the summit you can see the Tasman Sea on one side, and the Pacific Ocean on the other.   We spent nearly two hours on the summit, gazing out over this awesome planet.  I like this photo because of the depth.  The footprints on the sharp ridge in the foreground, the climber in the middle distance, and the summit at the edge of the photo combine to tell a story about the mountaineering process in a single photo.

#2 Paso Superior, Fitz Roy Range, Argentine Patagonia
The otherworldly light and shapes in this photo put it easily in my top 5.  This thrill-filled trip included three first ascents in three weeks, rappelling through one of the most violent storms the locals had seen since the 70s, and watching from a Buenos Aires hotel window as Argentina’s economy collapsed and people took to the streets. The story of the epic trip was chosen for publication in the anthology Adrenaline 2002: The Year’s Best Stories of Adventure and Survival.  

#3 Jan’s Perch, Columbia Mountains, British Columbia, Canada
A trip to the Columbia Mountains with CMH introduced me to the region’s fantasy-like mountains and fantastic ease of access.  It was a great awakening for me to learn that you don’t have to endure white-knuckles, thin air, and bad food to get to these kinds of places.
This shot stood out among the 100,000 others in my archive because this is the way I want to feel when I’m in the mountains: Being part of an intimate team of adventurers having a great time while surrounded by pure wilderness for as far as the eye can see.  

#4 Mills Glacier, Longs Peak, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
My first time to the top of the 4000-meter Longs Peak was when I was 7 years old.  Since that time I’ve spent several months of my life climbing, skiing, hiking, taking pictures and learning on the peak’s diverse terrain.  
This photo reveals an unusual perspective looking almost straight up with a fisheye lens to capture the vertical walls of the Chasm Lake cirque and the infamous Diamond; however, it is the climber’s body position of enthusiasm, motion and awe that put this photo in my top 5.  
    
#5 Rinrijirca, Cordillera Blanca, Peru
According to the guidebook, this was supposed to be an easy route – a good warm up for harder climbs in the region.   And at one time the guidebook was right.  But by the time we got there, a couple of decades after the first ascent, global warming had changed the peak so dramatically that an easy snow ridge had turned into an overhanging ice climb.  
This is the only photo I have taken that does alpine climbing justice.   I like the gymnastic element of the climber’s figure juxtaposed against the tortured high-altitude ice  - that, and I don’t think I’ll go back to this particular route again!

It would be fantastic if you let us know by posting here which my photos is YOUR favorite - and why.  Thank you!

7 Tips for Hiking Off-Trail

One of the surprising elements of CMH Summer Adventures is that most of our time is spent with no trail in sight.  Sometimes the bears, moose, and other animals go the same way we want to go, and then we can follow age-old animal trails for short distances.  The rest of the time we walk gently on carpet-like tundra dotted with tenacious wildflowers, across scree slopes made of billions of tiny rocks, over chaotic boulder fields of burly talus, through lush old-growth forests, on low-angle slabs of ancient stone, and everything in between. 

With groups of adventurous hikers, we’ll encounter all of these terrain features in a single day.  With hikers wanting only the easiest hiking, we use the helicopter to access the ideal, mellow terrain.  

For everyone, hiking off-trail requires paying attention and walking with a focus beyond that which we are accustomed to while hiking on well-used trails in National Parks and popular recreation areas.  For some suggestions on better walking off-trail, I asked Erich Unterberger, an IFMGA guide and lifetime adventurer who, beginning as a kid in Austria, has spent most of his life in the wilderness, away from any trails or roads, while wearing hiking boots, rock climbing shoes or skis.  Erich took time away from building his family a house in Revelstoke, British Columbia to give us some pointers, and here’s what he had to say:

As for walking off-trail, I don't know when I last walked on a trail. I think I always walked, or looked to walk, off the beaten path.

• What I look for when I’m off-trail is safety first.  I always check for any hazard above like loose boulders, cornices, etc.
  
