Mt. Whitney Snapshots

kdogkdog Administrators Posts: 11,681 moderator
edited August 9, 2016 in Landscapes
I did a quick 2-day trip to hike Mt. Whitney with a couple of friends. At 14,500', it's the highest mountain in the contiguous 48 states. Given we had to do 22 difficult miles in 2 days, I decided to forego my usual DSLRs and bought a new Sony RX100 IV the day before the trip. This little pocket beast has a 1" full-frame sensor. So I put that bad boy in RAW mode to see what it would do.

1 We camped out at 12,000', woke up at 4am to depart for the summit, and was treated to this view of our destination.

DSC00058-X2.jpg
The previous photo is a bit soft because I had the camera in P mode and it chose lousy settings. Plus I didn't yet know how to aim the autofocus (I do now). I did take subsequent shots that came out sharper, but I like this comp the best.

2 Headlamps from others making the trek..
DSC00067-X2.jpg

3 The sun rose while we were still working our way up the initial front face of the mountain.
DSC00089_HDR-X2.jpg

4 Dawn light on the mountain (the trail goes to the left)
DSC00091-X2.jpg

5 Eventually you pass through an opening to the back side of the mountain ridge at a place called Trail Crest, with a completely new view. Another hiker used my camera to snap this shot of me overlooking Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks as a return favor for doing the same for him.
DSC00105-X2.jpg

5a
DSC00102-X2.jpg

6 Watch out for aggressive panhandlers who have been known to bore holes in your pack while you rest.
DSC00109-X2.jpg

7
DSC00134-X2.jpg

8 Notch between the towers revealing the view from the front side as seen from the backside.
DSC00123-X2.jpg

9
DSC00130_HDR-X2.jpg

10 Still a bit of snow...
DSC00133-X2.jpg

11 Made it! Views from the top...
DSC00137-X2.jpg

12
DSC00138-X2.jpg

13
DSC00140-X2.jpg

14
DSC00141-X2.jpg

15 Descending back down to base camp, the clouds moved in. It's not good to be on the summit during a storm due to lightning danger, so it's a good thing we started early.
DSC00166-X2.jpg

So all in all, not bad for a tiny little P&S I thought. And no dust spots to correct! :clap
1436371239000_IMG_503619.jpg

More photos from the trip here if you want to have a look.

Thanks for looking.
-joel

Comments

Sign In or Register to comment.