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p.1 #1 · Enchantments, Great light and fierce weather | |
I scored a walk-up permit for the core enchantments zone in WA from OCT 21-24. Bad weather was coming in on the 23rd so I ended up only using 2 nights of it and had to really push my schedule to get as many shots as I could on the only full day of clear weather, the 22nd.
I was going to get off work Wednesday the 21st, but did not, so I drove up after work, reaching the trailhead at 1030pm. I had estimated 5 hours to get up to the upper enchantments basin, morning twilight started at 630am so just to be safe I decided to start the hike right away and hope to get a nap in before sunrise. However, there was quite a bit of snow and ice on Asgard pass, so it was very slow going climbing by headlamp. After 8 hours of hiking I made it just up to the upper enchantments, and the sky was starting to brighten up.
I got busy and started shooting, the dawn light was great! I had been up about 27 hours at that point so I went to bed and set my alarm for 330pm so I wouldn't miss sunset.
Sunset was equally spectacular, I was still pretty tired and knew it was going to be tough getting down in the coming storm so I didn't venture too far from my camp, although I had originally wanted to climb Little Annapurna if I had more time. I was still able to get a few different compositions though.
I just carried the Sigma 14-24, CV 50 APO and Zeiss Loxia 85 with the NiSi S5 kit for this trip, it was heavy enough carrying winter gear. Temps got down to the low teens so I was glad I made more room for warm stuff.
Sure enough, storm came in Friday morning. I started the down climb early enough that I passed the major crux sections of ice before it got really bad, but it was still a slow paced deliberate effort to make it back down Asgard pass.
Conditions climbing down
CV 50 APO, f8, stack of 60 frames at 1/40 with CPL and Reverse GND

Sigma 14-24 2 14.6mm (must have bumped it), f11, stack of 8 frames at 6 sec, CPL, 5-Stop ND and 3 Stop medium GND

Loxia 85, f8, blend of two exposures

CV 50 APO, f8, stack of 30 frames at .4 with CPL

CV 50 APO, f8, stack of 60 frames at 1/4 with CPL

Sigma 14-24 @ 14mm and f9, stack of 60 frames at .8, CPL, 5-stop ND and 3 Stop medium GND

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