the deep freeze

January 7th of 2010-Winter has it's hold on most of the Country-the Mid West is suffering from deep snow & bitter cold.

The deep South is seeing frozen temps that it hasn't seen in a very long time and the East Coast is digging out from record snow fall.

Here in Northwest Montana, we are seeing some rather cold temps but Winter has been very slow bringing the snow needed in the Mountains.

The Artic cold has been around for sometime & today is no exception as I head out bright & early with the temperature dropping to a painful minus 11 in West Glacier.

The Sun has been out for about a hour & as I drive through The small town of Columbia Falls the weather begins to change some-the temperature here is a balmy 3 above zero with roads semi covered in snow.

Not much traffic to speak of but I did stop along the way & grabbed some hot chocolate,a hot dog & gas up the car.

The skies are clear, but as I look towards the the Bad Rock canyon area,the weather seems to be some what questionable.

The Wind is light but with temps around zero the pain sets in right away on your face & hands.
You do not want to be out under these conditions as severe winds will create rather dangerous driving conditions.

As I hit the road headed to West Glacier-the winds come out of nowhere.

Nearly white out conditions paint the road ahead but just for about five minutes. then it is like driving through the eye of a hurricane-everything is calm.

Bad Rock canyon is covered in ice-ice blankets the trees,the road & rock.

The Sun never shines in this area as it is hidden by a large mountain- the Flathead River twists it's way through a narrow Canyon.

The Wind pulls up moisture from the River & splatters tiny ice crystals leaving the scene a brillant display of ice & snow.

I arrive at Apgar(a campground on the west end of Lake McDonald) only to find that some things don't work like we think-Ice crystals replace snow fall here as the temp is minus 11 degrees.

I can see blue sky but it is very far in the distant & I seem to be the only one up here now (there is a crazy idea).

Ok lets look at some facts-Camera gear is not designed to operate logically under extreme temps-just like with anything under severe conditions-camera bodies,lenses & tripods will bog down.

Even your body says that things are not normal-please go home.


On this day I was packing a Canon camera, a Nikon Camera & a variety of lenses big & small.

Regardless it all amounts to one thing-it is very cold & even the best gear is going to have issues.

As I wander down to the water I spot an Eagle about 500 feet away-it appears to be enjoying the morning but as I race down to the water I find that minus 11 on the body does strange things to your hands & face(at this point my gloves were keeping my hands nice and warm- my cheeks would scream out in pain & once again my brain would tell me-umm did you bring me today just for kicks?).

The Eagle decided that I was way to close but I did notice that the Nikon camera was starting to freeze up.

The lens I was using weighed about 10 pounds but it felt much heavier as I hiked through the bone chilling landscape only to find that the lake was once again hidden in a layer of cloud cover.

I would race back to the car to change out gear to see what worked best and after awhile I went back to my main camera which seemed to do summersaults as I found that the weather had a deep grip on the gear.

The Canon gear became the camera of choice for the rest of the shoot as I found with both cameras that the bitter cold interacted with the gear in different ways.

The Nikon camera as rugged and as great of a camera that it is became rather sluggish and with a variety of lenses and zoom lenses I found that I was having issues with the mounts and they were even having issues in this weather.

That battery held out pretty well but after about 30 to 45 minutes the whole body started to to operate like it was under a great deal of stress-seconds seemed to last forever as I waited for the camera to decide what it needed to do and after dealing with a normal sized lens I found that the Nikon camera was really trying to tell me to just wrap me up and put me away which is what I did.

A great camera-but under these conditions it favored well but severe is just that severe.

I use Canon gear for one main reason-the stuff works regardless of the situation.

Sure the Canon I used favored a lil bet better as I didn't have a problem with the battery(I carry extras just in case)but she was having some tough times after being in the extreme cold for three hours and my hands and feet gave out long before she did.

Now I ain't saying Nikon produces bad stuff as I love the whole Nikon line-great stuff but on a day that is minus 11-Canon is my choice for gettin the job done.

I grabbed my gear and headed over to the creek where a Eagle was perched just kinda chillin(no pun intended)above me.

The wind at this point was picking up moisture and just kind of kicking it above the water as once again ice crystals covered everything it landed on.

By this point my feet started to let me know that several pairs of wool socks could only keep the cold out for so long.

The snow on this side of the lake was about 2 feet deep in some areas and no matter where I went the Eagle would keep a eye on me.

Tourists would drive in towards the lake and I noticed that they couldn't see much of anything and I guess it was to cold for them actually get out and enjoy the balmy temps.

After about 4 hours at the lake it was time to go warm up but best beware about shooting in the severe cold-if you take camera gear from extreme temps and put it into something warm or hot you will create moisture in the camera causing damage to the sensors.

You need to put all camera gear-bodies,lenses and such into either a bag so it will warm up normally or but the gear into a zip lock bag and let the air in the bag warm up normally.

Thousands of dollars of camera gear can be wasted if you do not heed the warnings.

Think before you go out and especially when you return to a warm place.

Remember to wear the right clothing-gloves that are designed for extreme temps-hats,boots and such will keep you plenty warm if you plan ahead and one more thing-

know your surroundings as snow can appear to be just a few inches deep when in reality it can be several feet deep.

Trails will be covered so gulleys,ravines or drop -offs will be dangerous as you will not see a path.

Especially around Glacier and mountainous areas-weather can change on a dime-know where you are at all times and carry a GPS just in case.

Do not hike at night and always have a partner with you.

a life you save may be your own.

until next time-safe shooting ;)



Around noon I headed back into town-met up with my wife and mother in law and headed to Lakeside,a small lil town that sits right on Flathead lake.

The temperature came up a lil as we were looking at 8 degrees above zero.

The sun was out but the frigid temps were really a bit to much.

It is pretty amazing how the cold affects everything-water,water vapor and everything it comes into contact with.

The winds were light and with all of the snow on the ground,the Sun reflecting off of the snow just blinded you.

We made our way around the town of Somers and took some cool photos.

I recommend a polorizer for your camera lens as the glare will be to much for your cameras sensor.

It will even bring out details and darken the blue sky which you see in major photographs.