Icicle TV Project

Icicle TV sat down and interviewed mountain photographer John Scurlock over coffee recently. John's new book Snow& Spire chronicles a decade long project; flying around the Cascade mountains in his homemade airplane, photographing remote jagged peaks... all in the dead of winter. John discusses life and his passion for flying where few have ever been.

Sloan Peak

To see all of John's photography go to: www.pbase.com/nolock

John's book can be purchased at: www.wolverinepublishing.com

Growing up

I was born in Detroit, my dad was an architect. He worked in Detroit but then we moved to Ann Arbor. I was always sort of an outdoors person; Boy scouts and so on. We traveled out west as a family to Wyoming and Oregon.  That was my first exposure to mountains when I was a little kid. I can remember driving across Wyoming knowing that there were going to be mountains but never had seen a mountain before. Eventually you could see this gleam on the horizon; it was white snow and all of us kids were like “There’s a mountain!”.  So I had this sort of fantasy introduction to mountains.

Did you know that you can donate the produce you grow and cannot use?  Many of us have trees with fruit left to be picked at the end of the season, or more veggies than we can handle on our own during harvest.  Rather than tossing those goodies from the garden that you just weren't able to eat or process, think about donating them to your local food bank.

Or, better yet-plan ahead now and plant an extra row for those in need.  Alison Detjens, Gleaning Coordinator for Community Farm Connection, is working connect local farmers and gardeners to gather leftover produce and help to feed those that otherwise may not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.  When we think of food banks, the first image that comes to mind is usually canned food and while non-perishables are still a staple for local foodbanks, fresh produce is always appreciated as well.

We spoke to Alison and Bob Mark, manager of the Community Cupboard about the Gleaning Project and Plant A Row initiative.  Now is the time that greenthumbs begin to get antsy about digging in the dirt and starting plants.  Gardeners-if you've got your plans all mapped out on graph paper and your seed packets ordered, please consider planting a little extra this spring.  If you live in Leavenworth, your local food bank is Community Cupboard and they are open six days a week to receive your donation.  There are many foodbanks throughout North Central Washington as well if you live in the Greater Wenatchee Valley.

Every little bit counts.  And, as we learned while producing this piece, it's a need that isn't going away.  For more information, check out the video or go to: uppervalleymend.org and www.communityfarmconnection.net.

This past weekend the Vox Docs film festival was hosted at the Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort. The beautiful weather made for a magical weekend of coming together for a great cause.

Vox Docs, the latest event in the 2012 Icicle Creek Festival, series showcased five independent documentary films, each one benefiting a local charity with 100% of the proceeds going to the films charity of choice. For those of you who missed the event be sure to mark your calendars for next year because attending events like Vox Docs are what make living in the valley great!

We spoke with Rick Wray,  Vox Docs Festival Producer after the event and he went on the record telling Icicle TV

“I felt like this first time festival did a phenomenal job of entertaining, educating and inspiring locals as well as out-of-towners from places like Ellensburg and Seattle.

Vox Docs successfully used award winning independent cinema to spark critical dialogue as well generate fundraising and awareness about the missions of five deserving local non-profit organizations”

The opening night of Vox Docs launched with a boom as a sold out crowd viewed the weekend favorite LOUDER THAN A BOMB. One of the film's stars, Lamar Jorden, traveled from Chicago to accompany the screening, hosted a post-screening Q&A, and then brought some of the film's electric energy to life in the Chapel Theater auditorium by performing two of his contemporary spoken word pieces. The highly charged evening came to a close in downtown Leavenworth at an after party at South.

Special thanks to the Sleeping Lady Retreat and the Icicle Center for the Arts as well as all the generous sponsors, donors and volunteers who made this first time event a huge success for the community.

Winter is on the way out the door, but there is still a record snow pack in the mountains and Stevens Pass is going to be staying open late this year. Skiers and snowboarders are having a heyday at the hill. Nearly everyone takes pictures of their snow adventures and probably 1 out of 5 films  their friends with the popular GoPro helmet cameras. We feature these movies all the time because they are easy to create and capture the users experience in the moment. The following movie was filmed entirely using GoPro cameras but it sure as heck does not look like most POV movies!

New Lands is the latest effort from ITV contributor Matt Wainhouse. You may remember Matt's video Powder Express from earlier this winter, capturing Stevens Pass's epic snow while the rest of the country's mountains were still closed, winning Matt the highly coveted GoPro video of the day and thousands of views overnight. New Lands captures the fun and excitement of roving the hills with some of the best riders in town, having fun and going big!

Today’s ITV video contributor is blue bird pow pow skiing with our friend Matt Kurle!

Spring is clawing its way out of winter’s icy clutches and little by little the green is overtaking the white in our yards. But Matt’s video brings back our lust for winter and all of its snowy delights.