• You want to make sure to avoid sensitive areas like marshy places or heather slopes. 
• Pick your line from a distance - almost any peace of terrain has a path of least resistance through it.
• When you are crossing a steep side-hill, point your downhill foot outward to minimize stress on your ankles.
  
• When crossing talus or scree slopes, you need to look a few steps ahead.  This gives you better balance. 
• Take small steps.  This makes covering ground easier and more efficient.
• I often use a walking stick which comes really handy for rugged sections and makes walking downhill much easier.
  

Exploring off the beaten path is one of the most rewarding aspects of mountain adventures. The CMH guides will outfit you with the needed equipment, like boots and walking poles if needed.  Most importantly, they cutomize each adventure to ensure that you get just the right kind of experience to be safe, exciting and eye-opening for you without it being too difficult for your ability and fitness level.

Heli-hiking photo by Topher Donahue

3 Blister Prevention Tips for Mountain Adventures

There are few things that ruin a nice mountain adventure like a blistered foot.  The old wisdom for blister prevention focused more on what to do after you get a blister, than what to do to prevent one in the first place.  A blister kits contain all kinds of gel, adhesive patches, scissors, and tape, but once you need a kit, your mountain dream trip is already on the way to being miserable.  Breaking in shoes or boots before a trip is a good idea in theory, but often hard to execute in practice while living far from the mountains and walking on flat ground doesn’t really do the same thing to your feet or boots as hiking on uneven angles. 
    So I asked Lyle Grisedale, a summer guide for CMH and lifetime mountaineer who has spent more time in boots than most people spend in pajamas, if he had any better ideas about preventing blisters.  I expected the same old don’t-complain-but-blame-yourself-for-not-breaking-in-your-boots spiel, but he came back with an entirely different and preventative three-part solution:

1st - What you are wearing:
Never wear cotton socks, wool is the very best and you can buy  specially designed hiking socks from companies such as Thorlo, Icebreaker and Wigwam that are excellent.  When buying boots it is very important to get a boot that has an excellent heel counter, the more supported the heel is the less likely that you will get blisters.

2nd - How you walk:
We all spend most of our life walking on engineered surfaces: sidewalks, pavement, etc. All stair risers are the same height: 7 inches. This makes walking very easy and because of this I think people get out of touch with their feet.  Then, when they get to the mountains on rough trails, or come with us heli-hiking where we mostly walk off-trail or on game trails, they take big, inconsistent steps and blisters become a problem.  So, most importantly people need to change their stride. In rougher terrain a long stride causes us to press onto our toes as we move to the next step, and as soon as you lean onto the toe the heel comes into contact with the back of the boot and causes friction - especially walking up hill.

Also, we can prevent blisters by changing our heel-to-toe, rocking walking style, and instead place the foot down parallel to the slope and picking it up parallel to the slope for the next step without getting up on to the toes.  This way the foot comes straight up rather than rocking onto the toe and moving in the shoe causing friction. 

Then when going down hill:

• Take small steps, as the foot is placed ahead the toes are pointed down so that the foot lands parallel to the slope.
• Keep your knees slightly flexed.
• Lean slightly forward at the waist to eliminate the heel slipping on loose rocks. 

This style not only prevents blisters, but it is also easier on the knees from a stress point of view, and we are more stable.  When I teach mountain walking to our guests they are amazed at how much easier it is and how much terrain we can cover with this technique. You don't need long strides to cover big distances; small steps will take you just as far with out stressing the feet.

3rd - Toughen your skin:
If you have been doing all your walking in the city and are going to the mountains it is a good idea to put some Moleskin, or at least a bit of athletic tape, on your heels for the first couple days just to help protect the heels until they are conditioned a bit to walking in rougher terrain.

 A thorough examination of blister prevention on About.com and other websites discusses a number of factors, but doesn't metion the way we walk - perhaps the simplest solution of all.  For CMH summer adventures, the vast majority of adventurers find the boots provided by CMH work better than their own footwear; and the guide's attention to blister prevention avoids the problem entirely.

