Weather in the mountains can be rather unpredictable. It's one of the things that attracts me to them most. Being in Death Valley meant I was even closer to one of my favorite places in the west, the Eastern Sierra. With all the snow they had up there, I had wondered what the scenery would be like on the mountain peaks. After speaking with fellow photographer David Thompson, he encouraged me and my girlfriend to take a day trip up to take advantage of the winter wonderland. It wasn't tough to decide, and the next morning we packed up camp in the wee hours of darkness and headed to the mountains to catch first light. We arrived in Lone Pine just as the mountains were going to catch their first light. There was barely a cloud in the sky, let alone on top of the mountains. Just to the north however, we could see a wall of clouds just lingering over the mountains. We decided to venture further up the corridor stopping here and there to snap photos of the clouds dancing on the peaks. It was incredible, you could just pull over anywhere and watch the amazing weather at the tops of the mountains. We figured it would be fun to get as close to the mountains as possible, so we drove up and up until we reached the snow, and tried going even further. A few times it appeared as if we might have been stuck, but I had faith in my abilities to drive us out. Once we were back on track, we stopped and wandered around the snowy foothills of the mountain range. The clouds sweeping across the tops of the peaks and into some of the basins allowing to show some wonderful depth and textures in this area. We spent the entire morning and afternoon photographing the peaks and wandered back into Death Valley right at sunset. It was a long day that brought plenty of joy and happiness to us both. I felt quite fortunate to be able to witness these mountains under such a great amount of snow. I just wish I could have got there sooner, and not have left at all!
Mountains Majesty
