VD'S PHOTODAWG BLOG



Hi Folks
Let me introduce myself.
Vernon Deck
Kiwi/import Swiss
Photographer
Cynic.

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VD'S PHOTODAWG BLOG

29/01/2011

Another sunny day, another hike out to the back bowl. Its a lung burner that hike, looks really short but the hill keeps rolling over. And at 3500m you sort of notice the thin air. Good though.


Keller flipping off the tree


Markus has been riding alone, which is not so easy. I got a really nice shot out of this feature.


This one was a joy to watch. Keller rode this little fun line so nice. PIcture turned out really nice too.


Lifestyle session on the way out of the valley.

28/01/2011

Jared at www.brightonresort.com has been very helpful, hooking us up with lift passes and info. Brighton is an awesome place, great park and pipe but for me the best is the backcountry. I think in the past there was a lot filmed here so now no-one really goes out there any more. But there are some great spots within a short hike from the lift, amazing sidelight the whole day and the views are so beautiful. Definitely a rad place to spend a few day checking out.


Here's Pirmin helping Keller out of a hole he got stuck in. Snow is pretty deep in places.


Keller contrast. Drawing a cat with a wolf on his back


Pirmin unwinding after a hard day of hiking with a little round of Skate 3


Jules unwinding after a hard day of hiking with a little round of Blaze

27/01/2011

Bluebird. Jules took us up to Brighton and we hiked up into the backbowl. Was really nice to be up on a peak again.
King of the world.



We didnt really do anything serious but had a couple of fun runs and scouted out some spots for the next days. Jules taking the fast way down.



Keller with a little drop. I was thinking today that I dont very often out action shots on the blog. Its hard because I obviously cant put the best shots here and I dont want to make the riders look bad by putting the rubbish shots on either. But I'm going to try and put a few more fun riding shots up.





Woody the woodpecker was hard at work.



A little hike out the bottom of the valley at sunset. Nice way to end the day. This was actually on the edge of a frozen lake. In the middle of the lake there was this big whoomf noise and we all shat ourselves. It was just the snow all settling in the ice but for a moment we thought it was the ice cracking.

16/01/2011

While in Laax I'd been keeping an eye on the conditions around Europe and it was looking bad everywhere. So I made the decision to move camp to the other side of the pond.
Markus Keller and Nitro filmer Pirmin liked the idea and joined me. We booked tickets and flew to our new base in Salt Lake City, Utah.



I flew Zurich-Washington DC-Houston-Salt Lake City. 20 hours all together. The first two flights the planes were nearly empty, so I had my choice of seats.
I planned on upgrading to Business class as I have plenty of Miles but United changes their rules, now you have to pay to upgrade. The service these companies provide is getting worse and worse.



First night in our new zone. Nitro team cave. Pirmin checking the weather or more likely facebook.
Markus just chillin with Marilyn.



Jules Reymond is from the French part of Switzerland and is spending the whole season based in SLC.

15/01/2011

Halfpipe finals in Laax.
The pipe was socked in till exactly 2 min before the first run. The sun came out and it was a good show.
Here is Arthur Longo going ballistic with a first hit cab1080.



The Japanse crew were cheering Kazu but this kid was just taking in the vibe.



Markus Keller with a huge Ally-oop. He didnt land the run he was after but the crowd was backing him the most of all the riders.



Benny Bright was there coaching Scotty James. Benny was instrumental in Torah Bright winning Olympic gold last year. Look out for Scotty in the next couple of years, he's coming on strong.



Was very sunny out, even the dog had a squint on.



There were more spectators there than other years, all off to watch the prize giving.

14/01/2011

After Davos I spent a day at home, then it was a early wake-up and off to the south of Switzerland. There had been rumors the day before that there was fresh snow down there so I arranged to meet a crew from Isenseven. My main focus was Danger Dave Bertschinger, Volcom junior rider. The conditions have been horrible so far this winter so we weren't expecting much. Got a pleasant surprise though.



Dave checking things out.



Yippee, fresh snow. Danger Dave bouncing around.



A shot Dave took of me. I walk of the trail to check an angle out and just sunk. Good to be back in the soft stuff.

14/01/2011

So it came out bluebird the 2nd day, everyone put something red on for some reason and we went out to search for some shootable features.



We hiked a couple of hours up this valley on a cross-country skiing trail. The clouds were doing some gymnastic's.



At the end of the day Dave found this jump to wall-ride thingy. Sorta worked out, I got a couple of interesting shots anyway. And it spawned an idea that I'm going to work on a bit.



Hey big mouth.



Some rich Italian family owns this crib, not shabby at all.

14/01/2011

Up on the pass checking spots out.



Danger Dave and Tobi "Ostrich" Strauss have a chat during our valley hike.



These dudes do the hiking thing so much better than us. They love it!



