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 I had already shot sunrise twice from the summit of Sunlight
Peak, back in the summer of 2006, but I had never shot a panorama from the summit. As I examined the map, it seemed to me
that Sunlight was quite possibly the best Fourteener in Colorado for a 360-degree panorama, with the spectacular peaks of
the Needle and Grenadier mountains rising in every direction.
You might think that the right lens for a 360-degree panorama would be a telephoto, to draw in all those distant peaks. The
problem with that approach, however, is that you end up with a print that is six feet wide and six inches high. To make such
a wide panorama interesting, you need to be able to look down steeply from the summit, so you can use a wide-angle lens and
make a print that is six feet wide and perhaps 15 inches high - a much more appealing shape. The true summit of Sunlight Peak
is a massive granite obelisk that rises some 20 feet above the jumbled pile of boulders where the summit register can be found.
Reaching the summit requires a few delicate moves on a 4th class friction slab, then stepping across a deep but narrow chasm
and making a final few scrambling moves onto the summit. The level portion of the summit is so small, and so exposed, that
I've never actually dared to stand up on it; instead, I've merely sat. Sunlight Peak, with its pointy summit, offers an ideal
vantage point for a 360-degree panorama.
The summit
is so tiny, however, that it creates a logistical problem: to shoot a 360-degree panorama, you have to keep moving to stay
behind the camera and stay out of the field of view of the ultra-wide-angle 16mm lens. How could I do that when the summit
is so tiny that there's no place to stand?
 I couldn't remember the summit clearly enough to know if
there was any way to rotate the camera through 360 degrees without getting into the field of view of the lens, so I brought
a radio release that would allow me to fire the shutter remotely after I climbed down from the summit and hid behind some
nearby boulder.
I had gotten to bed at midnight after
shooting sunset from Mt. Eolus. For the next two days I explored Chicago Basin and shot photos of mountain goats and waterfalls.
Forty-eight hours after finishing my Eolus shoot, I got up at midnight to start my climb of Sunlight. I remembered the route
fairly well after climbing it twice in 2006, and the ascent went smoothly, taking just over three hours, which put me on the
summit at 4 am - more than an hour and a half before sunrise. I climbed to the very summit by headlamp and began experimenting
with tripod positions that would allow me to rotate the panoramic head through 360 degrees. To my great relief, I discovered
that I could stay out of the camera's view by straddling the summit obelisk with my left leg dangling over the abyss, then
scrambling around to the opposite side of the summit to a small ledge where I could still reach up and trigger the cable release.
The radio release would be unnecessary, which would make it much easier to create a stitchable series of images during the
fleeting moments of sunrise.
At last it began to get light. A few cumulus clouds blushed pink as the sun rose, and the moon shone brightly as it
set over Chicago Basin. I shot multiple panoramas, three frames per camera position, 30 degree rotation between each set of
three images, scrambling back and forth across the summit block to stay out the frame, pausing for just a minute between sequences
to let the light evolve into something different than what I'd just captured.
In
my euphoria over the magnificent sunrise, I almost forgot how precariously I was clinging to the summit, and how high was
the vertical cliff below me. I've noticed over the years that sleep deprivation, combined with the variable focus of my progressive-lens
glasses, can cause a moment of what I can only call vertigo. Such a moment hit without warning when I was balanced precariously
with one foot on a sloping hold in the middle of a panorama sequence. Suddenly I became completely disoriented. My sense of
balance vanished. For a single terrifying moment, I began to topple over backwards. Then the world snapped back into focus
again. I lunged for the top of the summit block, grabbed it and steadied myself. If I'd missed, I'd have taken a 20-foot free-fall
into a boulder-strewn slot and would almost certainly have been seriously injured or killed. It was a chilling reminder of
how a single moment of carelessness or neglect can turn an exhilarating climb and photo shoot into a disaster.
 When the color of the light faded to white and the moon
set over Chicago Basin, I packed up, taking extreme care not to drop a $2,200 lens off a cliff. Then I scrambled carefully
back down the summit ridge, did the twinkle-toed, tippy talus two-step down the loose, unstable gravel, scree and boulders
filling the Red Couloir, and hiked back to my camp in Chicago Basin. My mood alternated between exhilaration and somber reflection.
I'd always assured my wife Cora that the most dangerous part of all my outdoor adventures was driving to the trailhead. I
had inadvertently proven myself right in 2008 when I was rear-ended on I-70 by a semi. By great good fortune, I had walked
away, but my 4Runner was totaled. Now I had almost proven myself wrong. I owed it to her, to my teenage daughters Emily and
Audrey, and to myself to make sure such an incident didn't happen again.
Sunlight Peak Panorama is available as a 6.5x30, 8.6x40, 13x60
and 15.5x72 inch print. The 6.5x30 and 8.6x40 prints are available loose, matted-only and framed. The 13x60 and
15.5x72 inch prints are available loose and framed. (They are too big to be matted.)
To order any of the loose sizes, or to order a 6.5x30 inch matted-only
or 6.5x30 framed piece, please visit my product catalog by clicking the link beneath the appropriate thumbnail.
These prints are available to order online.
Important note on shipping: All matted-only and framed prints larger than
6.5x30 are too big to be shipped via FedEx ground and too big to fit in any standard-size art box. While these prints
can be shipped, they require a custom-made crate and the cost is exorbitant ($300+). I strongly suggest that all customers
who live outside the Denver metro area and who wish to purchase a print larger than 6.5x30 buy the loose version and take
it to the custom frame shop of their choosing. I will glady provide detailed instructions to the framer on the moulding
I use and my preferred method of mounting and framing the piece.
For customers who live in the Denver metro area,
I will personally deliver any matted-only or framed print larger than 6.5x30 for a delivery charge of $1.50 per
mile based on round-trip mileage. Alternatively, Denver-area customers can arrange to pick up their print at my
home office in south Boulder. For more information, please call 303 499-3009 or email me.
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8.6x40 matted-only print of Sunlight Peak Panorama. To order, call 303 499-3009 or email me.
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8.6x40 framed print of Sunlight Peak Panorama. To order, call 303 499-3009 or email me.
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13x60 framed print of Sunlight Peak Panorama.
To order, call 303 499-3009 or email me.
15.5x72 framed print of Sunlight Peak Panorama. To order, call 303 499-3009 or email me.
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