Less than optimal, huge understatement. We set out to shoot a snowboard sport/life-style series in the mountains. Prior to leaving we planned and researched the area calling locally to confirm conditions. Snow is what we were expecting. We drove to Canmore AB and arrived late to a brown, snow-less town in and around the entire area. Immediately I looked up to the surrounding peaks and valleys. The frost line was at least 2000ft above us. We needed to get up there to the snow and we needed to do it by truck because of the gear and people we needed to take. Tomorrow, time to scout it out to find plan B.  Here's how it all went:

TIME TABLE:

March 30

3:30pm - leave Edmonton to drive to Canmore with models, art director, gear.
9:30pm - arrive Canmore, check in
10:00pm - unload gear
11:00pm - Eat with crew (food we have packed)
11:50pm - set up charging station, check weather
12:00am sleep

March 31

7:00am - pack gear
7:30am - go out solo to preliminary scout, take some background images and find some “fine art” shots
10:30am - return with info. from scouting. Solid overcast high wind and rain/wet snow most snow below frost line melted. need access point to higher elevation accessible by SUV so as to carry gear and crew.
11:00am - production meeting - decided to cancel all shooting today.
11:30am - eat with crew
12:30pm - look around local shops for styling clothing that we missed having, hoodie etc.
1:30 pm - scout for locals with back country experience to find better location to shoot when the weather breaks. Told of an accessible remote spot. After telling them where we are going and what time we should be back ( in case we go missing ) We drive to this spot to confirm and found an alternate spot around it. Headed back down with plan A and B for tomorrow. On the way down we notice 2 relatively small avalanches that popped behind us, now covering the road which is our only exit out. Our Hummer crawls through the 3 ft of snow that blankets the road and in 45 mins. later we check back in with our contact.
4:30 pm - unpack gear.
5:30 pm - order food for crew. check weather for tomorrow morning. sun up 7:20am.  clear weather expected for morning.  plan details.  early sleep everyone is exhausted. plan to shoot for 7:30am be up at 5:00am to prep and move out.

April 1

6:30am - wake up call
7:00am - load (all-ready packed) gear into truck
7:15am - eat breakfast with crew while driving to location
7:30am - ACCESS POINT to previously scouted location closed due to avalanche. Wildlife officers tell us a big section let go along the road. The same spot and time, it turns out, where we were yesterday scouting! That blows both plan A & B for location...but at least we're still around to complain about it. On with plan C

8:00am - decision was made to stay and wait, rumor is that wildlife officials will be opening road at 11:00am in the mean-time we drove to back into Canmore to check with locals for a “plan C” just in case the reopening doesn’t pan out.
11:00am - head back to location to see if closure is resolved...it’s not. and locals tell us it’s an hour and a half minimum to take the back way in. Not an option being that IF it all goes smooth...and it never does...we would only have very limited time to shoot because the weather is closing in already.
11:30am - we stay and wait a bit for road to open and decide to grab some editorial images of a local dogsled team who is also waiting out the closure to do their work.

12:00pm - road still closed so we look in area close to us to get the images we can before this blizzard hits us conditions are less than perfect but we have no choice because we are scheduled to be here for only 4 days and from just checking weather on our phone, this storm is here to stay over our entire trip! We’re here to shoot so we wait for a break in the weather and do just that in a clearing we found in the valley of Mt. Shark.
6:00pm - finish shoot. pack gear into Hummer and head back into Canmore.

7:00pm - arrive at hotel unload gear. eat with crew.
8:00pm - charge all batteries for next day.
8:30pm - upload images shot today and do initial edit and back them up.
10:00pm - plan shoot with models for tomorrow.
11:00pm - get snowboard gear together for shoot.
Tomorrow = action if weather permits.

April 2

7:00am - morning weather is ugly but may break in the day so we go.
7:30am - pack gear into Hummer and head to Lake Louise. Eat breakfast while driving.
8:30am - arrive at Lake Louise. unload, buy passes, locker etc.
9:30am - first run to scout locations. weather heavy snow. high winds
11:00am - after some scouting locations, we decide to wait for the weather to break and take the opportunity to eat and plan with crew and models.

12:30pm - another run winds too high after failed attempt at shooting. wait and retry in an hour

1:30pm - weather better, winds calmed still snowing hard.  we head to location spot to set up for some action images
2:00pm - shoot

3:45pm - wrap shooting.  pack gear and head down. mountain closes at 4:00pm

4:00pm - load gear and head back to Hotel
5:30pm - eat with models/ crew

6:30pm - charge gear

7:00pm - upload images from the day and back them up.

8:00pm - sleep early for drive home.

April 3

9:00am - wake to pack and head out
10:00am - check out time
10:30am - drive back to Edmonton

Weather was not on our side this time but we made it work regardless, we usually do.

This is an iPhone pic I took the morning we had to leave after all this. It was the best circumstances we could have ever asked for but we weren't going to be able to take advantage of this time. fresh untouched snow from the storm.  Perfectly clear skies. No wind.  Sometimes you just have to adapt and get what you came for and get out. All you can do is just walk away and be ready to nail it again when conditions are perfect.