Mt. Ashland Sunrise

This shot is truly one of those right place at the right time moments. I woke up at 3am to hike the local ski area, Mt. Ashland, and began my climb just before 4am. With at least 40-50 pounds of gear on my back, inadequate hiking snowboarding boots, and a banana for fuel, it took me about 2 hours to get 3-4 of the way to the summit. This was one of the most challenging hikes I've ever done. I hiked a little less than a mile, but gained almost 2500 feet in elevation. That should tell you how steep this mountain is.

I stopped at nice clearing around 6am to catch my breath for the 50th time, and noticed the sun was starting to paint the sky. I decided to stop my climb and start looking for compositions. As time went on, the sky kept getting more and more vibrant. I immediately started snapping away trying to capture as many angles as I could. It's easily the most unique sunrises I've ever seen. The exhausting hike was completely worth every second of this sunrise.

This is a combination of three exposures. One for the snow and foreground, another for the mountains in the background, and one for the sky. Shot on a Canon 5D mk3 and a 16-35mm f2.8.
Read less