Every ski hill has them. Local heroes. Homegrown rippers. Ski resort die-hards. You see them sprinkled in the lift lines, hooting and hollering from the trees on pow days, dropping cliffs you’ve wanted to hit all year, and layin’ out high fives all day long. These are the locals that make ski resorts special. They know the stashes, they have their own names for certain runs, and they’re the best friends to have when you’re looking to push yourself.

This month we are launching our Frame of Mind Series where we highlight local ambassadors of different ski resorts. For our first series of interviews, we are focusing on Solitude Mountain Resort, nestled in awe-inspiring Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah. Get inspired, learn what makes these local pros tick, and introduce yourself when you see them in the lift line. Know someone that you think should be featured? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

To kick off our Frame of Mind Series, here is our interview with the über talented photographer and athlete Eric Dyer. Eric has an incredible natural ability of always catching the perfect photo. His shots consistently make you feel like you are experiencing the exact moment he’s capturing and his photos always have perfect composition. Not only is he skilled behind the camera, but put him in front of the lens, and you can see his passion for skiing really shine. Eric considers himself a skier first, then a photographer. Needless to say, he’s plenty skilled in both.

Eric Dyer in Kiroro, Japan | PC: Kade Krichko

SpreadStoke: Hey Eric, where is your hometown?

Eric Dyer: I grew up in Reading, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, about 15 miles north of the city. I moved to Salt Lake City in the Spring of 2013 after I graduated from Northeastern University in Boston.

SS: What is your main snow sport discipline?

Eric: Skiing! And shoveling…

SS: Who can you usually find yourself on a chairlift with?

Eric: With other members of the #SolitudeMYST, of course. Oddly enough, I find myself skiing alone a lot. I actually enjoy interacting with new people on the chair, especially those from out of town. It’s always refreshing to hear about different people’s experiences in a place that I now call home.

Eric Dyer in Kiroro, Japan | PC: Eric Sales

SS: Conditioning off the mountain is an essential element to performance on the mountain.  Do you have any training techniques (whether physical or mental) you would like to share?

Eric: These days, I bike a lot in the offseason. I got into biking at the tail end of the historically low snow year of 2014-2015. I find myself pedaling a lot through the spring, summer, and fall months. It began as a few rides here and there on a borrowed mountain bike, however, I started down the slippery slope and shortly purchased a mountain bike of my own. Since then, I’ve gotten into road and gravel cycling as well. Can’t beat just being able to ride off from my garage in Sugarhouse for 50 miles through all the canyon and mountain passes! Off the saddle, I spend some of my offseason training at AlpenFit in Park City.

SS: What’s been the most challenging aspect of being an athlete/photographer?

Eric: Being a winter sports athlete/photographer, the hardest challenge for me is to get out of a warm bed on a cold morning before the sun rises. Coffee always helps! I definitely see myself as a skier first, but I have recently began to transition to the other side of the lens. In terms of photography, the hardest challenge for me is deciding when to ski and when to stop and snap a few photos.

Harrison Hogan Holley at Solitude Mountain Resort | PC: Eric Dyer

SS: Besides shredding the white wintry wave, what else do you enjoy doing?

I love food, and I love to cook. Besides eating, I enjoy going on hikes with my girlfriend Megan and her three-legged dog, Todd (#ToddTheTripod). I also love music, specifically going to live music events where you can really see the talent of the musicians on-stage.

SS: What is your life motto?

Eric: Alex Lowe once said, “When you remove the risk, you remove the challenge. When you remove the challenge, you wither on the vine.” I stumbled upon that quote when writing a term paper on risk tolerance in college. That was before I even knew who Alex Lowe was. That quote kinda sums up how I try to live my life, to challenge or scare myself every day.

Harrison Hogan Holley at Solitude Mountain Resort | PC: Eric Dyer

SS: What fuel goes into your body before and after a day on the hill?

Eric: I try to eat healthy as best I can. I’d say my diet coincides with where I am. If I’m home in Utah, my diet is probably 75% raw & organic, 25% cooked & organic. On the road, it becomes a little tougher and I usually survive on a diet of granola, coconut, whole grain toast and almond butter. If I’m heading out for a big day, I typically make two eggs over-easy, toast, spinach, and an avocado. When I get home, I just want a pizza.

