I am wondering if any of you have found a suitable backpack style carrier or any other style carrier for high impact sports carrying. I am going skiing and want to carry my HC1 so I can ski ahead then stop and film my rookie friend as he tries not to kill himself catching up. (very competitive) A few things of note. It must be quick to take off or slide to the front for easy ski lift loading and still leave both hands free. (one for my poles and the other for grabbing my buddy by the collar as he attempts to navigate the lift.)
Thanks.

Buy a lunchbag. ONe of the insulated ones. It's a helluva lot cheaper than a lowel pro camera bag or a portabrace bag, and it keeps your camera protected.

cheap yes, but how well can you ski with a lunch bag.

Sounds like you're looking for something like this:

http://www.tamrac.com/5747.htm

Looks to be a little small. They have bigger bags, but I haven't seen a bigger bag in the sling type. I have a generic version of one of their bigger backpacks. It's served me well these past few months in my outdoor run and gun projects.

Albert: Lunch bag? You can't be serious. You mean the vinyl type with the foil insides that have Hello Kitty or Pokemon printed on the outside? Zippered or velcro?

Buy a lunchbag. ONe of the insulated ones. It's a helluva lot cheaper than a lowel pro camera bag or a portabrace bag, and it keeps your camera protected.

There are are plenty of nice padded bags that are specifically designed with cameras and camcorders in mind that only cost around $20, including several from Lowepro. I spent about that much for a nice bag from Best Buy. Whether it would help Chaz, I don't know. If you have something specific in mind, I would look around, especially with camera specialty shops.

This is what I have:
Trax TCB 50 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6816494&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat49300050004&id=1091100798656)

It has an easy shoulder strap as well as a quick clasp fast opening and closing.

Hello guys ,
Thanks for the replies. I have looked at the tamrac, but thought that carrying the hc1 vertical would put undue stress on the camera's focus ring or viewfinder depending on which end was down getting pounded. (think ski jump)I think carrying the camera horizontally is better?

In my generic SLR type backpack I used the provided partitions and blocked off the portion that the lens would hang down into. When the bag is worn my HC1 is sitting horizontal in the top of the bag.

now we're getting somewhere.... tell me more.

Have a look at the Lowepro Photo Runner. It is a decent size fanny pack and should have ample room. I used one on a ski trip and it worked fine. Because it is a fanny pack, you have full access to the camera while you sit in the chair on the way up. It has a double zipper that opens wide with a single pull.

Curt

http://www.lowepro.com/Products/Beltpacks/classic/Photo_Runner.aspx

Thanks Curt .
I ended up with a fanny pack and a lowe pro slingshot. I'm going to take both and do a shootout (no pun intended:) to see which works the best.