Iceland seems so far away from Canada and in a literal sense it is. But in fact travelling there is quite easy and not that expensive. With direct flights from Toronto, Halifax and Seattle most of Canada can be in the land of fire and ice for around the same price as a flight crossing a few provinces of Canada. With dreams of riding under the Northern lights and alongside volcanoes Craig Beaulieu, Vera Jansen, Matt Belzile, Alterna filmer Byron Kopman and myself boarded Iceland air flights from Seattle to the captial city of Rekjavik.

Upon arrival we met these Cool Americans.

And learned how to tie a tie. It was a pretty amazing start to 10 days in Iceland.

With our new found friends and formal attire we hopped in our Cheap Jeep and headed north to Akureyri where we would base ourselves for the trip.

Along the way we had to gas up a few times since 35 inch tires and a loaded jeep don't get the best gas mileage. Luckily gas was only $2.50 a litre so it was mellow on the pocket book.

Day 1 was a bit of a rude awakening as snow was sparse in the northern fjord we would be shooting in. Good thing we had Gandolf and his apprentice to help us cross rivers and stay positive.

A lot of hiking to snow meant long days but when this is what it looks like at 1 am that doesn't seem to matter.

One day we decided to buck up and get a lift with Arctic Heli. Small world meant that our guide was from Pemberton. Crazy. If you head to Iceland do look them up, the terrain is amazing and they run an amazing operation.

It would of been an Ironman hike to reach this place and it was good to see more snow than dirt for the first time on the trip.

We had a down day to do tourist things and a quick conversation at the gas informed us of a humpback whale feeding in the area.

We had no idea the kind of show we were in store for. For over an hour we watched a pair of whales feed in the bay and just like Seaworld they ended with a full breach.

Along the way Matt Belzile did a FS 3.

And then all 3 riders rode off into the sunset. Check out next years issues for the full feature story and keep an eye for the video segment in Alterna's next film.

With warm temps and a shitty forecast on the coast it was time to get out of town. 8 Mile was heading to Edmonton and Calgary for a week so I jumped on board.

Shit food. Check.

Filthy truck. Check.

Sweet crew. Check. We got ourselves a roadtrip. L-R Jody Wachniak, 8 Mile filmer Trout, Andrew Geeves and Logan Haubrich.

First stop was Edmonton. The crew checks things out.

This spot was a bro tow to drop. Jody and Logan watching Geeves while they stay out of the film shot.

Best part of digital is the instant reward of seeing your shots. Trout shows the crew his handywork.

Next spot was a bust since we are constantly stunting and loitering with multiple dogs. If Rick Hansen was hanging we would of headed to the right.

While we cruised around looking for more spots Trout found out that his diesel truck doesn't have unlimited gas mileage. It was a shocker.

After a few days in Edmonton we cruised down to Calgary. There wasn't nearly as much snow but we made do.

Boy wonder Loosh and his cubic zirconium joined the crew for the Calgary portion.

Watch out folks. Geeves has himself a camera and his angles could go pro.

Todd Williamson rolled with us for a day in Calgary. Had never hung with him before, he's pure comedy and a solid boarder to boot. Tone warms up before we head to the next spot.

From January 12-14^th, 6 photographers ( Tim Zimmerman, Andrew Strain, Robin Oneil, Blake Jorgenson, Ilja Herb and myself John Scarth ) were sent out to shoot for the 5^th Annual Arcteryx Deep Winter Photo Challenge. The weather delivered what the challenge is all about, storms conditions and new snow daily. After 3 days of shooting each photog put together a 3-5 minute slideshow to be shown at the Chateau Whistler. It was an amazing experience and I was honoured to be part to be part of it. A huge thanks to Ryan Proctor and the crew at Whistler Blackcomb for putting on the event. And hat’s off to all the other photographers for all there hard work.  Here’s a few pics from my show, stay tuned for the full slideshow and a making of video.

At the end of three days we had done 10 runs. All but one of them were accesed by the Creekside Gondola and Redline. Here Zeke Helliwell and myself hood up for the windy ride up red.

Phil Nicoll was the token skier in my show and here he plays the " kook " as Dave Kelleher slashes above.

