Aerial Photography

Grand tour of a wintertime northern North Cascades.

Flight order: Baker, Shuksan, Picket Range, Snowfield, Bonanza, Gunsight, Sinister, Dome, Spire Point, Boston, Forbidden, Eldorado, Lookout.

Mount Baker	Mt. Shuksan	Mt. Shuksan	Picket Range
Picket Range	Degenhardt and The Pyramid	Crooked Thumb, Ghost, and Phantom	Mt. Challenger
Bonanza Peak	Dome Peak	Boston Peak	Forbidden Peak
Eldorado Peak	Eldorado Peak	Lookout Mtn Lookout

Flying south to north over some of the most rugged terrain of the Lower 48.

Flight order: Three Fingers, Vesper, Pugh, Dome, Spire Point, Gunsight, Goode, Logan, Jack, Hozomeen, Picket Range.

Three Fingers Lookout	Vesper Peak	Pugh and Glacier	Dome Peak
Spire Point	Spire Point	Gunsight Peak	Gunsight Peak
Mt. Goode	Mt. Goode	Mt. Logan	Mt. Logan
Mt. Logan	Jack Mtn.	Jack Mtn.	Jack Mtn.
Hozomeen	Hozomeen	Hozomeen	Hozomeen

Clouds and spring snowcover over the rugged heart of the North Cascades.

Flight order: Snowking, Snowqueen, Buckindy / Misch, Sentinel / Old Guard, Formidable, Johannesburg, Eldorado, Snowfield / The Needle, Pickets, Shuksan, Baker, Twin Sisters, Baker.

Clouds and Cascades	Snowking Mtn.	Snowqueen Mtn.	Mt. Buckindy
Mt. Formidable	Mt. Formidable	Mt. Formidable	Johannesburg Mtn.
Johannesburg Mtn.	Johannesburg Mtn.	Torment-Forbidden	Backbone Ridge
Snowfield Massif	Snowfield Massif	Mt. Terror	Himmelgeisterhorn & Twin Needles
Southern Pickets	W and E Fury	Swiss Peak	Phantom Peak
Mt. Challenger	Luna & Challenger	Mt. Shuksan	Mt. Shuksan
South Twin Sister	Mount Baker	Mount Baker	Mount Baker

The main goals of these two flights was to shoot some video footage of Mount Baker as well capture John Scurlock in photographic action. The conditions on the two flights were completely different and both truly spectacular: on July 1 a beautiful lenticular cloud capped the summit, while on July 26 the summit poked above a blanket of clouds. Below, a couple of short video clips and a handful of still shots give an idea of the amazing evenings aloft.

Aerial Footage 1: Lenticular Cloud over Baker

Unedited aerial footage taken July 1, 2011 using a Canon 5D in live view video mode. I've left the audio as flight noise to give an idea of what it's like up there in the plane. Pretty cool to see a lenticular cloud from above!

Aerial Footage 2: Flying around Colfax Peak

Unedited aerial footage taken July 26, 2011 using Canon 5D in live view video mode. I've replaced the audio with an appropriately-titled song "Dreamscape."

Lenticular cloud.	Climbers heading towards cloud cap.	Lenticular cloud.	Lenticular cloud.
Sherman Peak, crater, and summit.	North Face.	Cool clouds.	Hanging out and reflecting.

After a week of mountain snowstorms and a forecast calling for more snow ahead, we took advantage of a short window of evening clearing to photography the freshly snowbound summits. Winter has arrived early this year in the North Cascades.

Flight order: Snowfield, The Needle, The Haystack, Southern Pickets, Despair, Triumph, Blum.

The Needle and Snowfield	The Haystack and The Needle	McMillan Spires	Mt. Terror
Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets
Twin Needles and Himmelgeisterhorn	Southern Pickets	Despair	Despair
Triumph	Triumph	Blum

I had never been able to get a good photo of Glacier Peak, so the goal of this flight was to get one. At the last moment, we decided to leave a bit earlier and first fly 45 miles south of Glacier Peak to the Mt. Stuart massive. The evening light was spectacular: Glacier Peak bathed in alpenglow against a magnificent pink and blue horizon—I think I finally got my good photo of this iconic Cascades summit!

