First Forays into Editing Ski Videos

The past few days, I took a crack at editing video footage that a friend took while we were at Big Sky. This was the first time I edited any substantial amount of video. It was also the first time that I had no idea what footage I was dealing with, so I had to sift through all of it.

My friend's camera is embedded in the goggles, which offers (I think) a different vantage point than you get from a helmet cam or chestie harness. Everything is from the goggle wearer's point of view, which makes you realize how much your head moves, even when standing around. From a goggle cam, a simple head nod turns into a minor earthquake. And while "stabilizing" the image after the fact while editing the video is, in theory, a great idea, I wound up losing a lot of the frame. 

In the final cuts, I tried to minimize the amount of footage taken while the goggle wearer is skiing. In fact, the first video features footage taken only while the goggle wear is stable, minus a head shake or two. In the second, I felt that the traverse at the peak and the catwalk at the end were integral to how we skied the run, so the POV skiing is include, albeit a little bumpy at times. And the catwalk sequence is longer than I would have preferred if I could have had custom length music.

At any rate, enough writing, as I'm hardly a video (or ski) pro. Please take a look.  Hopefully you enjoy them and don't barf. 

Ski Divas at Big Sky

Taking on Marx at Big Sky Resort

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday: Big Sky Edition

I'm not usually into the Wordless Wednesday thing, but in light of last week's trip to Big Sky...

Kicking back in a pair of the Athleta Super G ski pant.

Some tree skiing.

Apres ski with Lone Peak Brewery's Steep & Deep

Big Sky Musings

I hit Big Sky this past week with the ladies from theSkiDiva.com, and while there wasn't any new snow (story of this winter), it was a blast. I've been meaning to ski Big Sky ever since my former roommate Jen said she was headed there with her family a few years ago. So when Wendy chose Big Sky as the location for this year's Diva Week West, I jumped at the chance. 

Ski Divas and friends ski the Bowl below Lone Peak.

Things I learned from this week:

Skiing with people you know primarily – if not only – from the interwebs gets better every year. And it's a lot easier than online dating. You're already communicating with each other on an online message forum, so you can kind of tell who meshes with your personality and who's nutso. If your Spidey senses tell you that someone is creepy, then maybe you should trust your Spidey senses.

It's possible for 3 advanced skiers with poor communication skills to take out 4 ski patrollers while unloading from a chair lift. It's also hilarious, particularly when no one gets hurt.

It also possible to pack EVERYTHING (except skis and boots) into a carryon! Even my helmet. Another minor miracle. I stuffed socks and undies into my ski boots and bought full-size shampoos and saline solution after arriving. On the way home, I packed the liquids into my ski SportTube. I had a very short wardrobe rotation. Sorry roommates.

The last 10 feet of the tram ride to Lone Peak makes me nervous. The tram slows to a crawl and inches up a rock wall to its terminal. And by up, I mean vertical. Eek. Luckily, the tram was packed the first time I rode up, so I didn't have to watch this.

In the tram.

Booking a flight through Chicago in February was stupid.  In light of snow showers yesterday, O'Hare was limiting plane landings, so my 12:55 pm flight didn't take off from Bozeman until closer to 4:30 pm. Then my connecting flight to DC also left an hour late. And to top it off, the shuttle dropped me off at the Bozeman airport at 10:30 am. I spent some quality time in front of the fireplace at the Bozeman airport.

I am no more than 2 degrees separated from everyone in Seattle. Really. Skiers from Seattle showed up at the Sunday night meet and greet, and being from DC and only knowing how to communicate by networking, I immediately played the name game. And found a connection right off the bat.

The town of Big Sky kind of looks like a movie set.  See? Just like the set of the Truman Show.

Finally, I'm stoked for my backcountry ski trip in the Wallowas next month. Big Sky was a great tuneup!

Drive-by shooting of the Wallowas at the end of January.