Sharp peaks. Snow. Warm light from the sunrise. What more could you want in a winter mountain scene? 

In February of 2017, I traveled up to Mammoth Mountain with two friends to photograph the incomparable landscapes of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountain range, which had just been covered by an epic snowfall. We woke well before sunrise each morning to get in position to take photos like this and we were well rewarded.

One thing I realized on that trip, though: because the area I shot here is totally surrounded by mountains, the sun rose over the peaks to the east much later than the actual sunrise, so the colorful light one usually enjoys when el sol first raises his head over a flat horizon is almost gone. The key here being "almost."