by Zack Schnepf
Mount Bachelor and the Three Sisters Wilderness is an amazing winter playground located near the city of Bend, Oregon. I’ve been visiting this area since I was a kid and have very fond memories of this area. Mount Bachelor is still my favorite mountain to snowboard on in the Northwest, especially on a bluebird day with the summit open. Naturally, I’ve always wanted a photo of Bachelor in majestic light. After six years of failed attempts, I was finally able to capture some worthwhile images of this mountain.
Good friend Gabe Christian dropping off the summit of Bachelor with the Three Sister poking through the fog in the background.
Every winter I have a short list of locations I’d like to shoot if the conditions present themselves. This year, as for the past 6 years, Mt Bachelor was at the top of the list. A few weeks ago I saw a promising weather window with a good chance of clearing after a good cold storm. I packed up that same day and headed over to Bend the next evening. Luckily, I have some very good friends who let me stay with them in Sisters, near Bend. I went to bed as early as I could so I could get a very early start.
I woke up at 2am, left town at 2:30am and started snowshoeing at 3:30am on Friday. It was 5 degrees, windy and snowing hard when I parked at the Dutchman Flats snow park. I suited up in my snow gear, strapped on my snowshoes and started the hike up Tumalo Mountain. Tumalo Mountain is just to the Northeast of Bachelor, and is a favorite back country ski location. At the top you have a 360 view of the area, including Bachelor, the Three Sisters, and Broken Top.
Normally I leave my jacket off when I start snowshoeing up this kind of elevation, I warm up really fast and I want to avoid getting too sweaty. It was so cold on this morning I started with all my gear on. I did warm up later, and removed my jacket, hat, and gloves for most of the climb. It’s important to avoid sweating too much in the cold, when you stop climbing your body stops generating as much heat, the sweat on your skin and in your clothes can cause hypothermia. It’s a good idea to wear layers and remove them as you get hot.
The snow was deep and cold, even with snowshoes I was sinking to my knee with each step. It continued to snow the entire climb, I had my doubts I would even see the mountain, but I could see an opening above my head and stars shining through. This gave me hope that the forecast might be right. I pressed on and hoped for the best. I was rewarded for my effort. When I reached the top it was 45 minutes or so before sunrise. I looked back at Mt Bachelor and saw the clouds parting around the mountain in the predawn light. It’s hard to describe the sense of awe and wonder I felt as I watched this incredible mountain emerge from the storm clouds in the predawn light. Majestic, and awesome come to mind as applicable superlatives. In any case it was a moving experience.
The view right after the mountain first emerged from the storm clouds.
It was even colder at the top, and the wind was whipping. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find my thin gloves for this trip, so I had to remove my mittens each time I wanted to photograph. I received a couple minor frostbite burns when I accidentally touched my exposed skin to the metal of my tripod and my fingers were going numb every time they were exposed. The wind was also making it difficult to get a clean, sharp exposure in the low light. I used some frozen trees as wind blocks when I could. I would also stand in the path of the wind creating a wind block for my camera setup. This was actually very effective, and allowed me to get tack sharp long exposures.
The mountain was only clear of clouds for about 10 minutes, by the time the sun came up the mountain was under the clouds once again. I was extremely grateful for those few minutes working in light my buddy Sean Bagshaw dubbed salmon light. On this occasion it looked more like fantasy light. I can’t recall ever seeing light quite like this. It was lavender in the sky and on the snow, and something right out of a fantasy novel. When I processed the image with the lavender sky, I wanted to convey that feeling of awe, wonder, and fantasy I felt while I was there. The attributes were already there I just accentuated them further. I’m so happy I was finally able to capture one of my favorite places in proper light, now I can cross it off my list for now and add some new locations to the winter short list.
Mt Bachelor during the lavender fantasy light.
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