Christian Pondella Photo Blog

When shooting this photo of Bernard Rosow at Mammoth Mountain last season, several key elements came together that I like when shooting skiing. Most important the combination of sun/shadow. The snow was perfect and very deep, with beautiful trees on the slope. I stood at the base of the tree to show the branches at the top of the frame and to help with the composition. Next, I like to shoot into the sun as I like backlit photos and the sun is a key element in the photo. To expose for this properly, back in the day of film cameras when you could not look at a lcd, you expose with out the sun in the photo, lock your exposure and then re-compose with the sun. If you expose shooting into the sun good chances your photo will be under exposed because of the bright sun. Also it is important to use a wide angle when shooting into the sun, so the sun is just a small part of the photo and will not have a lot of flare. Also, to get the sun to look like a star, their is no trickery used with a filter, you need to stop down your lens to F8 or greater and it will cause a star like effect, at F4 the sun will be more washed out. Finally I converted the image to Black and White because it added to the overall moody effect of the image. And of course, a big thanks to the amazing skiing of Bernie!

Canon Mark III, Canon 14mm 2.8, ISO 100, Shutter 1/1000, F Stop f/9

I sit on the shuttle enroute to Oslo airport with a perm a grin smile and the feeling of satisfaction and content as I have just finished one of my most amazing trips ever with Will Gadd. This trip was more then just a photo assignment for me, as I had some personal goals as well, and that was to climb a lot of ice, big, long, and hard Norwegian ice routes.

We visited the Eidfjord region of Norway, which is home to possibly the worlds best ice climbing. Ice climbing is pretty popular in Norway, but for some reason people have just started going to the Eidfjord region in the past few years. This area is relatively untapped with many first ascents waiting to be conquered. Eidfjord is home to many large water falls, which all of them seem to be within an hour or less walk from the car, with enough variety to occupy the novice to the expert climber. It would be the equivalent being a rock climber in the 60’s and going to Yosemite.

On our first day we drove around the area and were like kids in a candy store, everywhere we looked there were strips of ice lining the mountainsides. We looked across the fjord and there it was, a big and beautiful ultra classic waterfall. With no roads to that side of the fjord we found ourselves on a boat the following morning. This waterfall dominates the view from town and it was a first ascent. It would be like climbing the Bastille crack in Eldorado or the Regular Route on Fairview Dome in Tuolumne Meadows.

Next were rumors of the tallest vertical waterfall in Norway. The next day we find ourselves at the base of a 300-meter vertical fall, which is incredibly beautiful and very intimidating! Knowing there is not enough time left in the day Will and Andres rally up about three pitches to check it out. Back at it the next day they get another first ascent, six pitches of mostly sustained, vertical water ice.

Two days later we find ourselves at the base of another waterfall, the biggest and most intimidating of them all. This was a two tier waterfall with the lower fall around 300 meters and the upper around 200 meters, both are dead vertical or even overhanging. With only four hours of light left it is obvious this wont get climbed today, but obviously Will wants to charge up this as high as he can to get a feel for the ice and the route. Knowing that tomorrow is going to be a huge day, Andreas wants to save his energy and asks me if I want to climb with Will. My answer was pretty simple, “F@%$ yeah I want to climb!”

An hour later we find ourselves at the second belay tucked back in a cave, looking up at a sea of icicles and a pillar, which connects the fall to the upper section. Will heads on up out of the cave and onto the pillar, he climbs about another 20 feet and then comes back to the belay. It was some of the sketchiest ice he has ever seen. It was a sea of crystal clear icicles and blocks that were vertical and overhanging far a good 20 meters.  Trying to find a safer more sane way to get to the upper section of the waterfall, Will tries some mixed climbing on the side of the cave, which is very overhanging and would be a project by its self.

Back at the belay he gives the sketchy pillar another go. Onto the backside of the pillar he heads up out of sight. As I belay the rope slowly feeds it way through my belay device. More and more rope heads through my belay device and I realize he has climbed the sketchy pillar and that means only one thing, I have to go next! Eventually the rope gets tight and Will calls down on the radio, “That was one of the sketchiest, most difficult ice pitches I have ever lead! You are on belay.” “ Oh, watch your face, there are a ton of hanging daggers just waiting to fall.”

At this point I still have my camera with me, and with the news of how hard the climbing is, it was a pretty easy decision, my cameras journey has come to an end. Belay jacket and camera will stay behind! 70 meters later I finally get to Will, I had had given it everything I had, I could not even hold onto my ice axes I was so pumped.  Climbing that pitch was the hardest thing I have ever climbed, rock or ice, I have no idea how Will lead that, and could never imagine leading a pitch of ice like that.

Another 70 meters later we find ourselves close to the top of the first waterfall, but still another pitch to the top. With the light fading fast it was time to come down, knowing that tomorrow was going to be a huge day for Will and Andreas. I had gotten my fill; I just climbed three pitches of a vertical waterfall.

The following day starts and finished with our headlamps, and in between these guys climbed both waterfalls. 500 meters of vertical ice, by far the biggest and best waterfall they have ever climbed. Plus I got the most amazing photos ever!

Our trip to Norway ended with three first ascents, a ton of climbing, and some great times with great friends. It pretty much was as good as it gets!

