Rappelling the Great White Icicle

Here is the video from our adventure in Little Cottonwood Canyon last fall. Enjoy.

Bödele and snow.

The other week, I went up to Bodele three times to photograph snow. Silent Night has a chunk of it that takes place in winter. Only we are filming in late spring. To solve this, when it miraculously snowed last week, Christian had me take a bus up to the mountain ski resort, Bodele. Bodele sits high up on the mountain above Dornbirn, overlooking a wide and scenic valley with impressive mountains looming over it. The resort has one small gravel road that runs through the middle and loops down to the main road, with wood cottages lining it. There are pine trees, picket fences, drifts of snow, and a nice church set on a low hill above a pond. The first day I took photos and had a good time. But I didn’t take enough. On day two it was raining hard. I checked the weather and found two webcams at Bodele right in the heart of the resort. Sure enough, it was snowing up there.

So I hopped on the yellow Landbus and went. I shot it up and had a blast. My camera got really wet but kept on trucking. It was a good afternoon and I was thrilled that I was being paid to photograph in the Austrian mountains.


The third time I went up to shot sunshine and shadows on snow. It had been raining, but was clearing up. The sun was intermittent at best, but I did get some shots of shadows from trees, fences, poles, buildings.

I returned a little less enthusiastically this time. It is cool to photograph in the Austrian mountains. But going to the same little ski villa three times to take photos of the same few houses and snow over and over, it loses its thrill.

On the bus ride back to Dornbirn a drunk man sat across from me. He reeked of alcohol and sweat. He wouldn’t believe I didn’t speak German. He went on and on about my tripod and about taking photos. I had no idea what he was saying. He kept tapping me as he spoke. While he rattled on I thought, boy, this is awkward. Everyone was looking at us. I told him I didn’t understand and am pretty sure he responded, “You just spoke German. What do you not understand? You totally speak German and just don’t want to talk to me.” He kept sniffing and snorting, and then chewing whatever had been sucked out of his nose. I wanted to leave before he offered me some.
I now have over 600 photos of trees, footprints, fences, buildings, woods. I hope the angles will match when the final footage is delivered. We’ll see.


Bödele is a 15 minute bus ride from Dornbirn. It has a series of trails that snake out from it allowing anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours of exploration. The trails are all well marked and easy, if snow levels are not deep.

Office & Apartment Photos

I know you want to see pictures. But many people have voiced how upset and jealous they are that I am living in Austria right now. I fear that actually seeing where I am in Austria will only aggrivate their jealousy and fan it into unabashed hatred. So for their sake, I proceed cautiously. Here I post two photos: one from my office showing you the view from my computer, and one from my apartment showing you the stairs.

These afford a glimpse into the glory that is Austria, but should not excite any of you undully.