Electric Peak at Dawn, Montana

(Click image to enlarge)

At 3,343 meters (10,969 feet) high, Electric Peak is the tallest mountain in southern Montana's Gallatin Range. For a sense of scale, the straight line distance between the camera position and Electric Peak is about 12 km (7.4 miles).

Hundreds of our days in Yellowstone began by cresting "the hill" where this scene is revealed. I have rarely stopped to photograph it, thinking it would look better with some fresh snow or that "better" opportunities might be waiting further down the road. Unfortunately when there was fresh snow the road going up "the hill" was usually closed.

This particular opportunity came well before sunrise on a bitter cold -10°F (-23°C) mid-October morning with a strong and gusty wind. There was a significant snowfall overnight and they hadn't gotten around to closing the road yet. On the down side I had a high fever, excruciating sore throat, congestion, and a cough that were gifted to me a couple of days earlier. The weather conditions made a successful photograph improbable and made me feel considerably worse, but attempting the photograph was not optional. I might never have the same opportunity again.

My wife and I waited in darkness under a crystal clear sky for the diffuse pink light from the Belt of Venus to illuminate the landscape. The wind seldom paused. Even if it was briefly calm where I was standing the wind was constantly moving something within the vast scene. At first dim light I began capturing as many images as I could, hoping for sufficient sharpness across the entire scene in one of them. Then a spot of bright sunlight appeared on the summit of Electric peak and the opportunity was over.

My gloved hands hurt so badly from the cold that I could hardly bend my fingers. My camera's flexible shutter release cable was frozen rigid. Months later going through the images I discovered that luck and some determination produced a photograph that is better than I imagined it could be.

It was still very early so we limmediately went to photograph Undine Falls where the snow on the roadway and in the pulloff was drifted higher than my knees, or roughly 66 cm (26 inches). By the time we got back to town the National Park Service was closing all of the park roads. They remained closed for the next 24 hours, all of which I spent in bed.