Reuben Krabbe

Transitions

Reuben Krabbe — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:09:01 +0000

The Coast Mountains’ massive vertical relief have caused a major shift in my previously clean cut experiences of seasonal change.

I used to have one season’s gear active at once: the bike in storage when the skis were tuned, then skis locked away with my bike’s chain greased. However, last week in my adopted home of Whistler, I experienced all of the seasons in a single 48 hour period. I skied powder, then powdery slush, and after a short drive I was flying over warm moist dirt listening to the freewheel ratchet in the wind.

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I shouldn’t be so surprised to find my Albertan experience of the seasons to be inapplicable elsewhere. After all, cold never leaves entirely, winter simply spends it’s summers down south, as the two identities of mother nature carry out the yearly dance back and forth across the equator.

The vertical relief of the Coast Mountains, like latitude, determine which face of mother nature you see. A conundrum of every coast mountain outdoorsman fights through with when asked ‘What were the conditions like?’

Last summer was the most obvious of years to see these differences in perspectives on seasons. In late august I worked with Sarah Leishman and Katrina Strand in the alpine surrounding Whistler. Months after the lifts last turned for skiers we found snow under our tires traversing leftovers of La Nina’s masterful displays of winter.

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April 2012 Free Desktop Wallpaper

Reuben Krabbe — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:36:12 +0000

I’ve been neck deep in snow and work. I’ll stop typing boring words to accompany this.

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Simply a beautiful moment in Whistler’s backcountry.

Rekindling Impatience

Reuben Krabbe — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:06:27 +0000

I had a landmark moment in my life last week. I got sunburnt earlier in this new year, than in any year before. On March 1st I returned from the hill with squinting eyes and a glowing face. Not much of a burn, just one of those minor ones which morphs into a budding goggle tan by morning, but a burn no less.

Applying aloe vera brought around smells of spring and summer. Of lazy days at alpine lakes, of long warm days and bluebird skies, of… dare I say it? Bikes? But thats still all too far off. There are too many face shots, deep turns, backcountry tours and spring corn days to enjoy before I really switch gears.

We’ve waited too long for winter to get all worked up about summer. Rekindle your impatience, evoke the stoke, there is snow much skiing yet to be had.

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Austin Ross, on a downright ugly morning in Whistler. A kind of ugly we are all happy to wake up to.

Landing Place of the Thunderbird

Reuben Krabbe — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:56:05 +0000

The lands surrounding Whistler BC carries a multitude of overlapping and intertwining stories. Dimensions of heritage, geology, settlement, exploration, conflict, industry, and culture. A list of perspectives as long as the number people who have lived and travled through the region.

A single landmark seems to hold elements of each perspective in it’s striking and dramatic nature. Popularly known now as The Black Tusk, it’s original name as given by the Squamish nation is t’ak’t'ak mu’yin tl’a in7in’a'xe7en which means: ‘Landing Place of the Thunderbird’.

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The outcropping of rock was formed by a long extinct volcano, a reminder of the length of geographic history which has shaped this landscape over thousands and millions of years. It’s differing names call to mind the diversity of peoples who have inhabited the region, naming the features of this land according to their history and culture. The shape encapsulates a lifestyle to which so many identify; a pursuit of adventure, exploration, personal achievement and conquest. From it’s summit, the horizons tell stories of industry and conservation battling throughout the resource rich forests, mountains, and streams.

Deep Winter 2012

Reuben Krabbe — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:51:52 +0000

The annual Deep Winter photography competition in Whistler BC is an amazing event. Every year it brings together a diverse number of photographers and athletes to compete in the single biggest snowsports photography competition. Somehow I got myself into the chaos this year, to participate in the first storm-less deep winter. I brought in two of the three Treadway brothers; Dave and Dan. Two athletes who know their way around two planking it in Whistler.

Though the snow wasn’t luxurious, the light on Wednesday made up for it. In these short winter months the sun stays low on the horizon all day, illuminating beautiful texture and detail. The first day of the competition was nearly cloudless, and with the snow de-grading over the course of the week, most of the action for my slideshow was captured in the first 8 hours of the competition.

