Warm gorge

Two weeks ago, I went for a little sunset hike up Lake Haiyah and ended up in a blizzard up at the lake. There is a cellphone shot of this on Facebook. Going back down I shot some pics along the trail. At times there was a little golden hour color visible but I did not think much of the images until today when I loaded them in Lightroom and Aperture. There turn out to be some interesting images in there that I did not realize I had. Here is one of Longs with a hat of clouds basking in warm light.

The gorge. Buy a print. On facebook. On Google+. On flickr.
Nikon D600, Nikon 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 72 mm, f/11, 1/80s, ISO 100, on tripod.

Freezing my fingers off at Lake Haiyaha

Last Sunday the 30th I went for a sunrise hike to Lake Haiyaha followed by Lake Emerald and above. I have already posted a few images from this trip here and here. I have several more nice images to share from Emerald later but first I want to share a few more images from Haiyaha. Haiyaha is apparently a native American word for rock, which is quite apt as the lake is bordered by lots of really large boulders left by the glacier that carved this valley and is still found higher up in tiny 'Chaotic glacier' which is more like a snowfield. It's visible in the image I posted before. As always I waited a while for the sunrise to come and got shivering cold too lately realizing that I had handwarmers in my backpack - another lesson learned ;-).

Hallett on ice. Buy a print. On flickr, On Facebook, On G+/Picasa.
Nikon D600 on tripod, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 24mm, f/16, 1/13s, ISO 100

The ice on the lake had all these domed structures over large rocks beneath the ice where it had frozen over before and the water level receded creating small pyramids or domes over the rocks.

Lake Hayiaia sunrise panorama. Buy a print. On flickr. On facebook. On G+/Picasa.
Stitched from 15 handheld images. Nikon D600, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 24mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 100.

The above image shows about 230 degrees of the view on the lake.

Hallett hat. Buy a print. On flickr. On facebook. On G+/Picasa.
Nikon D600 on tripod, Nikkor 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 at 42mm, f/11, 1/30s, ISO 100.

I like this more close-up view of the peak. Next up will be some images on the ice of Emerald. Those are my favorites from this hike.

Winter sunrise at Lake Haiyaha

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High resolution composite from 4 handheld images from a Nikon D600, Nikkor 24-85mm at 24 mm, f/11, 1/50s, ISO 100.

This image was one of many that I shot on a sunrise snowshoe up Chaos Canyon (where Lake Haiyaha is located) and up to Emerald lake and up after this sunrise. As you can see the sunrise was spectacular even if this hike was extraordinarily cold. It is really a privilege to be able to reach such places and see sights this gorgeous. The peak that is lighting up is Hallett peak, a prominent feature in RMNP but not often shown from the backside as you see here. In winter however, the sunrise hits it most prominently from the backside. In the map below, imagine the sunrise coming from about EastSouthWest.

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