J. Nelson Photography’s Photolife

Jenny and I were booked to shoot a wedding in Vail this past weekend, and we decided to head up a little early so I could shoot the Teva Mountain Games. In case you don’t know, the Teva Mountain Games are kind of a mini olympics for mountain sport athletes. The worlds best Kayakers, climbers, mountain bikers and overall badasses show up and compete in some pretty unique venues. The talent level there is ridiculous.

I was super stoked because I got to shoot part of the games with photographer and good friend, Shane Macomber. Shane works with us a ton and he’s super talented. He’s got a great skill for getting the shot in every situation. I guess years as a staff photog and then editor for the Vail Daily will do that. On top of crazy photo skills, he actually competed in a kayak event this year. Talk about well rounded! Anyway, Shane has shot this event for the past few years, so it was good to get his take on the venues and angles.

The weather held up super well and the atmosphere was amazing. So many people on hand to celebrate these athletes.

The Gore Range behind the climbing venue.

The women there climbed like 1000x harder than I ever will.

The venue was packed with spectators and photographers.

This is Chris Sharma. He’s a climbing god, and rarely competes, so it was sweet to get to see him.

Daniel Woods is a local Boulder guy…and one of the worlds best.

There was a pretty cool freestyle bike course set up in the village.

With all the snow we got this year, the Eagle River was absolutely raging. The kayakers were in hog heaven with a great hole to play in. The kayak events are probably the most popular every year and I can totally see why. The level of skill is astounding. With no surf for a few thousand miles, I think I need to buy a kayak to fill the water Jones here in Colorado.

Emily Jackson is 18, and she pretty much dominates women’s competition all over the world.

Full flips out of the water. That takes super human core strength.

This is the “8-Ball” competition. Basically, four of five kayakers race down the course, while 4 or 5 other pros try and attack them with their boats. Waiting at the bottom of the run is Brad Ludden. He attended Garret and Kristy’s wedding last year in Rhode Island, and I can tell you that his paddling skills are maybe only matched by those on the dance floor.

We always have an great time in the mountains, and summer is maybe the best time to be up there. We got to see a load of our friends and ended up having a fantastic weekend.