Stormy Sunrise Over Sunburst Peak
Stormy Sunrise Over Sunburst Park
I have to admit...I really didn't feel like getting out of my tent two weeks ago when the alarm went off at 4:30 AM. It had snowed a bit more overnight and everything seemed to be covered in ice. But I pulled out the jet boil, made some coffee, and staggered out into the cloudy predawn light. The Nublet might have only been 4 or 5 kilometers from the Magog Lake campground, but it might as well have been on the moon. I forgot to take my 14-24 out of my bag and between the weight of my tripod, new ballhead and multiple lenses, it was like hauling a couple of boat anchors up that trail. I grimaced several times as young twenty-somethings bounced happily up the trail past me as I sat shoving snow in my face to make up for the frozen life straw in my pack.
Somehow I made it back onto my feet and just managed to make it somewhere between the Niblet and the Nublet (I never did figure out which was which) just as the sun broke through, lighting up the clouds and bits of the range in front of us with a brief burst of orange. Suddenly I quite forgot about the fact that I was exhausted and freezing my butt off and spent the next two hours shooting some of the most gorgeous real estate in the Canadian Rockies. For someone like me, whose batting average was now in the minus territory after striking out with 10 days of shooting in the Northwest last Summer, 10 days of shooting the Dolomites last Fall, and finding the entire Western Hemisphere covered in smoke on my 10 day trip through the Canadian Rockies a month ago...this view literally brought tears to my eyes. Every once in a long while, I actually come across a breaking storm with some decent light. As the lady who set up her tripod next to me exclaimed "Thank you God!"
There was indeed much to be thankful for over those 10 days of shooting in the Canadian Rockies. When my shooting buddy Eric and I first arrived, the forecast was grim. Five days of gray skies...right through our time in Assiniboine. It was beginning to look like we might not see the sun at all. Instead, we were treated to just about everything from 4 inches of new snow, to bright sunshine, to some very decent sunrises and sunsets. The larches were just hitting peak color and we seemed to have arrived during a very small window this year between Autumn and Winter. A couple of days after we arrived home, almost a foot of new snow fell in and around Banff, and a second storm dumped even more later that week.
All of this to say, there will be many more images to come. We both had a fantastic time in the Canadian Rockies and we can't wait to go back. Our travels took us from Banff into Assiniboine for 3 nights before heading North to Jasper and Robson, finishing with trips to Yoho and back to Banff. As I told Eric, I paid for this trip in spades when I got back home and had mountains of work to catch up on…but that trip was easily worth what we paid in cash, time, energy and blood. More photos to come!
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Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:
Instagram | Blog | Website | Facebook | 500px | Twitter | Google +
Stormy Sunrise Over Sunburst Peak
Stormy Sunrise Over Sunburst Park
I have to admit...I really didn't feel like getting out of my tent two weeks ago when the alarm went off at 4:30 AM. It had snowed a bit more overnight and everything seemed to be covered in ice. But I pulled out the jet boil, made some coffee, and staggered out into the cloudy predawn light. The Nublet might have only been 4 or 5 kilometers from the Magog Lake campground, but it might as well have been on the moon. I forgot to take my 14-24 out of my bag and between the weight of my tripod, new ballhead and multiple lenses, it was like hauling a couple of boat anchors up that trail. I grimaced several times as young twenty-somethings bounced happily up the trail past me as I sat shoving snow in my face to make up for the frozen life straw in my pack.
Somehow I made it back onto my feet and just managed to make it somewhere between the Niblet and the Nublet (I never did figure out which was which) just as the sun broke through, lighting up the clouds and bits of the range in front of us with a brief burst of orange. Suddenly I quite forgot about the fact that I was exhausted and freezing my butt off and spent the next two hours shooting some of the most gorgeous real estate in the Canadian Rockies. For someone like me, whose batting average was now in the minus territory after striking out with 10 days of shooting in the Northwest last Summer, 10 days of shooting the Dolomites last Fall, and finding the entire Western Hemisphere covered in smoke on my 10 day trip through the Canadian Rockies a month ago...this view literally brought tears to my eyes. Every once in a long while, I actually come across a breaking storm with some decent light. As the lady who set up her tripod next to me exclaimed "Thank you God!"
There was indeed much to be thankful for over those 10 days of shooting in the Canadian Rockies. When my shooting buddy Eric and I first arrived, the forecast was grim. Five days of gray skies...right through our time in Assiniboine. It was beginning to look like we might not see the sun at all. Instead, we were treated to just about everything from 4 inches of new snow, to bright sunshine, to some very decent sunrises and sunsets. The larches were just hitting peak color and we seemed to have arrived during a very small window this year between Autumn and Winter. A couple of days after we arrived home, almost a foot of new snow fell in and around Banff, and a second storm dumped even more later that week.
All of this to say, there will be many more images to come. We both had a fantastic time in the Canadian Rockies and we can't wait to go back. Our travels took us from Banff into Assiniboine for 3 nights before heading North to Jasper and Robson, finishing with trips to Yoho and back to Banff. As I told Eric, I paid for this trip in spades when I got back home and had mountains of work to catch up on…but that trip was easily worth what we paid in cash, time, energy and blood. More photos to come!
--------------
Thank you so much for your views and comments! If you have specific questions or need to get in touch with me, please be sure to send me a message via flickr mail, or feel free to contact me via one of the following:
Instagram | Blog | Website | Facebook | 500px | Twitter | Google +