Danger Close! On the second day of the 2011 White Pass Rotary run, I stand with half a dozen other photographers atop a rocky bluff, overlooking a deep cut called Canadian Shed. Once the site of a 1,064 ft long snow shed, it is now just a deep gully filled with the winter's accumulated snow. We watch as the White Pass Rotary Fleet flails against a 12ft wall of cement-like snow, making only a few yards of progress in the past hour. Although the rotary is throwing snow on our side of the tracks, no one seems concerned. It will be a while before the train gets to our location, so we blast away with our DSLRs. All of a sudden, the train begins to encounter a pack of snow that has been softened up by the "cats". Suddenly, smoke billows from the steam engines. The rotary's discharge plume goes higher and farther as she begins to move with greater speed. In a heartbeat, our awesome photo perch no longer looks like a safe place to be. I snap this one last frame and turn to run, but as I do, my snowshoe claws hook a block of ice and I immediately take a header in the snow. I quickly check myself and my camera for damage and none is apparent. I scramble further on my hands and knees as I hear the plume begin to impact within yards of my position. In seconds, I am JUST clear of the impact zone as the rotary passes by. Breathing a sigh of relief, I can see that no one is injured, although a couple of guys are plastered with snow. There is no time to give thanks for surviving a close one. We all scramble north to follow the greatest show on rails!
