Mid-May Snowstorm on Franconia Ridge
02nd June 2019
May 15 2019 Mid-May Fresh Snow on Franconia Ridge!
Mt. Lincoln as seen from the shoulder of Mt. Lafayette
Crepuscular rays behind Greenleaf hut
Sunrise on Mt. Lafayette
For a long time, I have been waiting for an opportunity to get good sunset alpenglow shots on Franconia Ridge with fresh snow on the trees. Two weeks ago, I finally got it got the chance to give it a proper go.
We had a high snow winter in the White Mountains this year. However, it was usually brutally windy and cold following snowstorms, so for safety and the fact stuff would be blown off the trees I never attempted this shot in real winter this year. A few weeks ago, the higher summits in the Whites picked up 2 to 10 inches of fresh sticky snow and the winds were supposed to be low after. Finally! The catch was that the forecast was for cloudy skies with the summits in the clouds. Watching the futurecast closely however, I noticed that there was a chance of some breaks in the clouds further off to the west in Vermont. Maybe some light would squeak through. I figured the photographers maxim "the worse the weather, the better the shots" might come into play this time and it would be worth the gamble. The continued cloud cover would keep the snow from melting off the trees too. Otherwise, the May sun would zap it.
Luckily I had the ability to take off on this mid-week hike in the afternoon. To help my efforts, I took advantage of Greenleaf Hut (situated at 4200' on the shoulder of Mt. Lafayette) being open for self service season for a few weeks in early May. The rates to stay there during self service season are around $30 (you have to bring a sleeping bag, all food, and cook for yourself) instead of the usual $130 a night per person. Even if my hopes for some light to break out at sunset were wrong, I figured I couldn't lose just spending a night in a special place when very few people would be there.
When I hiked up late that afternoon, the skies were still cloudy and the peaks were still socked in. I was still living on hope.
I settled into Greenleaf Hut (which had an inside temperature of 36 degrees, made dinner, and watched the skies. The outside temps were in the 20's F, but as expected there was little wind.
At 6:40 pm, it was still cloudy and there was no color but I decided to head up partway to the summit of Lafayette and scout compositions and hope for the best. The whole sky never lit up, but I did get a few minutes at a time of some very interesting, intense light on various vistas and features. It was really special!
Crepuscular rays to the west looking down the Greenleaf Trail
Interesting light on Mt. Moosilauke 4802' in the distance
I finally got the purple alpenglow with fresh snow from high on Franconia Ridge! See the first shot in this post for another example. It only lasted a minute though!
The light faded, but I kept hoping for more. It didn't happen. I checked my watch and it was 8:20. Past sunset. Pure monochrome cloudy conditions took hold. But I figured since I was standing at about 4800' on Mt. Lafayette, I should make the best of it. I noticed the clouds were moving in an interesting way and tried to make some long exposures since there was such little light and I was able to get slow shutter speeds.
Black and white version of a 30 second exposure.
Finally, it got dark. I hiked the half mile down to the hut with my headlamp to be sure to see the texture of the snow (in the trees there was still several feet of old snow riddled with postholes being covered by the fresh snow). I had only seen a few people all day! How rare on the ridge in May!
I was up at 3:30 am the next morning, but saw that the sky was cloudy so I didn't try for a sunrise summit bid. I walked around the hut in my socks so as not to wake the caretaker or 6 other guests and made oatmeal and coffee and watched the ridge out of the window.
Around 5 am, some very nice light broke out, so I got my boots and headed outside for some shots:
If you look closely you will notice the very top of the ridgeline is catching awesome orange light from the eastern illumination.
At 7 am the summit was socked in, but the forecast was for some clearing so I decided to give it a go for Mt. Lafayette 5260' and Mt. Lincoln 5080'.
It was right around freezing, and I knew it would be getting warmer and sunny, so I wasn't too worried about getting socked in a losing my way.
Fresh rime ice coated the rocks, just like winter!
When I got to the summit of Lafayette the fog started to part perfectly on cue. Magic! The ridge was unveiled.
I had a great hike over to Mt. Lincoln and then back to Lafayette (I decided to leave my overnight gear at the hut and do an out and back to bag the peaks). Amazingly I saw only 3 people! As expected, the May sun zapped the snow on the east side of the peak in an hour:
I was really blessed to get this outing in! Even the last 2 miles in the rain couldn't dampen my spirits after this one.
