Chair Mountain from Huntsman Ridge

In the winter of 2010-2011 I was chosen to be the Artist in Wilderness for Wilderness Workshop, a small non-profit dedicated to preserving new wilderness areas in Colorado's White River National Forest. I spent a week that winter shooting images of proposed wilderness areas near Carbondale and Eagle. On the first leg of my shoot I hauled my sled with three days of winter camping equipment and camera gear to the crest of Huntsman Ridge, which forms the southern boundary of a proposed wilderness area just north of McClure Pass. I had timed my shoot to begin just as a major winter storm departed. A steady flow of moist, near-freezing air during my first night camping on the ridge added a layer of hoarfrost to the already snow-laden branches of these trees. The ridge was still shrouded in fog when I emerged from my tent before sunrise. As the sun rose, the fog gradually cleared and revealed a spectacular winter wonderland. This shot looking south toward Chair Mountain is my favorite image from a beautiful morning.