 Heli-hiking on glacier photo by Topher Donahue.

Which Footwear is Best for a Summer Adventure?

It was 1985.  I was clomping down a Colorado trail in my hiking boots.  We called them “waffle stompers” for the pattern left by the heavy tread.  I was proud of my waffle stompers, and the suffering I endured while wearing them was part and parcel of mountain adventure.   We stopped at the side of the trail to rest our weary feet, and I vividly remember watching two climbers coming down the trail with their packs heavily laden with ropes and various implements of vertical fun.  My eyes were immediately drawn to their feet.  No waffle stompers!  Instead they were wearing lightweight running shoes and it seemed they were floating down the trail instead of walking.  The rest of the way down the trail, my feet felt as if they were clamped in a hot waffle iron, and I would have given anything for a pair of running shoes.   After that I became a committed light shoe hiker.

Fast-forward 20 years.  Adventure travel is mainstream.  I'm heli-hiking in the Bugaboos.  I’m wearing running shoes.  Everyone else in the group is wearing new-school hiking boots that are lighter and more comfortable than my old waffle stompers.   The marshy area we crossed earlier has my tennies squelching with ice cold water and my toes feeling weirdly numb and tender at the same time. 

Then, while walking across a short scree field, the sound of a huge ice avalanche calving from a vertical glacier face in the distance catches our attention and we all stop to stand awestruck by the display of wilderness power.  Then I take another step onto a sandy slope without paying attention, slip, and in trying to recover my shoes scoop up handfulls of gritty sand.  So now I have wet, sandy socks and I looked with envy at my fellow hikers in their lightweight high-top boots.

Today, outdoor footwear companies make a shoe for every occasion, and I realize there is a place for all of them.  Here’s a list of iconic mountain adventures and the footwear I choose for each one:

• Short day hikes in warm weather, like visiting Yosemite’s Vernal Falls:  Ventilated running shoes with cotton socks.

• Long day hikes in warm weather like Canyonland’s Joint Trail: Sturdy, ventilated trail running shoes with thin synthetic socks.

• Rugged trail hikes in alpine areas like Peru’s Santa Cruz Trek: Gore-tex approach shoes with wool or synthetic socks.

• Off-trail hiking like CMH Summer Adventures: Light, high-top hiking boots with wool or synthetic socks.

• Early season, off-trail adventures like Rocky Mountain National Park’s Boulder Grand Pass, including snow fields and/or scree:  All-leather high-top boot with wool or synthetic socks.

And, no matter what shoes I choose, I leave a pair of flip flops at the car, hut or lodge because my feet are always craving fresh air at the end of the day. 

Do you have any footwear epics or opinions you'd like to share?

Photo by Topher Donahue

Summer Adventures With Bikini Boot Camp

By: Ellen Slaughter

 

Each summer a growing number of women join us on our Heli-Hiking adventures. In 2009 Dawn Kosloski, co-owner of Bikini Boot Camp, was one of these women. This summer Dawn is hosting a trip for Bikini Boot Camp recruits. I had the chance to sit down with Dawn and ask her a couple of questions about the trip.

Ellen: Dawn, you were a successful geologist in Calgary's oil patch. What prompted you to switch gears and build Bikini Boot Camp across Canada?
Dawn: I have always been passionate about physical activity and the outdoors. When my best friend Lindsay started Bikini Boot Camp in 2004 and asked for my assistance, I loved the idea! As the business grew I realized how excited I was about the company and what it stands for.

Ellen: Where do you get your satisfaction as an owner of Bikini Boot Camp?
Dawn: I am so happy to be a part of building such an amazing company that empowers women in a positive, fun and supportive environment while challenging them to be their very best. It's an incredible feeling to be able to celebrate the success of our participants and trainers.