Mt. Lincoln as seen from the shoulder of Mt. Lafayette
Crepuscular rays behind Greenleaf hut
Sunrise on Mt. Lafayette
For a long time, I have been waiting for an opportunity to get good sunset alpenglow shots on Franconia Ridge with fresh snow on the trees. Two weeks ago, I finally got it got the chance to give it a proper go.
We had a high snow winter in the White Mountains this year. However, it was usually brutally windy and cold following snowstorms, so for safety and the fact stuff would be blown off the trees I never attempted this shot in real winter this year. A few weeks ago, the higher summits in the Whites picked up 2 to 10 inches of fresh sticky snow and the winds were supposed to be low after. Finally! The catch was that the forecast was for cloudy skies with the summits in the clouds. Watching the futurecast closely however, I noticed that there was a chance of some breaks in the clouds further off to the west in Vermont. Maybe some light would squeak through. I figured the photographers maxim "the worse the weather, the better the shots" might come into play this time and it would be worth the gamble. The continued cloud cover would keep the snow from melting off the trees too. Otherwise, the May sun would zap it.
Luckily I had the ability to take off on this mid-week hike in the afternoon. To help my efforts, I took advantage of Greenleaf Hut (situated at 4200' on the shoulder of Mt. Lafayette) being open for self service season for a few weeks in early May. The rates to stay there during self service season are around $30 (you have to bring a sleeping bag, all food, and cook for yourself) instead of the usual $130 a night per person. Even if my hopes for some light to break out at sunset were wrong, I figured I couldn't lose just spending a night in a special place when very few people would be there.
When I hiked up late that afternoon, the skies were still cloudy and the peaks were still socked in. I was still living on hope.
I settled into Greenleaf Hut (which had an inside temperature of 36 degrees, made dinner, and watched the skies. The outside temps were in the 20's F, but as expected there was little wind.
At 6:40 pm, it was still cloudy and there was no color but I decided to head up partway to the summit of Lafayette and scout compositions and hope for the best. The whole sky never lit up, but I did get a few minutes at a time of some very interesting, intense light on various vistas and features. It was really special!
Crepuscular rays to the west looking down the Greenleaf Trail
Interesting light on Mt. Moosilauke 4802' in the distance
I finally got the purple alpenglow with fresh snow from high on Franconia Ridge! See the first shot in this post for another example. It only lasted a minute though!
The light faded, but I kept hoping for more. It didn't happen. I checked my watch and it was 8:20. Past sunset. Pure monochrome cloudy conditions took hold. But I figured since I was standing at about 4800' on Mt. Lafayette, I should make the best of it. I noticed the clouds were moving in an interesting way and tried to make some long exposures since there was such little light and I was able to get slow shutter speeds.
Black and white version of a 30 second exposure.
Finally, it got dark. I hiked the half mile down to the hut with my headlamp to be sure to see the texture of the snow (in the trees there was still several feet of old snow riddled with postholes being covered by the fresh snow). I had only seen a few people all day! How rare on the ridge in May!
I was up at 3:30 am the next morning, but saw that the sky was cloudy so I didn't try for a sunrise summit bid. I walked around the hut in my socks so as not to wake the caretaker or 6 other guests and made oatmeal and coffee and watched the ridge out of the window.
Around 5 am, some very nice light broke out, so I got my boots and headed outside for some shots:
If you look closely you will notice the very top of the ridgeline is catching awesome orange light from the eastern illumination.
At 7 am the summit was socked in, but the forecast was for some clearing so I decided to give it a go for Mt. Lafayette 5260' and Mt. Lincoln 5080'.
It was right around freezing, and I knew it would be getting warmer and sunny, so I wasn't too worried about getting socked in a losing my way.
Fresh rime ice coated the rocks, just like winter!
When I got to the summit of Lafayette the fog started to part perfectly on cue. Magic! The ridge was unveiled.
I had a great hike over to Mt. Lincoln and then back to Lafayette (I decided to leave my overnight gear at the hut and do an out and back to bag the peaks). Amazingly I saw only 3 people! As expected, the May sun zapped the snow on the east side of the peak in an hour:
I was really blessed to get this outing in! Even the last 2 miles in the rain couldn't dampen my spirits after this one.
Comments
By Shaun Bean: This is as amazing as always, John!