Time Lapse Video

Time lapse photography is one of those things that I have been wanting to try out for quite a while now and I finally got around to it. This involves setting up a tripod with your digital camera on it and taking several pictures at regular intervals for a long period of time and then string them together in a video. What I have never been able to figure out is how to get the camera to take pictures at a regular interval without having to sit there and push the button or lug a laptop around. However, though the power of the internet I recently discovered that I can actually turn my old TI-85 calculator (yes, calculator) into a intervalometer, which is a fancy word for something that causes your camera to take pictures at regular intervals. Here is my journey so that others may learn.

First off should mention that very little of this is my original idea. I got most of my info from these sites:

Digital Photography School
Instructables
Geeked

So, as it turns out, the output jack on a TI-85 and the remote trigger for my Digital Rebel are both 2.5mm stereo audio jacks. This is similar to a typical headphone jack but a bit smaller. To trigger the camera to take a picture you simply need to pass some voltage though this and snap! Conveniently, you can write a simple program in the calculator to do just that.

So first thing was to find, dust off and replace the batteries in my old TI-85.


Next, I had to write some code. This was the first hurdle. Most sites say to use a Send() command but the TI-85 does not have that function. After a little poking on the internet I found that you can use an Outpt("CBLSEND", var) command instead. Here is the code I used

: Prompt A
: While 1
: For (H,1,A,1)
: End
: Outpt("CBLSEND", A)
: Disp A
: End

What this simple code does is prompt for a value for A and then sends a signal down the cable at a steady interval, based on A. I am not sure but I think A is the number of program loops to do before sending a signal. Whatever it is, setting A to 100 gives you about one signal a second.

Next it was time to hold your breath and make the connection. I plugged the cable into both devices and let 'er rip, praying for no smoke from the camera. Fortunately, there was no smoke but there was no shutter action either. I busted out my trusty meeter and verified that 3 volts was pulsing through the cable but the camera wouldn't take a picture. After a little more poking on the web, I discovered that the signal needed to be coming out of the the other part of the jack (the tip) to trigger the shutter. The upper part of the jack simply triggers the focus. So I whipped out my wire cutters and alligator clips and fixed that right quick.


After plugging it all back in together and hitting a few button the camera began to magically take pictures!


Well by now I was really pumped to put this baby to work. The recent snow was melting off pretty quick so we decided to hop on the bikes and roll over to the 10 minute boulder for a tennis shoe session. It is called the 10 minute boulder because it takes about 10 minute to get there on a bike.

Rolling up we were disappointed to find the left side guarded by a huge puddle. There was brief discussion to roll on to a new area but the call of the stone was too great.

I set the camera on a tripod and taped the calculator on. We figured that we would probably boulder for about 20 minutes. Knowing that in the end we wanted a video frame rate of 15 pics per second we settled on setting everything up to take a pic every 2 seconds. It is important to set everything on the camera to manual and turn off the preview setting. I also lowered the resolution to the small setting so it would write to the card faster. After a few test shots we were off!

During the session we took about 750 pics. Back at the house I decided I wanted to enhance the pics so I set up a batch session in Photoshop that automatically resized and applied a few things to all the pics. Then I found a free software called JPGVideo to take the pics and turn them into a video. Super easy to use. You just point it at the folder that has all the pics and hit the Go button. 10 minutes later you have a video. To make it nice I added some titles and music in Camtasia.

Cursive - From the Hips

Between hearing Tony talk about these guys and seeing them on Letterman I have become a huge fan of Cursive as of late. Anyhow, I found their Letterman performance on YouTube and thought I would share...

Ski tour

Alright, so I am going to try to get back in to blogging again. Instead of trying to catch up from the last blog I think I'll just start fresh. This morning I did a quick tour up to about the tree line before work. Woke up at the horrible time of 6:15 and was on the road by 6:45. I was the second car in Bear Lake parking lot so I pretty much had the place to my self. The weather was to die for. Bluebird skies, zero wind, and about 30 degrees. The goal was to see how high I could get up Flattop before I wore out. Once at my high point, I would traverse north and then ski down the bunny slope on the east flanks.

