Crystal Range

...mouse click to enlarge...

The above is a crude flatbed scan from a 4x5 Provia 100F transparency I exposed with my 150mm Nikkor lens on June 7, 2007. The day before unseasonable snow showers occurred all day in higher elevation around Lake Tahoe. I had backpacked into Desolation Wilderness as snow squalls were active with temps near freezing even at midday. Maybe 3 or 4 inches fell at higher elevations over a couple days. However most of that snow that fell melted back quickly due to the warm ground temperatures from weeks of warmer spring weather. By sunset the storm had cleared and under starry skies radiation cooling brought the temperature at 8000 feet where I tented down to a chilly 20F degrees by sunrise. Here an hour after sunrise, the previous day's snow made the Crystal Range appear considerably more snow covered than it did later in the day when much of the shallow new snow had melted. At right mid ground are gnarly Sierra junipers common in that area with snowy Mount Price above them at right.

David Senesac
http://www.davidsenesac.com