With bleeding cuticles, Christian Folk (from Outdoor Research) is pictured here in the crux of the 5.10 start to Ragged Edges at Red Rocks, Nevada.  The Red Rocks Rendezvous climbing festival begins this week and climbers are flocking to Vegas from all around.

The Visual Adventures contingent will be represented by Jason and Lisa, on behalf of Outdoor Research.  Lisa Nelson will be teaching a backcountry cooking course, and Jason Nelson will be teaching a multi-pitch efficiency clinic.  Jason and Lisa will also be talent for some photo shoots prior to the event with photographer Bryan Smith.

The weather is getting warmer, and it’s promising to be a great event.  We hope to see you there!

On our way from Bishop to Las Vegas we checked out Death Valley. We arrived at the sand dunes around sunset. We had a great time playing in the sand and Jason was able to get some beautiful pictures.

[Show as slideshow]

Kitty Calhoun on "Odda Brutha" at the Ouray Ice Park

Here are some pics I took of Lisa Nelson and Kitty Calhoun doing some mixed lines at the Ouray Ice Park. Hope you enjoy! Lisa is leading “Salsa Lisa” and Kitty is on “Odda Brutha”.  Images are Copyright Jason Nelson / Visual Adventures.

[Show as slideshow]

It’s Friday and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate it than with a photo of a beautiful girl in a garden.  I love photographing beautiful people and places.   This afternoon left a lasting image in my mind. Stunning. Enjoy the pic.

It was about a year ago we were in Boquete, Panama hiking through the jungle with the hopes of coming up upon some exotic animals. I think the only animal we saw was a little lizard. Later we did get to see lots of cool animals in Costa Rica.

This time of year you can’t help but dream of warm tropical places.

Lisa and I went for a ski in the Black Canyon National Monument to check out an ice climb called Gandalf’s Beard.  Seeing as we were in the Black Canyon with 2,000 ft. rock walls everywhere, I dreamed of a giganitc ice flow cascading down the steep cliffs.  Instead we found a short easy pitch of ice at the top of a measly gully.  The ice was only about 150′ tall and WI3.  The skiing to get the climb was fairly substantial however, 4 miles each way. We did the skiing real fast as we had to be somewhere leaving us with a good workout.

Gandalf’s Beard Ice Climb

Rachel Mueller and I climbed up Cascade Canyon above Ouray on a very wintery day in December.  It was a great adventure just above town and the ice climbing was superb.  We made it back to the car just before dark which was a bonus seeing as both of us neglected to bring headlamps.

This pic was taken with my weather and waterproof Olympus Stylus 1030 SW.  A good choice of camera given the weather.

I joined a mass of other photographers yesterday morning to get this pic.  Van loads of photographers lined the roads around Dallas Divide to catch a view of the Sneffels Range is full glory.  I speaking literally here, they actually do arrive by van and all set up next to each other.  It was a tempestuous day in the San Juans with hurricane force winds, blowing sand, leaves and rain while behind us in Ridgway, it was just another sunny day in Colorado.

Sometimes shots look more glamorous than they actually are.   It was cold this morning at Sky Pond, located at about 11,000 ft. in Rocky Mountain National Park.  It took a bit of convincing to get her out on those rocks.