The skin up went fine. The trail started out hard packed and chunky but softened as the day wore on. I managed to skin up for about an hour before I had enough and set off on north into the trees. While heading north I tried to keep a fairly steady altitude because I knew I had to pass above a large rock outcropping.

After about 10 minutes I popped out onto the nice open slopes of the east flank of Flattop. Perfect for someone like me with limited ability to turn. After a quick snack and adding a few layers (anticipating some good falls) I stripped of the skins and let gravity have its way with me. I actually am starting to feel some turns now. Still pretty rough, through. Not ready for tree runs by any means.

Anyhow, the climb took about 1.5 hours and the descent took about 30 minutes. Here is a short vid I captured at my high point.



And a map of the trail

View Flattop Skiing in a larger map

Still alive and kicking!

Wow, it seems like it has been a while since my last blog. It is not that I have grown tired of blogging it is just that live has been a bit crazy lately. So much stuff to do! Things at work have kicked onto high gear as we are feverishly trying to wrap up a product and get it out the door. The goal is some stable software for bug testing by the end of the month. Unfortunately I am the only one able to do the coding so that puts quite a burden on me. Oh, the joy of a small company! The good news is that we have enough projects and cash to hire someone to help me out for at least 3 months so I talked my buddy Brent from Iowa into coming out to Estes and seeing what we can do. I hope things work out well and buckets of cash roll in so I can keep him around for more than 3 months. Unfortunately, he won't be ramped up in time to help me with this end of the month deadline.

I am pretty stoked about Brent coming out here. I am getting itchy to get on some longer climbs and he is fit, fast, and seems to be able to handle a little suffering. I do not think he has been on any long trad route so I am hoping he is down with it. Don't get me wrong. I love climbing with Molly but every now and then I need to realign my life by getting on something that causes some mental anguish. I hate to see Molly suffer but Brent...

I have been able to get out once in a while. A few weeks ago we had a sunny day of climbing up a Lumpy. We found a nice route called Crackle Crack that consisted of bomber jambs and excellent gear. It felt good to climb a crack again. It makes me yearn for the desert.


We checked out an area down in the Big Thompson canyon called Jug rock. It is a sport climbing area on some strange conglomerate rock. Lots of large crystals embedded in the rock that you don't really want to trust but you have to anyway. I liked the climbing but Molly didn't care too much for it. It had a steep but somewhat short approach.


So, there was a quick catchup. Hopefully, I will be a better blogger now. We'll see. I have some many things to talk about but just not enough time.

BC Tour up towards Longs

I sit here exhausted on the couch looking forwards to an evening of electronic entertainment after a good afternoon out in the mountains. It is days like these that I am glad I have a TV. I often threaten to get rid of it but these are cheap plastic threats. I am so tired right now that if I didn't have a TV then I would go to bed even though it is only 5:45 and I haven't had supper yet. Reading is definitely out. I supposes I could probably just listen to the radio and watch the fire. Obviously I have enough energy to Blog but I feel myself fading quickly. Anyhow, let me attempt a short TR about what wore me out today.

I had planned on working most of the day today but with a combination of getting a lot done in a little time, having a new exceptionally good idea to mull over, and bright blue skies, I quickly grew tired of my desk and began to scheme. It was too cold to climb, or at least to enjoy climbing. Plus there was some of the heat sucking wind. I had a few hours so running was not ideal. I guess that left skiing, even though I just went yesterday. Molly was out because she wanted a quick workout so she could work on stuff around the house. So I threw a king sized Snickers and a liter of water into the pack, grabbed the gear and peeled out of the drive.

The plan was to see how far up Longs I could go before my turn around time of 4pm. I hoped to at least get above the treeline but was really shooting for the Boulder field. As usual I was grossly overestimating how awesome I truly was. On the drive to the TH I got a clear view of Longs. You can see by the haze that the wind was whipping up there and really moving snow. Both Longs and Meeker looked like they were steaming. But it was nice down by the road so the plan was still a go.