Mt. Stuart	Mt. Stuart	Dragontail Peak	Prusik Peak
Glacier Peak, 4:00:42 pm	Glacier Peak, 4:02:03 pm	Glacier Peak, 4:03:55 pm	Glacier Peak (ridge), 4:05:18 pm
Glacier Peak, 4:12:02 pm	Glacier Peak, 4:13:20 pm	Glacier Peak, 4:13:44 pm	Glacier Peak, 4:17:17 pm

This was a quick 47 min aerial photography flight around Mount Baker just before sunset. It was unusually calm, so we were able to fly completely around the alpenglowing massif, about level with the 10,781 ft summit. We then looped around a few more times, gaining elevation (up to 14,800+ ft) until we had a unique bird’s eye view straight down onto the summit. It was cold up there: -10°F!

Baker summit	Baker summit	Summits in line	Glowing glacier
Sherman Crater	Sherman Crater	Sherman Crater	Lincoln Peak
Lincoln Peak	Lincoln Peak	Colfax Peak	Colfax and Lincoln

Baker

Ocean meets Mountains

Ocean meets Mountains (labeled)
This makes a great 20x30 poster. Thanks to John Roper for his input on the feature names.

On the evening of this second day of winter, we flew to the northern extremities of North Cascades National Park to photograph Redoubt, Spickard, and Mox Peaks. These are some of the most rugged summits in the Lower 48. On the flight back to the airstrip in Concrete, we enjoyed a sunset over the Picket Range. This flight was 145 miles long and just over an hour.

Shuksan	Shuksan	Shuksan	Redoubt
Redoubt	Redoubt	Mox and Spickard	Mox and Spickard
Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets

The primary destination of this evening aerial adventure was the remote Entiat Range: Maude, Seven Fingered Jack, Fernow, and Copper. We watched the shadows lengthen and the light turn pink as evening entered the land or rugged rock and snow summits. On the flight back home, we circled around some other great Cascade peaks, namely Bonanza and then Sinister, Dome, and Spire Point. This flight was 210 air miles and 84 minutes long, and originated and ended at the airstrip in Concrete.

South Spectacle Butte	Privy-like rock	Maude	Seven Fingered Jack
Seven Fingered Jack	Fernow and Copper	Fernow	Bonanza
Bonanza	Bonanza	Bonanza	Sinister
Dome	Dome	Spire Point	Spire Point

We had a short window of opportunity to capture the peach tones of morning light as the rising sun shone through a narrow clearing between the horizon and a cloud layer above. The flight took us into the heart of the North Cascades, where we photographed Despair, Triumph, and the Pickets. As we were flying around the rugged summits, another plane detected us, contacted us, and we then proceeded to engage in a good-natured aerial photoshoot of each other’s planes. This 1 hour flight totaled 146 air miles, and originated and ended at the airstrip in Concrete.

Triumph	Triumph	Despair	Southern Pickets
Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets
Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets	Southern Pickets	Northern Pickets
Northern Pickets	Northern Pickets	Shuksan

On this brilliant late-January afternoon, the sky was cloudless and the gigantic snow-encrusted mount gleamed in the mid-winter light, and Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. St. Helens stood as distant sentinels on the horizon. As usual, winds were raging from the northwest, forcing us to fly in 3/4-loops to avoid a turbulent convergence zone on Rainier’s southeast side. We climbed in elevation until we were just above the summit (14,411ft), where calmer conditions allowed us to make a complete loop with a unique view looking directly down upon the summit crater. The total flight—which originated and ended in Concrete, included a stop to fill up on fuel in Arlington, and involved flying along the border of Sea-Tac Airport airspace—was 340 miles.

Rainier	Three summits of Rainier	Rainier and Adams	Rainier and St. Helens
Crater and St. Helens	Close up - jumbled glacier	Close up - windblown	Close up - serac
Rainier, Adams, Hood, St. Helens

First we photographed the first rays of morning sun on two inaccessible great walls of the North Cascades: the snow-fluted east side of Jack Mountain and the sheer rock east face of South Hozomeen. We then flew along the US-Canada border to the Pasayten Wilderness’s Cathedral Peak, well-known for several rock climbing routes. After a brief stop at the Methow Valley Airport, our aerial mountain adventure continued. We circled the iconic climbing areas around Washington Pass (such as the Wine Spires, Silver Star, Liberty Bell, and others), and then on our way back to Concrete we weaved at summit level around Cascade greats such as Cutthroat, Black, Logan, Goode, Forbidden, and Eldorado. The round trip flight formed a loop around the entire heart of the North Cascades, 2.5 hours and 318 miles long. Google Earth shows our nearest approach to the border at Cathedral to be 1285 ft laterally, and at Castle, 2700 feet.