SS: What does skiing/snowboarding do for your soul?

Eric: To me, skiing is just all about finding the missing piece to a puzzle, except the puzzle has many different solutions and is ever-changing. I really like the freedom, freedom to go anywhere and leave your signature in the mountains.

Harrison Hogan Holley at Solitude Mountain Resort | PC: Eric Dyer

SS: Solitude, it’s all in the name.  What are some of your favorite attributes of Solitude and how is it unique from other Utah resorts?

Eric: bought a pass to Solitude my first winter in Utah on the recommendation from my friend Harrison (@harhoghol). He told me, “If you want to ski powder all day without having to wait in any lines, go to Solitude.” In that aspect, Solitude truly lives up to its name, and is the reason I keep coming back year after year. Aside from the solitude of skiing at Solitude, the terrain and access at the resort, in my opinion, is second to none. Nothing is obvious and you have to work for your lines, which makes the skiing that much more rewarding. I’m still stumbling upon new features and hidden zones to this day.

SS: What goes through your mind before, during and after executing or capturing a technical line or feature?

Eric: My mind kinda goes blank, or rather clear. Nothing else in the world matters except for the challenge in front of you. Whether it’s boot packing up an icy couloir in the wee hours of the morning, or standing on top of a ridgeline with thousands of vertical feet of untouched powder in front of you, it is a very introspective and meditative state that I find myself in. When I’m skiing, that heightened state of awareness really makes me feel like I’m in touch with the world around me. Afterwards, of course, that all washes away with a huge smile, a few hoots and hollers followed by a, “let’s do THAT again!”

SS: When you’re not on the the hill, what can we most likely find you doing?

Eric: Probably in front of my computer screen, with Lightroom and Spotify open.

Eric Dyer in Rusutsu, Japan | PC: Kade Krichko

SS: 2017 Goals: What can we expect from you for the rest of the year?

Eric: This is my first year since I moved to Utah in which I don’t have big travel plans. I’ve checked Alaska, Japan, and British Columbia off of my bucket list, and would love to return to all of those beautiful places, but my focus this year is to stay local and really explore my backyard more. Outside of exploring the Wasatch and Uinta backcountry more extensively, my big goal at Solitude this year is to ski every named/numbered line on Fantasy Ridge.

SS: As athletes, you serve as role models in the outdoor industry.  Any advice, reflections or ideas on the types of things you would like see the outdoor industry strive for?

Eric: Being a winter athlete and just a normal human being, it is difficult to ignore the environmental impacts that we as humans are having on local and global climates. The earth will be here long after we’re all gone. In what shape we leave the planet is up to us. I believe that the outdoor industry, as one of the most visible industries in human interaction with the natural world, needs to be a leader in promoting sustainability and clean energy. On the sustainability side, I’d like to see more outerwear and apparel being made from recycled materials as well as companies striving to create sustainable supply chains. On the clean energy side, think about all that valuable roof space on manufacturing facilities or warehouses. Hello solar panels. The dark side of skiing is that most resorts operate their lifts using power from diesel generators or are pulling from the grid which is still largely generating its power from coal power plants. In Utah, when it isn’t snowing or about to snow, it is bright and sunny everyday. How cool would it be if each resort had a solar farm in the West Desert?

Eric Dyer in Rusutsu, Japan | PC: Kade Krichko

SS: What’s bumpin’ in your earbuds?

Eric: Even though I love music, I usually leave the earbuds at home when outdoors. I just feel like you don’t need to block out nature’s soundtrack. In my car, however, it’s a melting pot of artists and genres from around the world. One day it could be 90’s hip-hop in the morning, and new age country in the afternoon. The next day, you might hear Die Antwoord or Steely Dan.

SS: Spread Stoke’s values are: Do what you love, leave this world a better place than you found it, and spread stoke to those around you.  How do you demonstrate these values?