Ellen: You were on a CMH women's Heli-Hiking trip last summer. Now in 2010 you are hosting a Heli-Hiking trip for Bikini Boot Campers. What is it about a CMH women's trip that matches up well with Bikini Boot Camp's core values?
Dawn: "Bikini Boot Camp Gets Bold" is an extension of our programs which empower women in a positive, fun and supportive environment while challenging them to be their very best. The opportunity to be able to bring together a group of amazing and like minded, active women wanting to take time for themselves or with girlfriends or family is an easy choice. This trip will empower, inspire and amaze you!

Ellen: What are 3 things you would like any woman who is thinking about joining "Bikini Boot Camp Gets Bold" to know?

Dawn:
1. You can do this! The Bikini Boot Camp and CMH team will guide and support you every step of the way and make this fun and incredible weekend one you will never forget. Every detail, from the top of the line equipment to the unlimited home made cookies, is taken care of.

2. You can come alone! You will be with a group of like minded and amazing women who will feel like family by the end of the trip. You will laugh and celebrate your successes and all those fun and breathtaking moments together.

3. You deserve this! What better way to Celebrate Yourself than by treating yourself to a world class, once in a lifetime, fun and fabulous experience. From your first views of the magnificent granite spires to the incredible feeling of being on top of the world in the helicopter this trip will leave you breathless!

Thanks Dawn.  It's great to chat.  To learn more about the exciting growth of Bikini Boot Camp across Canada, check out the April issue of Alberta Venture.  Dawn always inspires me with her positive, fun-loving, can-do approach to life.  I'm excited to get out in the mountains with her this summer.  I hope you can join us.

 

Ellen

Using cameras with helicopters on a summer adventure

The views out the window of the helicopter during a CMH Summer Adventure are staggering.  Looking straight down at a glacier, deep into the crevasses where the white of the snow turns to icy blue and the blue fades to black in the heart of the glacier.  Gazing out at a thousand summits receding past the horizon.  Seeing fellow adventurers standing on one of those summits.  Watching waterfalls pour over huge mountain faces just outside the helicopter window.  

Then, when you get out of the helicopter, it will take off against a backdrop of postcard-quality mountain scenery.  If you have a camera, you’ll be trying to capture these memories, but getting a good photo is not as easy as just pulling out your iPhone and pushing the screen.  Here are a few tips for shooting from inside, as well as photographing the helicopter itself.

For shooting inside the helicopter:

• Shutter speed is everything.  On automatic, your camera will shoot at a 60th or 125th of a second.  This is too slow and the helicopter vibration will cause every photo to be blurry. 
• Switch you camera to Shutter Priority and adjust the speed to 500 or higher.
• Turn OFF the flash so it doesn’t reflect off the window onto the camera sensor.
• Hold the camera close to the window so it cannot focus on the glass and instead focuses on the scenery outside.
• Watch for opportunities when the sun is not shining on the window as this causes glare.
  

For shooting your family and friends inside the helicopter:

• Switch you camera to Shutter Priority and adjust the speed to 500 or higher.
• Turn ON the flash.  Even if there is enough light, the flash gives sparkle to people’s eyes and adds life to the image.
• Remember the people closest to you will get more flash than those sitting farther away, so you’ll get the best results if everyone is about the same distance from the camera.
  

For taking photos of the helicopter:

• Have your camera ready in an easily accessible pocket, or around your neck.
• Switch to Shutter Priority, or at least the automatic sports setting so you can increase the shutter speed.  
• To freeze the rotor movement, you’ll need a shutter speed of 700 or higher.  
• Cover the lens as the biggest wind gust from the rotor passes, and then pull it out ready to shoot while the helicopter is still nearby.  
• Look for places where the helicopter is in the sun and the background is in shadow.  This way the helicopter will stand out against the scenery.
  

The most important photo tip is to try, every chance you get.  During a day of helicopter adventures, if you keep your camera handy and take every photo you see, you'll get the best photos you've ever taken. 

For photographers who want the ultimate shooting opportunity, check out the Lodge-to-Lodge adventure where you will see more mountain photo opportunities in six days than most people see in their entire lives.  For further aircraft photography tips go here.  

Photo by Topher Donahue/www.alpinecreative.com