Adam West operates Main Range Backcountry also known as Snow Safety Australia and has been teaching the Canadian industry leading AST-1 course for many years.  I reached out to Adam with my own interests in backcountry splitboarding in Australia and we discussed what he was doing and how I may be of service to his efforts.  

  I suggested two idea which we did both, one was to attend the annual SplitFest DownUnder festival a 2-day gathering of like minded splitboarders in the Snowy Mountains region of NSW, Australia.  I shot images for him to use to help promote the event.

  The next project was to shoot a video so people considering his course would have a better idea of what it might be like to attend the course.  I made the trip to Hotham, Victoria when Adam was running the course and shot the footage over 4 days in the mountains.  2 days was spent camping out on the slopes behind Hotham ski resort and the other two were spent at the course, day 1 in the classroom and day 2 again out on the slopes near Hotham. 

  Shooting the course and students was alot of fun as I got to meet some great people and hear the experiences of some understanding better just who takes this course and why.  Shooting the second day of the course out in the field was a real challenge, getting around on my snowboard and then battling the elements with everyone else as a light storm rolled in during the rescue simulation was with doubt the hardest filming I’ve done to date.  

  Mixing footage from many camera from different DSLR’s and GoPros and using video tripods, glidecam stabilizers and mono-pod meant alot of thought before heading out as once filming there was no time to go back if something was forgotten.  A very satisfying job to work on and spending time camping out in winter for the third time that year brought me some new found respet for the Australian Alps in winter.