All my gear sits on the living room floor.  Some of it is trusty adventure gear that I have come to count on, some of it is new stuff that I have never needed until now.  I keep looking at it hoping it is enough without being excessive.  Time will tell.  

I fly out in the morning and my feet hit South America sometime tomorrow night.  I will have a few days of prep and information gathering before the race starts.  Once it starts, there is no way to know what is going to happen.  If you want to keep up with the latest word from Patagonia, check the link below:

Race Updates

The next 2 weeks should be nothing short of amazing, so check in to see what I am pointing my lens at down there.  

Wish me luck!

If you want to get a video preview of what the upcoming race will be like, this video will give you just that.

For video click here:  2009 Wenger Patagonia Ex. Race

I'm getting psyched and scared all at the same time.  I think this will be the most challenging assignment yet, but  as such it has the potential to be the best.  Tomorrow I will post a link to the page I will be updating throughout my trip.  Updates may be few and far between?  It really depends on how embedded in the race I become and how far from satelite phone (internet capable) I wander.  Should be interesting!

Following the holidays I was laid up sick for 2 weeks!  It nearly caused me to go crazy.  I do not sit still much.  I was nearly well when my editors at the NY Times called me to go photograph individuals testing racing snowshoes.  I was pumped!  I got to get outside, off the couch and run around the woods--all while getting paid!

Three gentlemen, plus myself donned the shoes and went running at a particularly hilly park in Eden Prairie, MN.  It was a very cold, but beautiful day.  We got some fun shots in befoe the light dropped below the horizon. 

This was the day I generated the "mystery photo" that I posted a while back.  It was taken as one of the guys ran right by me and I was enveloped in a shower of snow and ice.  This outing was exactly what I needed to kick the sickness.

If you'd like to read the review, go here: NY Times Style.  I know that this month and likely for a few weeks yet, there will be snowshoe races in the Minneapolis area.  Special thanks to my "models" for taking direction well and for braving the chills all for the name of news.

A few weeks ago, I was assigned to shoot a sport I had never even heard of.  I showed up in half a dozen layers and my largest winter boots to stand for 2 hours on a sheet of ice, photographing what could easily be confused for hockey.

I guess that the sport is more popular among Swedes and Russians, but it is growing in popularity and is trying to make a bid for Olympic inclusion in the future.  We'll have to wait and see...

Go read Jeff Klein's story and you too will know the mysteries of Bandy.

The ball - not puck, that is used in Bandy.

Check out the homemade goalkeeper gloves - no stick for goalies!

Much larger than a hockey rink.  More like a soccer field.

About 3 weeks ago I was asked to join the press team that will document the 2010 Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race in southern Chile.  I didn't think I had enough time to get everything in order in time, but it seems that I have!  I leave for Chile in 11 days.  

My job will be to cover Team Gear Junkie.  I will photograph and write about the status of the race each day and update a blog with my work.  I will post a link to said blog before I leave.  If you are not sure where Chile is, as I bet the average American is not, then you will want to look very far south on your globe.  The very tip of South America is where we will be.  Next stop headed south is Antarctica.  I'll be at the end of the world.  

The race is pretty brutal.  I will not literally follow the racers, thank heaven, but will intercept them each day and see them pass by.  Then I get to go back to doing a bunch of nothing while they race into the night.  Rad!  It will not be quite that cushy, but by comparison I have it easy.

Go here to find out more details about the race: Wenger Adventure Race.  Spend a moment looking at the gallery.  It is wildly beautiful there and I am VERY excited to take on this assignment.  It is an amazing opportunity.  I'll keep you all posted as I can.

*These images are from the race site.  I did not take them.  Props to whomever did.