Words and photos by Mike Bettencourt
Day 1: An early wake up call and the first few “holy shit” moments
My alarm rang at 3am to catch my 6am flight from Logan to PDX. Once I landed and grabbed my board bag from baggage claim, I realized I didn’t know where to go. Thankfully, the two kids I saw checking board bags back in Boston were also gathering their luggage. I followed their move and proceeded to roll my bag over PDX’s outdated teal and geometric carpet. Once I found my crew of fellow adult and photo campers, we made our way to the van, settled on the top level of the parking garage. After a brief bout of luggage tetris, we all hopped in and made our way towards our home for the next week, Boardwalk. A three story dwelling equipped with suites, a game room, two hot tubs, and full kitchen staff settled in the middle of Government Camp.
Upon arrival, I was thanking myself for booking the early flight (first choice on a bed). I unpacked the best I could, well aware that in a day, everyone’s mess would consume the floor. After securing my bottom bunk, I went downstairs to hang with others while campers arrived and checked in.
My first “holy shit” moment took place when Pat Bridges and Stan rolled through to drop off Slush goodie boxes for the photo campers. I’ve heard legends of Bridges, so to see him in the flesh was a bit intimidating at first. However, his persona would become more humanized throughout the week as we met him a few more times.
After dinner, Bud Fawcett presented his legendary work in the form of a slideshow where we followed up with questions; picking his brain on technical approaches, composition, gear, riders, and anything else he was willing to share. Given this was my second “holy shit” moment and I was running on minimal sleep, I went to bed after the presentation was over.
Day 2: First day on hill and getting over the intimidation
Our first morning in the classroom consisted of Andy Wright sharing basics like exposure for action photography, composition and the rule of “upper” thirds, pre-focusing, and safety; all crucial tips for the first day on hill. When the lesson concluded, we set out for Timberline Lodge. The access road is a winding climb that, upon the last bend, will expose the volcanic glacier of Mt. Hood covered in snow. So much snowboard history and culture has been captured here and to be a part of that, for even just a week was truly an honor.
When you unload at the top of Timerbline’s Palmer lift on a clear day, you are greeted by Mt. Jefferson off in the distance, a scene I’ve witnessed many times before from various Mt. Hood and High Cascade edits. Getting to the top of the park requires a steep and slushy, near 1,000 foot descent. With a 25lb camera bag secured to my back, I could only think “don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall.”
I was certainly intimidated when I rolled into the top of the pro park for the first time. But after some encouraging words from Zim, Tim Zimmermann, I got into position where I scored my first solid photo of the week. It was of Finn Finestone boosting underneath a blue background of wispy clouds. I spent most of the day shooting the pro jump and Pat Fava as he coasted through the rail section. Shout out to Zim for checking me on my photo stance. Had I not adjusted, I wouldn’t have been able to jump out of the way as Pat came off the rail early from an attempted back blunt.
The session ended and we rode down to the parking lot. On the way back to Boardwalk we stopped for beer, then dumped our memory cards, began to edit photos, ate dinner, and prepped for our first photo critique. This would be a common pattern for the rest of the week.
Day 3: Burton crew pops off in FTC pipe
Tuesday kicked off in regular fashion with breakfast at 7:30 followed by class at 8, then making our way through the morning’s lesson to leave for the hill at 11. After a brief stint shooting in the pro park, I decided to head towards the jump line in lower FTC. However, I quickly turned around when I noticed Raibu Katayama hiking the pipe in his #13 Analog jersey and bandana that was keeping his newly un-permed hair back. I knew this is where I’d be spending the rest of my day.
For a while, I was the only photographer down there with a front row seat to the likes of Raibu, Takeru Otsuka, Mikey Cicarelli, and Ylfa Runarsdottir boosting well above the deck. It was at this moment I snapped one of my favorite photos of the week. With my lens set at 24mm, pointing uphill at the desolate pipe, I composed Mikey Cicarelli symmetrically in the frame on the left grabbing method as High Cascade filmer, Colin Woodward, captured it from his phone on the opposing right wall. It was then I realized I should send out the text to the rest of the photo campers, letting them know the Burton crew was kicking off the session.
The “holy shit” moments were flowing at this point. More pros began to join the session; Gabe Ferguson, Scott Stevens, Pata Fava, and my all time favorite rider and fellow New Hampshire native, Pat Moore. “South of Heaven” by Slayer is still a top song for me today due to Pat’s opening part in Forum or Against ‘Em. Despite his rage in the video, Pat was super approachable and kind when I said hello to him as he hiked up the pipe for another hand plant.
Towards the end of the session, Scott Stevens was demonstrating his iconic and playful style, tail-blocking and spinning 540 butters in the transition. However, it was his backside slash that I was able to closely capture with my fisheye. With my lens positioned a foot from the coping, Stevens performed the maneuver that would end up landing me the award for the week’s “best in show” photo. Despite it being a butt shot, Andy encouraged me to submit the photo that evening for critique since “we break the rules and make exceptions all the time”, an honor coming from the legendary photographer.
Just after 3pm ski patrol came to shut down the session. We hiked over the volcanic rock and rode down to the parking lot. Dump cards, edit, eat dinner, critique, repeat.
Day 4: More FTC pipe and a few media laps of my own
My first stop on the hill this day was at the top of the pro park. Shooting long lens, I caught Pat Fava smoothly floating over the 45 foot kicker as route 35 winds in the background. My next move was back to the FTC pipe, Tuesday’s session was too fun so I knew I had to go back for more.
