December 8th, 2021

British Columbia

Photos and words courtesy of Patrick Gregorowicz

Patrick Gregorowicz is a digital marketing specialist, who in his free time enjoys photographing his backyard of Vancouver, Canada.

Words & Photos by @patrickgregorowicz

Short on time? Leave it to Patrick Gregorowicz to make the most of a quick trip to the mountains.

As an amateur landscape photographer during the COVID-19 pandemic, I struggled greatly to find a tent that met various criteria:

1. I was in search of a tent that was orange or green for high-contrast in my images.

2. It needed to have an abundance of mesh for stargazing and a picturesque view with the doors open.

3. It needed to be durable, lightweight, and waterproof enough to handle Vancouver rainfall.

4. Finally, it had to be symmetrical.

After months of searching and finding most tents sold out, I stumbled on Zorali's Highlands 2P tent, and it happened to cross off all the boxes! A week later, I had the tent in my bag and off I was, climbing mountains again. Over the course of 24 hours in the mountains, I took over 400 photos to showcase both the tent and its beautiful surroundings.

For this particular trip, I met up with a fellow photographer from Vancouver for the first time (@kadenvanburren). We tackled a 15km (distance) and 1,400m (elevation) hike in just over 4 hours in order to make sure we would reach the peak for sunset. Seeing Vancouver and its surroundings from the peak of Golden Ears was a fantastic view that was well-deserved.

From the top I could see so many local mountains that I learned to identify by shape, some of which include Mt. Slesse, Mt. Robbie Reid, Mt. Judge Howay, Mt. Shuksan, and the world-famous Mt. Baker (from across the US-Canadian border). After sunset we had a few glacier-chilled drinks, portable stove-warmed macaroni and cheese, and a whole bunch of good conversations.
The next morning we woke up for sunrise, enjoyed the morning view with a fresh cup of Joe, and packed up for our descent. Another great weekend up in the mountains, and surely one for the books.