Creekside Dam is the town bike of pillows. Dave Kelleher and I have shot it together a few times. Think this is the best pic we've got.

Zeke Helliwell methods below the gondy he rides daily. My favorite shot over the 3 days.

Kelleher from above.

Zeke off the bridge that spans Fitzsimmons creek.

Zeke shared a bunch of his stashes for the shoot. Thanks buddy.

Yes you can. You have probably only heard of the area in a negative way but it's been a long time since the war ended in 1996. It was the host city of the 1984 Winter Olympics and while Vancouver's games were going on it was our destination. Jf Fortin, Jesmond Dubeau, Alterna filmer Byron Kopman and myself jumped the pond to meet up with Tadej Valentan and Doman Bizjak. Tadej and Doman are both from Slovenia so that's where we began the journey south into Bosnia and Herzegovina's capital city, Sarajevo.

Flying direct to Slovenia was far to much money so we chose our layovers accordingly. First one was a couple hours in Amsterdam so we took the train into town for a quick tour. Holland is well known for a few things. Clogs are one..

So are bikes..

There's a lot of them..

Amsterdam is also well known for a few things.. One thing is legal prostitution which is insane, the other thing is weed but that shit's lame so who cares. Being tourists the first thing we asked directions to was the " red light district ".  Had to take at least one picture but it didn't go over to well and I found myself running down the street when this lady came bursting out the door screaming at me..

After the hooker scare we had a quick flight to Vienna where we would meet up with Tadej and Doman. It's a few hour drive from Slovenia and was our final destination. When your in Europe cars like BMW and Mercedes aren't imports which means they aren't cheap but there affordable enough to be a cab. Better than a Crown Vic any day.

After a day spent being tourist's we drove to Sarajevo. This is at the resort Jahorina about 20 minutes outside the city.

One of the best parts about eastern europe is you can smoke inside everywhere, even the cooks were smoking while they prepared your meal. Jesmond and Jf were loving it.

We found a lot of unique places to shoot at. This one had seen some better days before the war....

Like this.. Prior to the war and freshly built for the 84 games, Hotel Igman down the street from the ski jumping centre.

At the end of our stay in Sarajevo we treated ourselves to a nice dinner out. To our dismay they didn't allow guns or dogs..WTF!!

Everyone was super pissed they had to leave there dogs and guns in the truck. The consolation was this place served brains so we quickly changed our tune and ordered the smartest thing on the menu.

For a non sarcastic version and some actual snowboarding from the trip check out next years issues of Snowboard Canada.

John Scarth's Blog: The Pro Photographer Showdown and 72 hour film festival have long been festival favorites but this year they made love and created a beauty of a baby they affectionately named the Three Point Oh.  The rules were similar to early UFC fights because there were no rules.  Contestants from around the world (mainly consisting of the local area ) entered a 3-5 minute compilation of photos, video and technical wizardry.  In the end 10 finalists were chosen and the stage was set for what will become a new fan favorite at the festival. 

Due to liver punching this week, Ceasars have become mandatory to the start of every night.

Once the delicious vodka/clam/tomato beverage was consumed it was off to the show at the Telus Coference Centre.  So many radical people were in attendance that even the power of a digital camera was no match to cover it all.. Here are just a few of the uber rad attendees....  Jasmin Mann and Oli Roy

OG Gnarcore member and all around awesome Lauren Grahm was there to present her own show as well..  Which was amazing!!

Presenter Phil Nicoll's sister is more famous than him... that was until his slideshow was shown at least..

Canadian Olympian Mercedes Nicoll was there to cheer on her now more famous brother Phil.

In the end 2 entries from the production company Rocky Mountain Sherpas   were decalared the winners..  They won both the judges and  viewers choice with amazing time lapses and graphic design. After spending $7.50 on each drink we all felt pot committed and decided to continue the night over at the longhorn..  

Because it was April 20th the whole bar smelled like Otto's Jacket and good times were rampant...

If you're going to pollute your body all night then there's no better finale than a delicious poutine to end it..

John Scarth is the Photo Editor of Snowboard Canada