The energy was high as more pros, campers, and up-and-coming rippers proceeded to drop into the 14ish foot ditch. Connor Cavanagh hit a classic FS air and 50-50 that perfectly summed up the vibe of the pipe. Ylfa contributed a back lip on the coping with unmatched style while Raibu, Takeru, and Mikey were all jumping well over head-high out of the pipe. I couldn’t hold back any longer, I had to take a few media laps myself after some welcomed advice from Bridges earlier that morning.
During our morning class session, Bridges and Stan came by to talk about the snowboard industry, Slush, and Shopify. At one moment, Pat asked us all a question. “By show of hands, who here loves photography more than snowboarding?” No hands raised. Then he asked again “by show of hands, who loves snowboarding more than photography?” Everyone’s hand raised. I think it was a test and thankfully we all passed since we were sent off with a brief “OK, good. Snowboarding always comes first.”
The day on hill ended and once again we hiked over the volcanic rock to make our slushy turns back to the parking lot. Dump cards, edit, eat dinner, critique, repeat.
Day 5: Lighting, MTB shoot, and drinking the sky blue
Thursday started with an in-depth lesson on lighting with Darcy Bacha. He covered various techniques, provided hands-on experience, and took our portraits. Most of the day was spent at the top of FTC park’s rail section when we got back on snow for the afternoon.
I experimented with my fisheye set at 8mm. I got one successful circle shot with a sun flare burning the upper edge of the frame. Another favorite shot came from grom, Donnavan Marco as he launched a stylish back 180 nose off the pole jam. The day concluded with a fun session on the pill to down tube feature.
We had to make a quick transition at Boardwalk when we returned; dumping cards, recharging batteries, and repacking our bags before the 20 minute drive to kids camp (the High Cascade/Windells/Wy’East campus filled with skateparks, air bags, trampolines, and a MTB jump line) to shoot some mountain biking with strobes. It was there Connor Worrall and Ezra Calvilo made easy work of the jump line as we applied our learnings from Darcy’s lighting lesson earlier that day.
After the MTB shoot we all watched as Miles Fallon and Max Warbington chucked themselves over the newly built airbag… or is it a water slide? Either way, its fucking huge. More importantly, though, I was enthralled by the skatepark that surrounded the campus. Zim could sense my froth as we were talking. He was kind enough to lend me a spare board from his trunk so I could scrape around the flowing concrete park (thank you, Zim!).
There were rumblings of tomorrow’s weather not holding up. Would we be fogged out? We weren’t exactly sure what to expect. That’s when Bridges, who was also spectating the airbag madness, dropped some additional knowledge saying that the only way to turn the weather around was to “drink the sky blue!” Once we got back to Boardwalk, we immediately dropped our bags and headed to Charlie’s, the legendary bar just a stone’s throw away.
Day 6: Camera stays in the bag
The morning consisted of the usual schedule along with a slightly hungover critique from the previous day’s work. Class ended with us submitting our best 10 photos from the week to be featured in a slideshow later that night. Before that, I sifted through my work, making sure to include a well rounded collection of compositions, tricks, features, and focal lengths. A process that turned out to be way more stressful than initially anticipated.
Aside from a few shots on the DFD tube at the top of the pro park, my camera stayed in the bag the rest of the day. I heard someone say that it was already 1:30pm, so that was my cue to pack my shit and hike the FTC pipe for the remainder of my time on Mt. Hood.
The week on hill ended in a very fitting way with Miles hiking over the rocks with a boom box strapped to his back, blasting on old cowboy tune by Marty Robbins. Marty Robbins is one of my dad’s favorite artists and is someone I grew up listening to a lot. I clicked my bindings to their tightest setting, took a deep breath, and made my last turns for the week; grinning ear to ear.
Now, if you’re still reading this, I am going to assume that you understand the importance of snowboard videos and the lore that comes with earning “last part.” The slideshow I previously mentioned was, essentially, the photocamp’s video and each person’s best 10 photos was their part. Around 7:30pm photo campers gathered once more in the classroom for the debut of the slideshow. It kicked off with each slide showing fellow camper’s hard work from the week. This is when I had my last “holy shit” moment; getting last part in the slideshow. Is it corny? Probably! Well, yes, it is. But I’m not a pro rider so this may be the closest thing I ever get to achieving that goal. On top of that, I came into this week not knowing anyone. So to leave with a sense of accomplishment and a bunch of new friends was icing on the cake.
We had a second showing for the rest of adult camp and then continued our celebration at Charlie’s once more. I’ll end it here as the rest of the night got a little blurry and loose. A perfect ending to a perfect week.
Final thoughts and thank yous
I’d be remiss if I did not shout out and thank the good folks who help keep the culture of snowboarding at Mt. Hood alive.
Thank you Zim, Andy, and Darcy for the instruction, feedback, and sharing your knowledge. Thank you Simon for making sure we got everywhere we needed to be. Thank you to Ari and K-Unit for the incredible meals every day. Thank you to the rest of the adult camp staff for keeping the operation fun, loose, and functional. Thank you Slush for sponsoring the photocamp. Shout out to my fellow photo campers Adam, Brenden, Jaime, Kyle, Leigh, Sam, Tyler, and Zac. Lastly, thank you to my wife Lia, who endlessly encourages me to chase my passions, all while pregnant with our first child.
Thank you Mt. Hood and High Cascade for the endless supply of fun.