Pulling into the lot I was surprised to see so many cars. I ended up encountering about 10 snowshoeers up there. I starting huffing up the trail around 2:30, giving me 1.5 hours to see how far I could get. With the help of the iPod I quickly found my rhythm as I started covering ground. 15 minutes to the first junction, another 15 to the sharp turn by the creek, and then 10 more to the camping area. I had covered this far a few weeks ago but turned around just past the camping area because the trail disappeared into deep, soft, demoralizing drifts. Today, thanks to all the snowshoeers there was a great hard path slicing through the trees making progress much easier.


At about 1 hour it began to catch up with me. I stopped for a few and ate my giant Snickers, now frozen. If I chomped down on it I could break off a piece in my mouth and then essentially gum it down like an old man without his dentures. I tried to build a little seat in a local drift but soon realized that sitting with skis on would be problematic.

Rested, fueled and starting to feel cold, I cranked up the iPod and took off for my last half an hour. The song "Wolf Like Me" by TV on the Radio gave me the motivation to set a sweaty, gasping pace. From here on out it was some pretty steady climbing. As I gained on the mountain the wind gained on me. Right around 4 I was into the scrubby bush that marks the transition from forest to alpine tundra. Without the trees the wind was free to roam as it pleased, stinging the face and making the snow thin and hard. The Boulder field was still a long ways off, it was my turn around time and the sun has already sunk behind longs. It was time to turn around. Here is my high point.


The snow up here was rock hard so I tried to head down with my skins still on. That proved to work poorly so I stripped them and began to snowplow like it was going out of syle. On a high note, I have learned how to strip my skins without taking off my skis. It involves a lot of balance, which is a strike against me. I may of ended up in a bush but I didn't have to take em off!

I think the most challenging feature about BC skiing (at least the actual skiing part) is how quickly the snow consistency changes. I had settled into a nice snow plow, scraping along a rather steep section of rock hard snow when it suddenly turned into a nice soft slab, pitching me headfirst down the hill into 2 feet of loose powder.

I am sure it is funny to watch me crash in the mountains. When I crash and I am alone in the backcountry, my first reaction is panic. I thrash, swear, panic, and generally wallow for a good 25 seconds. After about 25 seconds I begin to wear out, pull a muscle in my neck or the back of my arm, and rational thoughts start to get more attention. By this time, my skis (and therefore my feet) are pointed in opposite directions, a pole is probably missing, and I am kind of sitting/laying at an odd angle in my custom snow recliner. Oh, and the thrashing tends to completely cover you with snow, including your goggles, which are steamed up by now. Now I generally force myself into what I will call system reboot. I sit quietly and do a check for pain, look around to make sure no one is looking, try to pinpoint why I am freaked out, clean out my goggles, and generally come up with a plan. 5 minutes later I am back on my feet swearing to give up skiing forever. Repeat until you get back to the car.

On a positive note, I am noticing that I can now get down the packed trails without much problem. I really only get into trouble when I venture off the trails into the trees.

Hidden Valley Skiing

Molly and I started out Valentine's day by first sleeping in, then walking down to The Egg and I for a late breakfast, and then heading up to RMNP for a little BC ski session. Oh, I bought her flowers too! Anyway this blog is about the skiing.

Quite a while ago, there used to be a small ski resort called Hidden Valley. I am not sure when, but at some point the land was reclaimed by the parks department and the ski area was shut down. Now it is part of RMNP. I have heard from several people that this is a great spot to learn to BC ski. This is because the slopes are not very steep, making them easier to ski plus greatly reducing the avalanche danger. So, with a plan we grabbed our stuff and headed out.

As it turns out, Hidden Valley is also one of the few places they allow sledding in RMNP so it was packed with kids and families. However, we quickly left the circus behind and were soon skinning through the quiet woods while fresh snow fell all around us. Here is Molly trying to catch some snowflakes on her tongue.


We followed a skin track up a fairly wide drainage. Because of the falling snow, it was difficult to see where we were headed but we figured we would just head up until we ran out of energy. Here is Molly getting smelly


After about an hour we decided that we had enough climbing, so we found a flat spot and stripped the skins off our skis.


