Despite shivering in my dry suit between icy swims and crawls, the upper Subway canyon (Left Fork of North Creek) in Zion is a magical, powerful, and peaceful place. I could have almost seen staying down there and becoming a Gollum-like creature over time.
Just gorgeous the B&W conversions are spot on love the comps and details you have captured here with a nice touch of contrast, sounds like one heck of an adventure thrill you guys had. Sorry to hear about your tripod but glad you guys all made it in and out ok, beautiful work here hope to see a lot more in the coming days.
Gee Dave, you've got a few nick-names, Icypeck / Gollum / Tripod Hurler
I'm sure it was hard to leave this place, especially after getting these shots! Both are excellent, would like to see the color versions.
Interesting perspective on both of these Dave. Conversion is spot on.
My favourite is the first shot for its great diagonal projection in the fg
reflection.
Super sweet! Love the views and the B&W conversions in both of these.
So what happened to your tripod?
Jim
Sort of a long story about the tripod, Jim. There are a number of rappels and swims on this route. The water is extremely cold, barely above freezing, I'd guess. The 3rd rappel was down a waterfall into a deep pool. You have to get your harness off the rope and start to swim immediately, and go through maybe 60 feet of narrow but deep, black murky water. On the way, you have to get through 2 narrow squeezes barely shoulder wide (narrower than usual at this time of year as the water level is down, but still over your head deep). On the first squeeze, there is a sloping, slippery rock under the surface you have to get over into the next deep pool. I got hung up trying to get through there, couldn't get over the sloping rock, was getting pulled down in the freezing water by my heavy pack which was taking on water (both of my dry bags failed). You lose control and feeling of your hands very fast in there and could become incapacitated in minutes if you can't get through and out of the water. I had to wrestle out of my pack and 2 waterproof camera cases to get through this hole and drag them after me, but my tripod was attached through the shoulder strap of the pack, and went to the bottom
After Bart made it through and I spent some time getting the feeling and burning out of my hands, we swam back in to try to find the tripod with my waterproof headlamp shining under the water. I barely saw it on the bottom, but even floating vertical and forcing my foot to the bottom so that water came in the neck hole of my suit, I could barely touch something with the tip of my toe, and then never felt anything again. The water had gotten too murky to see anything again, so another attempt wasn't possible. I got really hypothermic and never could recover even after getting into the sun on the way out the 'regular' Subway route from below, and had uncontrollable shivering and muscle cramps after we reached the top. I'm really glad that Bart was able to go back down to check on Kurt who we passed on the way up, as I was certainly not capable of walking another step at that point.
I just placed an order with B&H last night for another Velbon Carmagne 640A, Acratech Ultimate Ballhead and Acratech leveling base. Despite the expense and a few hours of misery, the experience was certainly worth it! Sorry for the long-winded tale.
Beautifully observed and processed pictures , David . Clearly you all had an enthralling and challenging trip and both your and Bart's further pictures are awaited with keen anticipation .
Super compositions, perhaps favoring the 1st a little. Sounds like you did have a bit of LOTR type ordeal for these shots....kudos for these successes.
Love the b&w tones in these, very nicely done.
The 1st might need some cw rotation to level, but that's a minor nit.
Wow, worth the wait for the pics. Sorry to hear of your tripod but glad that you're safe. I can't imagine the problems of trying to climb out of the canyon with uncontrollable shivering.
How far up the creek, from the "bottom-up" route's end, is that leaning log?