I would love to post some climbing photos, but Will is writing a story for a magazine so we will have to wait until it is printed.

This is the two tier water fall called Skrikjofossen ("freaky Fossen")

During the fall of 2010 and the early part of winter I have spent most of my free time ice climbing. I was hooked and all I wanted to do was swing my ices tools and hear that thug as they penetrate the ice. Fortunately I have great friends who have the same addictions as I do so it was always easy to get a partner to climb with.  As fall turned to winter we went from climbing the alpine ice couloirs to the vertical water ice in Lee Vining.

Then the phone rang one day and it was my good friend Will Gadd (one of the worlds best ice climbers) asking me if I wanted to go to Norway with our are good bud and entertaining friend Andreas Spak (Norwegian local) to climb and shoot them in hunt of first ascents, rumors of 300 meter vertical frozen waterfalls. “Sign me up!” I do not think I have ever been more excited for a trip.

Well, to say the least this trip has met all expectations and then some! Not only have I taken some of the most incredible photos ever, I have been fortunate enough to follow Will up some of these monsters.

Below are a few snap shots of some of the waterfalls, the climbing photos will get posted later as we are shooting and writing a story for a magazine.

Check out Will’s blog for some more details about the climbs, plus there is some really cool other stuff on there.

This week I am in Aspen, Colorado shooting the Winter X Games. For action sports events this is the best one to see with the world’s greatest athletes competing in skiing, snowboarding and snowmobile events. Check out the action on ESPN. As an ESPN staff photographer this event is lots of fun to shoot because I get great access to all the venues. Below are a few highlights from the past few days.

This last month has been a good one with the magazines and catalogs with 3 of my photos landing spots on the covers. Seeing your photo on the first page of a magazine or catalog is always pretty exciting. Big thanks to my friends for being amazing ski models making my job pretty easy and lots of fun!

Chris Davenport making his final turn of the trip above Portillo.

Simon Dumont high above the the pipe at Mammoth Mountain landing the cover of Freeskier Magazine.

Bernard Rosow enjoying some “Sierra Cement” in the Mammoth Backcountry on this months Mammoth Sierra.

Last week the US Grand Prix stopped in Mammoth for the second stop of the Olympic qualifier for the snowboard half pipe. Shooting the half pipe is pretty exciting as these guys fly 15 plus feet above your head out of the pipe. One of the challenges is being at the right spot at the right time. More often then not, photographers will shoot the first hit because it the most consistent spot the riders will hit, and after several runs you have a good idea of where they will launch from. I was shooting Greg Bretz, a Mammoth Local who was going huge and pulling this really stylish grab during practice. The only problem was that if you shot it standing on the deck looking up at him with a wide angle you only saw the bottom of the board and his ass, which you generally want to see the riders face. Knowing he would do the same trick in his final runs the next day I came prepared with my pole cam. It is basically about a 14 foot extendable pole with my camera mounted on top with a 14mm lens triggered wireless with a Pocket Wizard. I knew this would give me a different perspective and allow me to shoot down on him eliminating the ass shot problem. The only problem with this is that my camera was in everybody’s shot. Since most of us photographers are pretty good friends it wasn’t that big of deal and Adam Moran decided to have fun with it and and composed his shot to have me in the photo, and it looked like I was fishing for Greg.

PHOTO BY: Adam Moran

Red Bull New Year No Limits proves to be another amazing way to spend New Years Eve. This year Travis Pastrana sets the world record by jumping his rally car 269 feet off the pier and landing on a floating barge in the Long Beach Harbor. With 70,000 people watching it was the place to be, and absolutely amazing to see in person. Of course he stuck it!

As a member of the San Disk Extreme Team I was recently interviewed and shot on location to be featured on San Disk TV. This is a section on their website that shows their photographers working in the field. For my recent shoot we went to Lee Vining which is a ice climbing area close to Mammoth Lakes. So basically they were shooting me, shooting photos. I had my climbing partners and good friends Ryan Boyer and Jim Barnes as “models” climb the Main Wall as I shot some really cool photos of them. I will post a link to the video once it is live. Below are a few of my favorites from the shoot.

As ski photographers, if their is one place you love to see your published photos, that would be Powder Magazine’s Photo Annual. Powder is known for publishing the best images from the worlds best ski photographers, and the Photo Annual is the cream of the crop. A big congrats to all the photographers who got their photos published in this years Photo Annual and huge props to Eric Berger for nailing the cover with his epic ice cave photo of Dan Treadway.

Ryan Boyer somewhere near 14000' in the Sierra

Chris Davenport in Portillo, Chile

Bernard Rosow at Mammoth Mountain, CA

Also in this issue of the Photo Annual I made my writing debut, check out “What It Feels Like ” To Miss the Shot!

On the cover of the winter issue of East Side, Frankie Fazzino showing us some “Cold Smoke and Two Strokin”.  Also in this issue check out the article on local ski maker Michael Lish and 333 Skis. As well as the very talented Man himself, Lonnie Kauk, who is a Mammoth local making his dreams a reality as a multi sport talent in snowboarding and rock climbing. Even more impressive than his athletic talent is his amazing energy and stoke for life. Check out his article HERE.