Snow cats

I've never been in a snow cat. I shot a heli-skiing story about 15 years ago with Pat Kiernan. So I've got an idea what to expect. As I get on board my snow cat for the day shoot I introduce myself and meet the others in my cat. Two members of the USA snowboard team at the Olympics and a Canadian Silver medalist at the games. Mike Robertson CDN Silver medal Boarder cross. Greg Bretz USA Halfpipe, Elena Hight USA Halfpipe. The rest of the cat is former racers and pro snowboarders. Yes I did ski with them. If you wanna call what I did skiing! The diffuculty in this shoot had more to do with logistics. Try to get ahead of these amazing skiers and snowboarders. They were more than willing for me to ski ahead with my camera and gear and let me set-up the shot. Trying to communicate 250 metres up a hill where and when I wanted everyone proved to be more difficult. The subjects of my shots would be The Toaster, Mark Torlay and CDN Silver Medalist Mike Robertsen. I carried my 30lb camera slung over my back and skied powder ahead of the group to set-up the shots. I'm a decent hard pack skier. Powder with extra weight on my hip was another story.
After seeing me struggle with the weight and off-centre load the guide offers to carry the pack for me and ski along side to help me get set-up. It takes us 5 hours and 4 trips up in the snow cat to get what we needed for the story. In the end I think we got some great shots and a new respect for those who ski powder well.