Aside: On this morning, we initially had grand plans to do some aerial photography of the remote Mt. Waddington of the British Columbia Coast Mountain Range. However, winds and clouds to the north caused us to postpone this aerial adventure to a later date (this later date ended up being seven weeks later, click link for spectacular photos). Flying a 318-mile circuit through the North Cascades was a pretty darn good consolation prize.

Jack	Jack	S Hozomeen	N Hozomeen
Castle	cornices	cornice collapse	Cathedral
Cathedral	tree shadows	post-fire landscape	Wine Spires
Silver Star	Snagtooth Ridge	Kangaroo Ridge	Early Winter Spires to Liberty Bell
Early Winter Spires to Liberty Bell	Liberty Bell	Early Winter Spires	Golden Horn, Tower
Cutthroat	Goode	Logan	Forbidden
Torment-Forbidden	Eldorado

“Well another awesome flight.... incredibly beautiful conditions. That is the quintessential winter mountain flight.... squeezed into that brief opportunity between storms....”
-email from John after the flight.

This evening flight was 1h 38 minutes and 239 miles long. It was perfect winter flying conditions, with calm skies, snowy summits, and swirling valley clouds. First we photographed Whitehorse and Three Fingers (including, of course, the snow-encased fire lookout on the summit). Then we headed south towards Vesper and Big Four and Del Campo, and then flew loops around the tight valleys of the Monte Cristo range (Columbia, Wilmans Peaks, Kyes, Monte Cristo). As the sun set, we flew home past a pink-hued Sloan, Pugh, and White Chuck. What a way to spend an evening after work!

Clouds	Three Fingers Lookout	Three Fingers Lookout	Billowing Clouds
Whitehorse	Whitehorse	Glowing trees	Red Mountain
Vesper, Glacier Peak	Vesper	Big Four	Del Campo
Del Campo	Columbia	Wilmans Peak	Wilmans Spires
Kyes	Monte Cristo	Monte Cristo	Sloan
Sloan	Sloan	Sloan	Pugh

The conditions were a bit cloudier than forecasted, so we flew around in the Sauk River Valley. At the south end of the valley just east of the town of Darrington, we spotted a mythical mountain shrouded in clouds. It was hard to believe this was White Chuck Mountain! The cameras came out...

This flight totaled 50 minutes and 117 air miles, and originated and ended at the airstrip in Concrete.


White Chuck	White Chuck	Trees

Puffy cumulus clouds enveloped the Cascades, but as we flew higher we were happy to see the10,781-ft Mount Baker creating a pocket of clear sky around its massive self. We flew loops around the summit at about 12,500 ft, photographing the steam vents of the Sherman Crater, a large avalanche cut on the northeast side of the mountain, and a mystical Lincoln Peak shrouded in clouds. What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

This flight totaled 78 minutes and 191 air miles, and originated and ended at the airstrip in Concrete.


Baker, SW view	Baker, NW view	Baker summit area	Lincoln and Colfax
Lincoln	Snow form	Fracture line	Snow textures
Sherman Crater	Sherman Crater

Clouds muted the morning sunlight as we flew around the north sides of Mt. Redoubt and Bear Mountain. Just after an aerial tour of the wintery Picket Range, the sun rose above the clouds and we were surrounded by snowy summits bathed in golden light. We flew circles around Mt. Despair, Mt. Triumph, and Bacon Peak. We also spotted and photographed some recent slab avalanches. Then we continued onward towards Eldorado, where winds swirled snow around the summit. We finished our photography aims with some fly-bys of Hidden Lake Lookout.

The morning aerial adventure — which originated and ended in Concrete and involved a side-trip to Skagit Valley Regional Airport — totaled 2.5 hours and 349 miles. Strangely enough, the flight path resembled a jumping jackrabbit.


Bear	Fury	Phantom	Despair
Triumph	Light and shadow	Avalanche fracture	Textures
Bacon	Bacon, shadows	Bacon, Baker	Eldorado
Eldorado	Eldorado	Hidden Lake Lookout	Hidden Lake Lookout

Typical of spring weather in the North Cascades, puffy cumulus clouds enveloped the mountains and small squalls hovered in the valleys. We had pretty much given up all hope of mountain photography when we spotted Glacier Peak’s summit fighting its way through a layer of streaming clouds. Photos and even some video ensued. Encouraged, we headed north towards the giant mounts of Baker and Shuksan, which were also poking above the clouds. More photos and video ensued. Another spectacular evening aloft.

