Canadian Philip Quade’s Summer 2016 Road Trip: Photo Camp

It’d be an understatement to say that Little Cottonwood Canyon left me humbled. It beat my ego up, but it’s an amazing area and I had a great time. The bouldering there is hard and inspired me to return. Despite getting shut down on several projects, it left me primed for what came next. On Tuesday, I left Salt Lake and headed east to Grand Junction to meet Nicolas Marlow, a photographer from Georgia.

I met him at the airport and we then went to Rifle for the annual Rock and Ice Photography camp. For four days, we took clinics, classes, networked and photographed top athletes, such as Sasha DiGiulian, Nina Williams, Alyse Dietel and local crushers Simon Longacre and Nathan Price.

We learned new tricks from industry pros like John Evans, Chris Beauchamp and Jeff Rueppel. I won’t be able to share many of the photos until later in the summer, but I’m excited about what I shot.  You can see me in the photo below above Nina Williams.

Got to test out some #Rifle classics for the @rockandicemag Photo Camp these past few days. It's everything I've heard about… Chossy, but awesome ? and I loved it! Fun times with the giggle-crew @courtneyawoods and @sashadigiulian ?? Now… Yosemite or bust !!!! #ontheroadagain @adidasoutdoor @fiveten_official @organicclimbing @blackdiamond @gnarlynutrition #climbing #sportclimbing

A photo posted by Nina Williams (@sheneenagins) on Jun 4, 2016 at 9:10am PDT

I want to thank Rock and Ice for the chance to meet so many knowledgeable climbers. It was amazing to network and climb with so many interesting climbers after the camp. I teamed up with Courtney Woods and Sasha DiGiulian for a few days to shoot projects around Rifle and spent time with Chris Beauchamp, Irene Yee and Alberta resident Jeff Lewis.

Rifle was the place to be during the week of the IFSC Vail World Cup. We ran into a several other big names, like Carlo Traversi, Joe Kinder, and Delaney Miller. When you’re hanging out with people who know everyone, you meet everyone. This is why I left Calgary for the summer, to tour North America and network with some of climbing’s best climbers.

As the weekend wrapped up, I prepared for a week with Claire Bukowski from Tucson and the only World Cup in North America this year. My road trip has brought me up classic routes and off piste boulder and I’ve made new friends. On to week three.