[Cyclopath]

A week ago I skied Amabilis with the intention of getting to the top at sunset, and then taking night sky photos. Traffic held me up a little more than I expected, and I was still on the trail when the sun went down. It was fun skiing up in the soft light and seeing the Snoqualmie peaks in the evening, with the place to myself. It was extremely cold last week when I did this, my camera battery didn't work. I brought a 5D, a 24 mm f/1.4, and a 135 mm f/1.4, with a tripod, close to 15 pounds of gear, for nothing. All the pics in this trip report are from my phone which didn't have that problem, possibly because it rode up in a pocket in my base layer where it stayed warm. The way back down was fast as always, I brought a very bright light and it was as easy as day. There was a lot of hoarfrost above 4,000' and it looked beautiful reflecting my light, with the fading embers of the day retreating on the horizon. I ran into four skiers coming up on my way down, below the Y. I can't imagine what they were doing. What kind of crazy person wants to ski Amabilis in the cold and dark? Hope it was a good time, whatever they were up to.

The Y

Getting Close

It's time

Rainier

Kachess

Venus and Jupiter

[GaliWalker]

I stick my Canon 5D Mark III’s battery inside my sock, or glove, basically so that it’s next to my skin. Even so, when the battery touches the cold metal of the camera it starts to lose juice, so you need to keep repeating after every shot, or set of shots. I’ve done this for years now, including when it’s got as cold as -22F.

[Bootpathguy]

Thanks for sharing & the memories. My wife & I did that a few years back. Returned by headlamp. Skies were clear and the stars were fantastic!

[williswall]

Fantastic!

[Cyclopath]

[GaliWalker]

Putting the battery in your pocket can work when the temperature isn’t that cold. The trick is to take the battery out of the cold camera after each use, and put it back in your pocket so that it can recover.