Eric: Every day, I take out my knife, open the jar of stoke and spread it all over my toast. Kidding aside, every day I try to limit my footprint the best I can. This could be something as simple as sharing rides up the canyon to reduce our vehicle emissions or not using plastic bags when shopping at the grocery store. I also strive to start the day with a smile on my face and keep it on throughout the day. Smiles are infectious and I think having a positive attitude has a positive effect on those around you. Be humble and support all of those that are close to you. A smile and high five to a stranger goes a long way, be it on the hill or walking down the street.

SS: Do you have any shout-outs to friends, family or sponsors?

Eric: I just want to thank my biggest supporters, my parents (Hi Mom!). They got me started on skis at a young age back on the big hills of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. I still remember those three to four hour car rides to go ski a single day on icy man-made snow! They didn’t second guess me when I decided that I wanted to move across the country to pursue a different way of life. I know they probably didn’t think it would morph into a full-on lifestyle back when they dropped me off at Wachusett Mountain in 1996.

We hope you enjoyed our Frame of Mind interview with Eric Dyer. Be sure to say hi to him if you see him on the hill this season and give him a follow on Instagram @EricDyer.

Stay tuned for our next Frame of Mind interview. If you know someone who should be featured, let us know.

Costa Rica

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Nicaragua

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Nicaragua

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Nicaragua

The mountains inspire us. They awaken our senses and allow us to feel clarity and creativity simultaneously. It’s what draws us to communities that rely on the outdoors and connects us to one another, building relationships out of trust and our shared loved for this lifestyle. The mountains not only give us a way to express our passions physically, but also provides means to express ourselves artistically. Whether it is with a paint brush, video camera, or guitar, the vastness and excitement of the outdoors produce some astounding visual art! This concept is nothing new and is recognized in art galleries, film festivals and live concerts around the world. These creative spaces allow us all to share our passions and showcase our latest endeavors.

It wasn’t until several months back, that entrepreneur and outdoor enthusiast Stuart Derman noticed a lack of these kind of settings in the Wasatch Mountains. His vision was to present various mediums to greet lovers of the outdoors and display their artwork. In a quest to build a physical location that would hold film festivals, art galleries, and educational classes revolving around the outdoors, Stuart and co-founders Shane Baldwin and Kyle Muir created Mountain Wasatch Arts.

I was fortunate enough to get in touch with Stuart to discuss how Mountain Wasatch Arts came into fruition. Stuart moved to Utah about three years ago to attend the University of Utah where he fell in love with the culture and everything about the Wasatch. The more time Stuart spent time in Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas that hug the mountains, he noticed there was an incredible mountain culture present but it was loosely connected. In other words, there were a lot of organizations doing their own thing but a central hub remained absent. With these ideas brewing, Stuart talked with his friend from the Parks and Rec department, Shane Baldwin. Shane, homegrown in Salt Lake City and a ski instructor at Alta, also had similar ideas on what the community might need to better organize events. Inspired by the Telluride Film Festival, their vision was to have their own Wasatch film festival. They recruited third board member Kyle Muir who was running the company Armor Active at the time. With Kyle’s background in business and his passion for the outdoors, goals of Mountain Wasatch Arts quickly expanded and eventually surfaced.

Mountain Wasatch Arts, a non-profit organization is dedicated to “providing limitless inspiration to our communities along the Wasatch Front by creating diverse year-round events and programming that emphasizes mountain culture, sustainability, and the outdoors. By hosting these events we hope to create a community with a sense of stewardship to the environment that will impact the world through creativity and ingenuity, thus bringing together a ‘synergy of arts’ through film, literature, and active lifestyle.”

The teams’ long term goal is to build a physical location that will resemble more of a campus atmosphere rather than a single building. It will also focus on sustainable development. Stuart says “everything we do, we want an eco-perspective”. Until they are ready to build a physical location, which will take fundraising and finding sponsors, they will continue to build and develop a virtual mountain art culture.