Dave, Dan and myself worked to tell a story that resonates between the three of us, and among all snow enthusiasts. A story of an athlete’s journey through the injury-rehab process, and the depression and stresses that come as that story plays out in our friendships.

Our efforts garnered 3rd place overall, as well as the title Best [Image] In Show.

Deep Winter Links:
-Online voting for People’s Choice (Send me heliskiing, and you can also win)
-Pre-Event interview with the Whistler Question, highlighting that I’m the youngest ever to compete in Deep Winter
-Dave Treadway being interviewed by DogLotion.com
-Event recap by Whistler Is Awesome
-ESPN with some of my words, and some of my images

January 2012 Wallpaper

Reuben Krabbe — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:23:31 +0000

Low lying clouds in the Rocky Mountain Trench, with the Rockies lying beyond.

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Are you in or near Whistler next weekend? I’m competing in the 2012 Deep Winter Photo Challenge next week. The slideshow event is Saturday Jan 14th, its a must see, and tickets will sell out soon.

Amongst _______

Reuben Krabbe — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:26:21 +0000

Amongst ______________ Dirt – Trees – Nature – Mist – Rocks – Game Changers – Jumps – Crowds – Photographers – Fans – Mosquitos – Light – Buildings – Lights – Snowflakes – Wind – Clouds – Shadows – Sluff – Cliffs

Images amongst the fibrous pages of magazines this fall:
-Big Bike Magazine France: Story “Whistler & Boulle De Gomme”
-Dirt Magazine UK: Crankworx
-Bike Magazing: MTB Dirtjumping
-Powder Magazine + Powder Photo Annual: Ski Images
-White Freeski Magazine Netherlands: Last Two Ski Images

Eyes on the Prize

Reuben Krabbe — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 02:35:56 +0000

Winter isn’t for everyone. Some are even driven to claim they hate winter. In some ways its understandable; discomfort, inconvenience, and mother nature’s lack of hospitality are all defining characteristics of the chilliest of seasons. Skiing stands to oppose all that hostility. A way humans have found to compromise and revel in the beauty of this cold, dark season of we love.

This celebration runs through a cycle annually, new snow, deep pow, clear spring days and early summer corn. Yet it never really dies, it only switches hemispheres, giving us time to lick our wounds. From season to season to season this celebration extends forward indefinitely and back many thousands of years to a birth in scandinavia, the details of which have been fogged by time. We step into this rich and growing history, and have a sliver of time to learn basic skills, come to love the cold bite winter’s air, and ski off into golden years of slushy slopes and bluebird skies. We give voice to our experience of skiing’s, through penciled letters, key strokes, and shutter clicks.

Powder Magazine’s 40th Anniversary issue is one of those paper rags giving voice to pencils, cameras and keyboards galore. This image of mine, found etched in it’s pages. Eddie Hunter -68 Years old at the time

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Weightlessness is Coming

Reuben Krabbe — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:40:28 +0000

In fleeting moments where our feet leave the constant companion of the earth below, we venture into an strange intangible place. A conflicted state, where one is fiercely focused and intense, yet irrevocably set along simple trajectory controlled by only one force. Moments are available in surplus, yet they pursued as a finite resource reaching complete exploitation.

Winter is Coming

Published in Highline Magazine, Winter 2011/2012

Cold is Coming

Reuben Krabbe — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:55:23 +0000

Breath drawn in through your nose instantly freezes bristling hairs to each other, fastening in an icy grip. Extremities fall one by one in an uncomfortably familier progression, as cold chills give way to the complete absence of feeling. Beneath your skis snow makes uncharacteristically abrasive sounds as though writhing in pain, it cries out breaking and reshaping under the pressure. In frozen mountain air the voice of bullwheels and steel cable also cary a different voice in frigid weather, creaking and moaning with frighting clarity and amplification.

Winter is Coming