philip_pj
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 p.2 #2 · A guide to digital mountain climbing photography | |
Agree with Alexandre and Vern, carsten, you can do most anything well into adulthood if you are dedicated. Climbing is a heavily skills-dependent activity, along with some altitude management issues.
We trek a lot in Tibet and Ladakh, across very high passes, and across constant high terrain of 4000-5000m - I agree with most of what Alexandre has to say about equipment with some exceptions I will get to below. You can fly into Leh, Ladakh in the Indian Himalaya, and after basic acclimatisation, be guided up Stok Kangri, over 6100m but not very technical, even without very good climbing skills. A kind of 'try before you buy' deal, if you will. Many, many agencies are ready to assist you, for no much money - see http://www.stokkangritrek.com/
Fitness as a lifestyle, and a steady accumulation of experience is very important; we kind of segued into our activity in our 40s and 50s (I am now 58) after decades of running, swimming and remote country backpacking. Many ex-mountaineers take up horizontal activities of our kind after their climbing abilities fade, at around age 50-60...
Reinhold Messner took up long distance trekking in the ChangTang and elsewhere, and Jon Muir has done a lot of walking after his time as a mountain guide (he was on Mt Everest (Tibetan: Chomolungma) when the storm struck that inspired the book 'Into Thin Air'. Muir found it far tougher being a 'horizontal cousin'.
Mountains, especially big mountains like the Himal giants, actually look much better from some way off, apart from the 'snow, ice, slopes and climbers' type of shots. Readers can take a look at the work of Galen Rowell or any issue of Alpinist for both types.
Now, gear. I am surprised you use the heavy and 'just OK' Nikkor 70-300 VR zoom, Alexandre, for what must be a small percentage of shots. It's too bad that Nikon have no lightish full frame DSLR so you could take full advantage of a wide angle like the 14-24, which may even be worth the large weight penalty for climbs. I'd be tempted to take it for a crop sensor anyway..for a 21-36mm effective range, plus a fast 50mm (75mm eq).
Sony DSLRs are body stabilised and one can use the new and surprisingly light and cheap A55 (at 440 grams, almost 200 grams lighter than the D90) with 16Mp, constant focus video, terrific high ISO, wide DR, 10fps, very low shutter vibration, and compatibility with many fine lenses. I am close to deciding on one for the next trip to Tibet in April, to complement the A900 and Zeiss lenses (my 'medium format replacement' tripod camera used for set up shots. The A900 is only 230 grams heavier than a D90.
We carry plenty of CF storage, if you have had good results with hard drives that is great to hear, they must now be more reliable at altitude than in the past.
I'll end with a dog story:
Tibetan Buddhists believe that dogs are reincarnations of 'failed monks' and so gompa monks feed and care for them - compassion is at the heart of Buddhism. Trekkers and pilgrims circumambulating Gang Rimpoche (Mt Kailash) in West Tibet often find themselves accompanied by one or more very friendly dogs on the 50km trek.
We set up the tent one evening at Drira Puk as it began to snow, and this dog that had followed us curled up nearby. During the night I noticed some pressure on my feet - the dog had moved to sleep at the floor of the tent, on my feet. Next day he crossed the Drolma La (5630m) with us, seeing us over to the other side.
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