The team and volunteers are working to expand the community online by providing a learning center, events calendar, and eventually a platform where members can submit their artwork and content. It is free to join and the team is open to any suggestions and questions their supporters may have. Their first event will take place April 17, 2015, an annual Wasatch Film Festival that premiers at the South Town Expo Center from 7:00-10:30pm. The festival will feature some of the most extreme adventure films in addition to environmental and social impact films. The organization is also involved with a film called Unveiling the Pamir. It is “the story of the globe’s third highest and most forgotten mountain range: virgin peaks, unexplored climbing routes, and the creation of brighter opportunities for the communities that live there.” This film is a great example of the many projects Mountain Wasatch Arts will be helping to expose and inspire responsible change.

Photo: Unveiling The Pamir

While we fervently await a physical location, expect to see a learning center on the website which will be a go-to reference of the Wasatch. It will include geological maps, local artist directory and a place where people can connect with one another to get information in the art world and various adventure happenings. The virtual and physical location will accept art of all forms, including paintings, sculptures, go-pro footage, photographs, and any other artistic expressions. If you would like to submit or have ideas on how to support Mountain Wasatch Arts, get involved!

Photo: Stuart Derman, Co-founder of Wasatch Mountain Arts

Photo: Shane Baldwin, Co-Founder of Wasatch Mountain Arts – exhibiting local art at the Adventure Gear Expo

Living in Salt Lake City, Utah deciding on a destination for wilderness travel can seem daunting. With so many national and state park in reach the selection is quite large. With this post I want to focus on Grand Teton National Park.

Copyright: Stuart Derman 2014

Growing up in New Jersey my access to wilderness areas was quite limited. However, I had the good fortune of having parents that wanted to vacation somewhere other than the typical beach destination. My family traveled to some of the most amazing wilderness areas in the world. America’s National Parks System has served as a model for both preservation and connecting people with some of the most beautiful and stunning natural environments on earth. Grand Teton was one of the first National Parks that I traveled to on my quest to visit each of the 58 National Parks in the system. Coming from New Jersey, I had never seen mountains like the Tetons. Their huge and incredible heights dwarfed everything around them. One of my favorite places in the park is Jenny Lake. This incredible lake is estimated to be over 400 feet deep. As a photographer, I love this area in the spring/early summer. The snow is dramatic and makes for an amazing vista.

Photo Recommendations:

1) Get there early!

2) Stay near Jenny Lake

3) Clouds make the peaks more dramatic

Copyright: Stuart Derman 2014

4) Get as close to the water as possible

5) HAVE FUN!

Copyright: Stuart Derman 2014

Three weeks ago today, I endured the experience that any athlete subconsciously dreads. Skiing by myself at Solitude, I took the tumble that would end my season and jeopardize my long anticipated spring travel plans. As I came to a stop at the bottom of the icy face I had just descended, I knew that I wasn’t going to be getting up any time soon. I felt a shooting pain from the bottom of my left leg, almost positive that I had broken my ankle. I waited there in the snow, cringing with pain for 20 minutes before a woman finally skied by and called for help. At this point, my tears were less for the pain in my leg and more for the fact that I was supposed to be leaving for a month long volunteer experience in Nicaragua only a short week later. After being assessed by ski patrol, I was packed into a sled and taken to the Solitude clinic for x-rays. Low and behold, it was far worse than I had hoped. A spiral fractured fibula, with x-rays calling for immediate surgery. At this moment, all of my upcoming adventures, the first joyful opportunities presented to me in over a year and a half had vanished before me. I felt defeated, pissed off, cursed and undone by the reality of my situation. Two days after the accident, I underwent surgery on my fibula leaving me with the 9 screws and long metal plate that will forever be a part of me.

I beat myself up for hours after the accident but soon came to terms with the fact that accidents DO happen. Injury is an inevitable part of any active lifestyle and frankly it is in everyone’s best interest to move past the ‘what ifs’ or ‘what could have beens‘ in any way possible. I reasoned with myself that the universe kindly broke my leg to prevent me from getting eaten by a shark surfing in Nicaragua or perhaps from drowning in the river’s depths of the Grand Canyon, a trip I had planned only 2 days after my return from Nicaragua. Rather than dwelling on something I cannot change, I committed myself to healing in the open, tropical arms of Santa Marta, Nicaragua.

