Ken Driese, Best Photo Mountain Adventure, 2004 Banff Mountain Photography Competition

"Canyons cut into the limestone of the Mogollon Plateau, south of Winslow, Arizona, have provided cool, lush oases for humans for thousands of years; Anasazi Indians used these canyons to travel between cliff dwellings. Today, climbers have discovered year-round cragging opportunities in places such as Jack’s Canyon, where they enjoy the moderated temperatures provided by the shade. The canyon’s walls are undercut by the active stream that meanders across the canyon floor. As my wife, Ellen, and I walked back along the trail out of the canyon at the end of a spring day, Deidre Burton, a local climber and guidebook author, was working on a new route through a roof. The sun highlighted the wall behind her, providing a perfect frame and a sense of the evening quiet in the canyon."

Ken Driese has been travelling, climbing and photographing for over 25 years from his home in Wyoming. Guiding for Jackson Hole Mountain Guides in the 1980s and working as a researcher at the University of Wyoming since then has given him the freedom to pursue his love of exploration. Driese has enjoyed extended climbing-focused trips in South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, and he travels frequently to climb and photograph in the western U.S.A. and Canada. His photographs have been published in Climbing, Rock & Ice, Colorado Climate and Wyoming Wildlife magazines, and he freelances for the Casper Star Tribune in Wyoming. Driese lives in Laramie with his wife, Ellen, and his daughter, Bei.