Surrounded by towering snow covered peaks, and views of the layered valley below, alpine climbing is one of those things in life that sets my soul free.

Making a pretty last minute decision, I called up a friend to ask if he wanted to go climb Mt Hood with me. Spontaneously, he said yes, we packed our bags, and raced to the mountain. By the time we arrived at our start point it was already mid day so there was no way we were making the full ascent as we didn't have any overnight gear packed with us. Still, we sent the hike to see how high we could get before it got too dark and we had to head back down the mountain.

We started our ascent up with mostly clear skies, the sun shining bright on the crunchy white snow. After hiking over 1/3 of the way up, the skies started to transition into what would be the most surreal scene I've witnessed during an alpine climb. The wind started to blow a crisp, cool breeze as a thin layer of wispy clouds formed over the north side of the mountain. The sun began to set on the horizon, creating a golden glow across the entire scene. Looking out, all you could see were golden layers of Oregon. The mix of cool air and thin clouds slowly melted it all into a mix of pink, purple, & blue pastels as the sun went down. Everywhere the light touched was illuminated with a cotton candy colored glow.

This image stands to remind us to be a bit spontaneous. You only live this life once, and in the end of it the one thing you'll remember are the memories you make today.

Edition 1/1 by Hunter LeRoy

Collector unlocks high res image file.