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Twaharpies Glacier, Wrangell St. Elias Mountains

The Twaharpies Mountains lie deep in roadless Wrangell St. Elias National Park. A friend and I accessed this region on snow machines, pulling sleds filled with all our gear. It took a full days’ ride and 65 miles across rivers and glacier moraines to reach the Twaharpies Glacier moraine.

Because of the rough terrain, we could not pull our sleds up to where we wanted to camp, so we shuttled our gear by strapping it onto our machines. Three trips each and we had everything on the moraine. We set up camp at dusk. The next evening, cloudy skies prevented hopeful aurora borealis photography but provided a uniform light at dusk. I shot this scene in 35mm and 6x17cm panorama format. Exposures changed quickly as the light diminished, and the challenge was all in timing the frames so the ambient light balanced with the light of the lantern in the tent.

Sometimes there are casualties to gear on trips like this…. On the first day, in below-zero temperatures, I flipped a snow machine upside-down in an open stream and sent a camera and lens swimming. Fortunately, as a matter of principle, I always take a back-up camera body.

Subject:

Twaharpies Winter Camp

Location:

Twaharpies Glacier, Wrangell St. Elias National Park, Alaska

Camera - film - gear:

• 35mm Canon EOS 3
• 17-35mm
• Fuji Velvia
• Bogen tripod
• Lantern

Field Notes