For those who know me well, I am not one to be defeated by the ebbs of life. Rather, I use them as opportunities to challenge myself to creatively overcome every obstacle that soils my path. Though the challenge of navigating this rural landscape on crutches has proven to be difficult, it has also transformed my experience into something entirely unique and entirely beautiful. Most locals around the area know me as the broken gringa (la gringa rota), often found riding on the back of various motorcycles or slowly making my way through the sand at the beach club of Playa Colorado. Being reliant on locals for rides throughout Santa Marta, I have established relationships that I would never had known had I two working legs. Just the other night, we were cordially invited to a rural Nicaraguan cock fight, La Pelea de Gallos, a spectacle not suited for a weak stomach. A gamblers game at best, the fights lasted over 5 hours while I sat contently behind the drunken debauchery, meeting and conversing with locals who were admittedly surprised at my attendance. Shortly after the fight, we found ourselves at a local night club where the owner quickly sent his friends to find a couch for me to sit on, another service exemplifying the generosity of the locals.

We have been here just shy of two weeks now but have successfully become a working part of our surrounding environment. Our workplace, Finca Santa Marta, (www.fincafarms.com), is a non-profit, organic farm dedicated to the practice and education of sustainable farming to benefit the local community. Adam Kenworthy, CEO and founder of Finca Farms has formed a credible repertoire amongst the people of Santa Marta and has dedicated his time, money and hard work to the progress and future of Finca Farms. Though I am limited to the kind of work I can do at the farm, I have found my niche planting and caring for Finca’s herbal nursery as well as constructing a few other garden projects of my own around the farm. During our first week, we also helped Adam in curating an art project for the local kids of Santa Marta. The kids were instructed to paint pictures of Finca Farms which will be displayed and sold in New York City, alongside individual portraits of each child and their artwork, in an effort to raise money for the farm. Most of these children will not complete an education above a third grade level which is an incentive for these projects to diversify their limited means of education.

As most of my fellow nomads will understand, traveling is far from a vacation. To me, travel is an experience brought upon us by curiosity. I myself am a creature of curiosity. I thrive on the adventure of the unknown and have taken advantage of the international opportunities that have presented themselves over the years. I now find myself basking in the heat of the Nicaraguan sun, consumed by a third world hospitality that ruminates through the colorful, rural pueblo of Santa Marta.

As with any experience, memories are created and lessons are learned from the trials and tribulations that breech the flow of life. If there is anything I have learned from my experiences, it is that life is indeed short and one must presume that any moment could be the last. Most obstacles are malleable; they can be bended, twisted and flattened by the intrinsic strength that pushes us forward when we can’t help but look back. Stay positive. Stay strong. Stay STOKED.

Last May I had the opportunity to travel to the Lochsa River drainage in Idaho and photograph a great group of whitewater surfers. Every year during spring runoff this location is sought out by adventure lovers for the large standing wave that develops and holds for weeks on end. Long days of travel, zero cell service for many miles in either direction, and many hours cold the water are the name of the game. The weather and water temperature make hoods, mitts, and thick wetsuits necessary a majority of the time.

With many hours to shoot and no outside interference via cell phone this was going to be the perfect time to try some different lighting setups and get them dialed in. The wave sits in a deep canyon that gets shade early in the afternoon if the sun shows up at all. Many of the times that I had been in this river drainage it had been cloudy and stormy all day. I hoped that this trend would make for some engaging new imagery. I had brought along the Quadra setup with the deep Octabox and 3 Speedlights as well loads of ziploc bags to protect from the almost constant drizzle. I had also brought a painters extension pole with a baby pin adapter in order to get the octabox much closer than I could have with any normal grip equipment.

I located the Quadra rig upstream of the wave. During daylight hours this allowed me to use it as a fill early in the day and then transition it to a key light after the sun disappeared. I would also add the speedlights downstream to provide a rim to the surfer and more depth to the scene as it got later in the evening.

Many thanks to the great crew from Strongwater in Missoula, MT and my pal Herb for being willing subjects on this fun project!

1/100 @f4.5 ISO100

1/50 @f3.5 ISO100

1/40 @ f4 ISO100

1/50 @ f5.6 ISO200

Cheers!

Isaac

http://www.isaacmillerphotography.com/