Much of the flying was at 13,000 ft to stay above the cloud layer. The flight totaled 1 hour 38 minutes and 238 air miles, and originated and ended at the airstrip in Concrete.

Video: Flying around Mt. Shuksan, 12 second video clip.

Glacier Peak	Glacier Peak summit	Glacier Peak summit	Baker, Colfax, Lincoln
Lincoln	Shuksan	Shuksan	Last rays of the day

The mountains looked almost wintery in the muted light of an oncoming early summer storm, and high winds prevented us from flying too low or close to the peaks. However, it was a great reconnaissance flight of some areas — namely the Glacier Peak-Kololo-Tenpeak area and Goode-Stormking-Logan area — in which I planned to do some high alpine traversing and climbing during the coming summer. These photos will show up as future route overlay shots for my trip reports!

The flight was 1h 17 minutes and 188 miles long.

Glacier Peak

Goode north side

The main purpose of the flight was to obtain some photographs of a seismic station on the northwest flank of Glacier Peak. The station had stopped working in mid-winter; although it had resumed working in the spring, there was some concern that the winter’s onslaught of storms had caused some damage that would need to be repaired (as had happened in the past). It was our mission to find out. This involved flying close to the mountain to capture the details of the seismic station. We swooped by twice, snapping a number of photographs (didn’t see anything obviously amiss), and then headed for home, making a detour to the massive west side of Bonanza on our way back. All in all, a successful mission!

The flight was 1 hour 13 minutes and 180 miles long.

Seismic station	Glacier Peak	Glacier Peak	Tenpeak Mountain
Clark, Luahna, Glacier	Bonanza	Bonanza	Bonanza
Bonanza

The main aim of the flight was to photograph glaciers in their icy and crevassed late-summer states. We flew over several notable glaciers, such as the Colonial, Neve, Borealis, Klawatti, Inspiration, Eldorado, McAllister, Boston, Buckner, Formidable, Spider, Blue, Chickamin, Dome, Spire, Glacier Peak’s numerous glaciers, and the Snowking, among others. Midway through the flight, we spotted a forest fire that had been left to burn naturally.

The flight was 1 hour 40 minutes and 247 miles long.

Valleys & mountains	Snowfield Peak & Neve Glacier	Snowfield Peak & glacier remnant	Primus Peak & Borealis Glacier
Klawatti Peak/Glacier	Dorado Needle & McAllister Glacier	Inspiration Glacier	Boston Peak/Glacier
Boston Glacier	Sahale Peak & glacier remnant	Formidable Peak/Glacier	Forest fire activity
Forest fire activity	Forest fire activity	Dome & Chickimin Glacier	Dome & Chickimin Glacier
Dome & Chickimin Glacier	Gunsight Peak	Gunsight Peak	Spire Point
Glacier Peak	Snowking & Cyclone Lake

This page is for my 1.5-hour 234-mile study break on the chilly afternoon of November 10, 2012. When John Scurlock and I took off, only Mount Baker stood above the clouds. We circled around the mighty volcano taking video and watching the afternoon shadows on the glistening glaciated slopes. Flying around the peaceful skies above the blanket of clouds being much more appealing than studying for math midterms, I was easily convinced to stay aloft for awhile longer. There was the occasional glimpse of a shadowed mountain lurking below, and then, just before sunset, the clouds magically dissipated. We lingered to watch a spectacular show of the day’s last rays of light on North and South Hozomeen before we finally headed back to the airstrip. Thanks John for a study break impossible to regret!

Video: Video clip from a 360° tour of Mount Baker. Soundtrack: "Living with the Law" by Chris Whitley.

Baker	Baker	Colfax	Mox
N Hozomeen	S Hozomeen	N/S Hozomeen	N Hozomeen
N Hozomeen	S Hozomeen	Castle	Challenger

"A relatively short flight with very few mountains visible...but momentous and beautiful.. wild & mysterious..."
-John, in an email the day after the flight.