Island lit up by the last rays of light. Came across this scene driving home and stopped for a squint.



Shit, it makes me appreciate life when I get to see stuff like this.

14/01/2011

I'd missed out on the first few days of the Burton European Open in Laax. I arrived up there on the Friday and watched the Slopestyle finals. In the evening I went out a for a couple of beers and snapped a few quickies.

Mikkel Bang in party mode.



Luke Mitrani looking sorta crisp.



Ipod taking a picture of me.



Fischi sucked on a lemon.



Two coldies please.



Hey Fafi.



No idea who they are but the chick was blowing up and the dude was trying to stay cool.



Florent not really digging the Snus that Sami gave him.



Sami from Onboard asking himself the question.

12/01/2011

Saturday was the Slopestyle Finals in Davos. Girls were up first and Sarka P was repping. She had the win in her pocket for most of the time until Jamie Anderson claimed the top spot. Sarka was last to drop and went for a harder run. She very nearly stomped the fs720 that would have given her the win. She knew how close it was but was ok with 2nd place.



Sarka is great with the media. They just love to clean champagne of their camera's.



Torgeir Bergram was flying in the mens final. He's stepped it up this year, traveling with his homie's and turning heads within the industry. Wont be long before he wins something big.



Ohhw, thats a lovely set of ...um... eyes you have there.



A trippy light show while the prize giving was going on.



Party after was blurry.



Broccoli.

09/01/2011

This is Cilka Sader and she's rocking the beanie her grandma knitted for her.
I went out for dinner in Davos with about 8 girls, not sure how that happened but it was a nice time.



Chanelle Sladics is from California somewhere. Cool person that is pretty into environmental issues, surfing, snowboarding and living life to the fullest.



Linn Haug from Norway. Not sure what she's doing here.



Helene Olafsen in the middle of a story. She rode really well in the Slopstyle, throwing down in my opinion the nicest fs540 of anyone there. Unfortunately, after landing everything in the training, she didnt land anything in the finals. She is one of the very best boardercross girls in the world and its good to see her doing well in freestyle as well.



Amiee Fuller is a young up and coming rider from Kent in the UK. She ended up 5th in the Slopestyle finals. Great result!

07/01/2011

Davos Evolution Halfpipe Finals.
A pretty decent crowd turned up to watch the guys throw their carcasses down the icy pipe. It was a good show, some crazy maneuvers and no major injuries.



Ipod started out his first run with this 720 Taipan. Dont see that one too often any more.



It for sure wasn't Markus Keller's day, he ate shit on both his runs. The first crash happened to be on right on me, I was worried for a sketchy moment that he would smash my cameras but it worked out fine for both of us. The second run he crashed right between these two kids that had sneaked under the fence. They were pretty lucky.



Ipod congratulates Hitch Haller who eventually won the final on his very last run. Jon Weaver hands out some knuckles to his boy Jan Scherrer, who came in mildly unexpected 3rd.



Ipod was a bit slow with getting cork out and got an earful on bubbly from Hitsch.

06/01/2011

Davos and Oneill invited riders and media to a fondue evening up on the mountain. We caught a couple of gondola's up and all packing into this old school mountain restaurant. I guess there were about 200 of us.
On the way up Cheryl lost something up her nose.



Sticky hot cheese. When I first moved to Switzerland I hated it but now I'm enjoying it a few times each winter.



Alexis from Method, Half Greek half French and 100% a funny and witty dude.



As we were leaving ti started to snow. I got a really nice portrait of Cheryl that will be used for sure in the next months. There was a spotlight in the corner of this bar and it looks like its sucking in the snow. Love this shot.

05/01/2011

It's ON, Winter 2011 has started!
I went up to Davos for the week to shoot the Oneill Evolution. I met up with Pascal, a rad dude I met in Chile this summer. He is a Davos local and invited me to come along on a little adventure. The first day of the comp was just training so I decided to take him up on the offer. We set off pretty early and got up to the top of the first peak just after sunrise.



In a valley half-way down the first mountain we came across this old village. It used to be inhabited all year but nowdays its a completely empty all winter. A real ghost town. There are around 20-30 houses, pictured here is the school house.



This dude guards the village in winter.



Having a little break after our 2nd hike. This is on top of Arosa, we dropped straight down behind where we're sitting and ended up in another resort called Tschiertschen, it was the best run of the day.



In Tschiertschen we took the 2 chairs up to the top and had some lunch in the sun. Another short hike and we were on top of the next peak.



Pascal dropping into the line from Tschiertschen down to ChurWalden in the background, our 4th resort of the day.



The sun was setting as we made our way down to the last town, Lenzerheide. From there we caught the bus back to Davos. An awesome day of exploring and just being out in the mountains. The snow was not that good but we visited 5 resorts, snowboarded close to 100km's and had a lot of laugh's. Thanks Pascal for sharing.