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AKMtnr OP t1_j7i3odm wrote

I took these photos Saturday night (2/4/23). I got lucky with the weather, the clouds were covering the Chugach all day, but parted at sunset. I took this on the frozen Eagle River, between the Yukla Yurt and the Echo Bend area of the Crow Pass trail. From this view, you can see nearly 7,000 feet of rise on the NW face of the peak. This is almost double the rise of in elevation you see on El Capitan from the Yosemite Valley floor. I climbed this one back in May of 2021 (from the much more moderate East/North East aspects).

Photo details: this is a panoramic of a few vertical shots stitched together. Why? Because I only had a telephoto with me and the composition at 100mm was too tight for my liking.

Camera and settings:

Sony A7RV

Sony 100-400mm lens

100mm, f/7.1, ISO 100, 1 second

You can see more of my photography here:

https://www.instagram.com/aholphoto/

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sal_fontinalis t1_j7l0rln wrote

Spent a night solo in that Yukla yurt around the winter solstice a decade ago. Snowshoed back out to the trailhead next day at noon and car thermometer read -20F. I have no idea how cold it was overnight. In the Midwest now, but would always prefer dead still sub-zero AK air to the sub-zero wind chills we get down here.

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AKMtnr OP t1_j7l9l1v wrote

Wow, that is really cold, even for here! I also lucked out on the weather, it really wasn't cold at all. It was probably in the low 30's and no wind whatsoever. I could hear owls hooting in the distance and as I got back to the trail proper, I even heard a wolf howl! I'm looking at booking the yurt now but...by the time there are weekend openings...it won't be very dark anymore.

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sal_fontinalis t1_j7mojdq wrote

With all those big spruces, I remember the owls being hard to spot. That said, I could “see” them in other ways in winter - small mammal tracks in fresh snow, ending in a disturbance, with the imprint of owl wings descending and beating to ascend quickly again. Likewise with lynx tracks in the snow. Follow them far enough, and they often intersect a hare track that ends abruptly in a bit of blood and fur. That place is magic, and your excellent photograph captures it well.

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SoloExperiencer t1_j7i426z wrote

Beautiful light, composition, and editing!

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AKMtnr OP t1_j7o2ktv wrote

Thank you! It's rare when those things align, but this night they did!

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struggleingwithnames t1_j7ke9d5 wrote

This is too much colour editing done here if you ask me. The blacks have way too much of a green tint that looks really unnatural on those pine stems and the overall whitebalance is too much in the pinks. Just less colour overall would help this a great deal.

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AKMtnr OP t1_j7l9vhw wrote

I seriously appreciate your honest feedback on this, different strokes! The white balance is my favorite part and I didn't want to crush the blacks so I left some shadow detail in them. White balance starts to become pretty subjective when you are shooting longer exposures at lower lights, I chose to optimize for the alpen glow.

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lokoston t1_j7inmj6 wrote

Brrrrrr......

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AKMtnr OP t1_j7o2mfz wrote

It wasn't all that cold for Alaska this time of year, it was actually right around freezing, believe it or not!

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JWGirl t1_j7jeo1j wrote

Thanks for a great shot of our awesome state!

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AKMtnr OP t1_j7o2oag wrote

Anytime, trying to not take it for granted while I'm lucky enough to live here!

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JWGirl t1_j7o3nxn wrote

Completely get it! Have been here 50+ years. Am still Amazed.

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UMagnet t1_j7jwkae wrote

What an awesome winter wonderland. Was this taken during the polar night? The purple glow reminds me of polar twilight just north of the Arctic circle.

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AKMtnr OP t1_j7o2vaq wrote

No polar night at this low of latitude. Eagle River is more or less a bedroom community of Anchorage so our sun is setting ~5:30ish right now. Which, feels downright late compared to December! I'm in this area a lot in the summer, but never really awake late enough to catch the ~11:40pm sunset!

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jageshgoyal t1_j7kubak wrote

Can someone teleport me there so that I can just sit for like 10 minutes and be back? Is that a lot to ask?

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AKMtnr OP t1_j7o2wjp wrote

Well, it's easier to fly up here than you think ;)

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