The first leg of the flight was a short hop to Arlington to fill up on fuel. Then, we returned to the sky and headed eastward. We were a bit skeptical we would find any mountains among the thick stuffing of white clouds, but then we spotted the summit of Glacier Peak poking through in the distance. We seized the brief window of opportunity and flew circles around the summit taking photos and video until the clouds again recaptured the snowy peak. Another experience of Cascades grandeur dancing in our memories, we flew northward back to the airstrip Concrete, making an unexpected yet welcomed detour to photograph a spectacular cloud display on Mt. Shuksan. What a way to spend an afternoon!

The flight (Concrete-Arlington-Concrete) was 1 hour 47 min and 274 miles long.

Video: Flying over the summit of Glacier Peak, 30 second clip.

Whitehorse Mtn	Mt. Pugh	Glacier Peak	Glacier Peak
Glacier Peak	Glacier Peak	Mt. Shuksan	Mt. Shuksan
Nooksack Tower	SE Ridge, Shuksan	Mt. Blum	Mt. Blum
Glory	Mears Field

This was my first aerial adventure over the Olympic Mountains with John Scurlock. During this December afternoon flight John and I photographed the mighty Mt. Olympus, as well as the nearby Valhallas, Mt. Meany, Mt. Carrie, and The Tree at Lone Tree Pass. The Olympics were a winter wonderland after a recent onslaught of snowy storms. The entire flight from Concrete to the Olympics and back to Concrete was 2h10min and 325 miles long. The aerial photography portion of the flight shown in the map below lasted about an hour.

Mt. Olympus summit area, from E	Mt. Olympus summit area, from E	Mt. Olympus and Hoh Glacier, from E	Mt. Olympus summit area, from SE
Mt. Olympus, from SE	Mt. Olympus, with Athena and Hermes in foreground, from SE	Athena	Mt. Olympus summit area, from S
Mt. Olympus summit area, from W	Mt. Olympus and Snow Dome, from NW	IGY (International Geophysical Year) Station on Mt. Olympus	Mt. Tom, from S
Valhallas (Baldur in foreground, Munin, Woden, Thor behind)	Valhallas (Thor, Woden, Munin, Geri-Freki Glacier)	Valhallas (Thor, Woden, Munin, Baldur, Geri-Freki Glacier)	Mt. Queets and Mt. Meany, from N
Mt. Meany, from E	Mt. Meany, from NW	Mt. Carrie, from E	Mt. Carrie, from SE
Mt. Carrie, from S	Mt. Carrie, from W

The Tree at Lone Tree Pass on the Bailey Range, aerial/winter

The Tree at Lone Tree Pass, ground/summer (1975, 2004, 2007). (See more comparisons with my parents old photos.)

New Years Day 2013 involved an aerial adventure with John Scurlock over the western rim of the North Cascades. We first headed north to photograph the Twin Sisters against a backdrop of the shimmering Pacific Ocean and distant Olympic Mountains. Then we headed over 100 miles southward towards the snow-encased Chimney Rock and Overcoat Peak area. On the way we photographed the mighty Whitehorse Mountain, the sturdy lookout on the summit of Three Fingers, the towering vertical north face of Baring, and the rugged walls of Mt. Index. Throughout the flight a cloud bank on the western horizon filtered the evening sun, giving a muted wintery light to the landscape. The entire flight was 2 hours and 280 miles long.

North Twin, Mount Baker behind	North Twin, South Twin	South Twin, Olympics beyond	South Twin, Olympics beyond
Precarious Three Fingers Lookout	Cliffs on all sides!	Baring	Chimney Rock
First pass: Overcoat (front), Chimney Rock and Chimney Rock W (behind)	Second pass, 3 minutes later: Overcoat (front), Chimney Rock and Chimney Rock W (behind)	Seattle far below, Olympics on horizon	Dipped in alpenglow icing, Glacier Peak in middle distance

This photoset is from a 335-mile aerial adventure with John Scurlock over the North Cascades on the brilliant bluebird winter morning of January 3, 2013. We took off shortly before sunrise and reached Jack Mountain just as the first rays of the day’s sun touched its rugged crest. Then we swooped through the spectacular golden-lit Cascades, snapping photos right and left of a series of well-known summits such as Ballard, Azurite, Golden Horn, Tower, Fisher, Logan, Goode, Buckner, Booker, Hurry-up, Johannesburg, Formidable, Snowqueen, Chaval, and Higgins. After touching down to refuel in Arlington, we again took to the skies and enjoyed some aerial photography of Whitehorse, Three Fingers, Sloan, Pugh, and White Chuck before finally returning to the airstrip in Concrete, nearly 3 hours after we had left.