Here is Molly getting ready to drop in


And here she is showing me up. She made it back to the car with zero crashes. I dug in twice.


We made it back to the car in about 10 minutes. I know I had a big grin on my face. Molly is still not quite convinced that it is worth all the work but I'll keep working on her.


So after a hot shower and a quick nap, we are getting our fancy duds on and heading out to the Dunraven for a fancy supper. So far, it has been a Valentines day to remember.

EDIT: It is now the day after Valentines day and I just wanted to finish the story. We ended up taking a 26 minute nap (Mikey told me about the 26 minute nap and it works!) and then heading out to the Dunraven Inn. Wow, what a great restaurant. Wine, steaks, seafood, bread, pasta, salads, and finally black coffee. Outstanding. Too bad it costs so much. I could eat there often. The ambiance there was perfect, romantically dark with candles and really friendly staff (but not the fake friendly or cheesy friendly). According to the menu, there has been some form of a structure on this location since 1907. Plus, they have this strange tradition of customers stapling one dollar bills on the wall. Odd but really cool. The bills are each decorated by the person who stuck 'em up. The foyer is completely covered in one dollar bills, even the ceiling. They estimate there is more than $16,000 stapled to the wall. Awesome...

BC Ski tour up towards Notchtop

A few days ago I needed to get out and it was too cold to go climbing so I decided to head up into the mountains for a little ski tour. After checking the internet for current conditions, I landed on a plan to go from Bear Lake up towards Lake Helena and Notchtop. I thew some things into a pack, grabbed my gear, hopped in the car and was off. Molly was busy working on the fireplace so this was going to be a solo mission.

Pulling into the Bear Lake TH parking lot I was surprised to find a mere four cars in the lot. I guess it was a cloudy Tuesday afternoon. It was a bit cold (low 20's) but the wind was absent so I knew once I got moving, I would warm up quickly. I clipped on my skis, cranked the iPod and was off and by the time I hit the first junction, I was roasting. Here is a shot looking back at the junction.


As you can see by the sign, there was plenty of snow. This side of Flattop is well known for getting piles of wind transported snow. Along the way, I stopped and chatted with a friendly snowshoer who had been out since 6 am (it was 3:30!). As I gained altitude, the snow got deeper and the tracks got fewer.


The snow was generally light powder for about 8 inches and then a hard slab. After a bit I broke out into an open meadow under the east slopes of Flattop. I had heard that this was a pretty good spot for some easy, safe skiing so I decided to check it out. I picked a safe route to skin up the hill and was soon huffing and puffing my way up. At a nice little patch of trees about halfway up the slope I dropped my pack and took off my skis. I was being very conservative and decided this was high enough for today. Below me lay a wide open 25 degree slope of untracked snow. 25 degrees is important because it is very uncommon for avalanches happen at that angle. For fun I dug a snow pit and checked out the layers. I dug down about 5 feet and still didn't hit anything. I guess those little trees sticking out of the snow are bigger than I expected. I poked around the snow a bit, trying to get a feel for the layers. Understanding the layers of snow it a critical part of understanding how avalanches work. I tried to perform stability test where you cut out a column of snow about 2.5 feet square and them pound on the top of it with your shovel. I ended up smashing the column without any fractures or sliding, which is a good sign (I think!). After sipping some hot tea, I decided I had better start back. I stripped the skins off the skis, packed back up and clipped back in. I made it down the hill, making wide turns and only crashing twice. The first crash taught me a very important back country skiing lesson. When going down hill, make sure you zip everything closed. Crashing out there is like diving under water. That snow is deep and it gets everywhere! My first wreck left me completely buried and snow packed into everything. Oh, and dreads are like a snow magnet.

Safely at the bottom of the hill and now quite wet, I decided against a second descent and began the quick ski back to the car. Skiing the trail was fast and fun. What took me at least an hour to slog up, I covered in about 10 minutes. I arrived back at the car with a huge smile on my face. I think I'll go back out tomorrow....