TDH Sunrise + Sunset ( +repost)

Noticing a break in the weather, a co-worker and I took off as early as possible on Friday to get up and set up camp on the ridge. While I know it is not the ideal time for sun positioning and all, we had an unbelievable time, zero wind allowed us to camp right on the ridge. It was quite an experience to have the place to ourselves, shoot the sunset, and enjoy cigars on a quiet, relatively warm evening. The morning was a differnet story. I do have a new appreciation for those that like to take photographs in the winter. It is hard enough to drag yourself out of a cozy tent in the brutal cold before sunrise. It is then a whole other challenge to try and set up a stable tripod in the driving wind and deep snow, then play around with filters and adapters when your fingers begin to freeze in seconds if you take your gloves off.
This is a great, short trip to some really beautiful views. I think the sun was positioned best for sunset in this case. I tried to take advantage of the morning light as best I could by using the snow in the foreground.
I'll post both and would appreciate any advice for improvement.

Sunrise:
Canon 350D, 10-22 EF-S
F22, 1/8 sec. at 10mm

Sunset:
Canon 350D, 10-22 EF-S
F16, 1/8 sec. at 12mm

Sunset

Beautiful composition and winter feel. I really like how the trees are pointing toward the peak! Nice stuff. Was it as cold as it looks?

Really nice - did you snowshoe to get up here ?? How was the hike ? I've only done the hike in summer when you walk the ridge to get up here - is there another way up ? Sorry for all the questions but this is one place I'd love to get to this winter.

I like the Sunset shot a bit better, but both are very nice !!

Derek- It wasn't unusually cold but the wind was whipping in the morning and you are totally exposed on that ridge. You can see the snow blowing in the sunrise shot to the left of the trees in the foreground.
John- By all means go up there next time the weather is accomodating. There is also a compelling location to shoot from down at Mirror lake, which is a much shorter hike in. The only other person we saw was a photographer set up down at the lake on our way out.
We snowshoed in and there were plenty of ski tracks as well. It is an unmarked route but fairly easily followable down low due to the tracks. The evident switchbacks going up the ridge in the afternoon were erased by morning but it is fairly easy to pick your way down to the lake. There are many side trails branching off from the main trail in the woods but it all pretty much leads to HWY 26 and the trailhead.

Larry this is great I have always wanted to go here but had no one that could do it. I am kind of worried to do it by myself - is it okay to do by yourself and how long did it take to get here ? Thanks for any info you can give me. Thanks Kevin

Kevin- Based on some of the photos I've seen of yours and the locations they appear to be, I'd say you would have no problem at all going up there yourself. There is some exposure on the route and a potential for avalanche danger according to the info I have read so check the conditions and it doesn't hurt to stop in at the Ranger station on Hwy 26 a little west of the trailhead to check in and inquire. For these reasons I prefer to go with someone else if possible. Let me know if you see the right conditions and are planning something, I may be able to break away and I'd like the opportunity to learn a few things about photography. It sounds like Marc Adamus and Zack Schenpf go up there routinely by themselves and they may be better to ask as they have done it many times but I can tell you that it is ridiculous that there aren't people crawling all over the place up there considering how quick and relatively easy it was to get to and the views that we had. We left Portland at 2 pm and got up there well before sunset in time to scout around, set-up camp, and shoot pictures.
It's only about 3 miles by the trail according to my map but it's probably shorter in the snow as there really is no trail other than what people lay down and I have a feeling from last weekend that we took a far more direct route up the ridge. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get where we wanted to go but it could take far longer if the conditions are worse. I think Zack Schenpf mentioned that it took him 7 hours to get up there in waist deep snow to get his great shot. There is some good info on the route online and in the book, "Snowshoe Routes Oregon" put out by the Mountaineers and available in bookstores around town.
Best of succes. Hope this helps.

Thanks Larry I just purchased that book so I will check it out. And if you think that you might go again soon please let me know and I can snowshoe up there with you. Thanks Kevin

After posting the Sunrise image, it appeared a bit soft to me so here is a sharper version. I also forgot to indicate that I blended two images from the single RAW file, 1 for the sky and 1 for the mountain and snow.

Better conditions than when I was last up there in Feb. I think you did what you could but I am not sure I like the leaning trees so much, they seem to lean a little too much for me. Either way thanks for posting, nice to see what it looked like there over the weekend!

And I know about the wind. I had the same thing on Tumalo Mt, from nice and calm to relentless wind between sunset and middle of the night!

I like the sunrise photo better, and like the one at the top of the page a bit better than your second version.

Great shot, and thanks for all the detail on getting there and taking it.