Video: Flying around the snow-encased fire lookout on the summit of Three Fingers.

(Click here to go to a trip report for a winter ascent of Three Fingers in March 2010, where a friend and I climbed up to the lookout, dug out the door, and slept inside. A 5-star snowcave!)

Jack Mtn, E side	Jack Mtn, E side	Mt. Ballard, E side	Azurite Peak, E side
Azurite Peak, E side	Golden Horn and Holliway Mtn, N sides	Golden Horn, N side	Tower Mtn, from NE
Tower Mtn and Golden Horn, from E	Mt. Logan, from SE	Mt. Goode, from E	Mt. Goode, from SE
Storm King Mtn, S side	Mt. Booker, from E	Mt. Booker and Buckner Mtn, from E	Hurry-up Peak, S side
Johannesburg Mtn, S side	Snowqueen, E side	Mt. Chaval, E side	Skadulgwas Peak (L) and Mt. Higgins (R), S side
Three Fingers and Whitehorse Mtn, from NNE	Three Fingers, E side	Three Fingers, from SW	Three Fingers, from NNE
Sloan Peak, NE side	Mt. Pugh, E side	White Chuck Mtn, E side	White Chuck Mtn, from N
clouds pouring over ridge	fog in valley

This 346-mile aerial adventure took us through the heart of the remote Pasayten Wilderness, where we photographed the wilderness’s massive summits such as Osceola, Carru, Lago, Ptarmigan, Robinson and Azurite. We also swooped by seven snow-encased fire lookouts, sturdy sentinels of human history surviving year after year of harsh Cascades winters.

Aerial Footage 1:
Flying into the somewhat murky Arlington Airport to get fuel before our 300+ mile flight photographing mountains and lookouts. Nice landing! Video at 2x real time just for fun.

Aerial Footage 2:
Takeoff from Arlington Airport, going through a thin cloud layer to bluebird skies and gleaming mountains beyond. Notice we flew pretty low for awhile due to the fact the fog layer thinned out to the north of the airport. Video at 2x real time just for fun.

Some photos of seven snow-clad fire lookouts:

The buried Sourdough Lookout	The buried Sourdough Lookout	Desolation Lookout and it's wind cirque	Slate Peak Lookout
Slate Peak Lookout	Goat Peak Lookout	The forlorn Mebee Pass Lookout at Mebee Pass. Built in 1933, this is the last "L-5 cab" type structure known to exist. Reference.	The Mebee Pass Lookout stands against its 80th Cascades winter, waiting for the inevitable storm that will collapse its walls forever.
Ski tracks at Hidden Lake Lookout	Hidden Lake Lookout	Lookout Mountain Lookout

Some photos of snow-clad mountains (mostly Pasayten Wilderness area):

Skagit Peak	Mt. Shull	Osceola Peak (Mt. Carru behind)	Mt. Lago (Osceola Peak behind)
Mt. Lago, Mt. Carru, Osceola Peak	Osceola Peak	Mt. Carru and Mt. Lago	Ptarmigan Peak
tree shadows on Ptarmigan Peak	Blackcap Mountain and Monument Peak	Robinson Mountain	Robinson Mountain
Azurite Peak and Mt. Ballard	Azurite Peak	The Needles	Mesahchie Peak, Katsuk Peak
Mesahchie Peak, Katsuk Peak	Ragged RIdge (Mesahchie, Katsuk, Kimtah)	Eldorado Peak	Eldorado Peak
Eldorado Peak	Eldorado Peak and The Triad

The main destination of this 327-mile dual-flight aerial adventure was the eastern side of the crest: Silver Star Mountain and the Wine Spires, Liberty Bell and the Early Winter Spires, and the massive Oval Peak, Mt. Bigelow, Reynolds Peak, and McGregor Mountain of the Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness. A spectacular display of pink lenticular clouds inspired a 40 minute encore flight over the Picket Range.

Video: Flying over the wintery Picket Range glowing in the day's last rays of light.
Soundtrack: Our Shangri-La, Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris, All The Road Running (live version).

Black Peak	Stiletto Peak	Liberty Bell and Early Winters Spires	Silver Star Mtn
Lenticular clouds developing above Silver Star Mtn	Silver Star Mtn and Snagtooth Ridge	Wine Spires	Oval Peak
Oval Peak	Oval Peak	Mt. Bigelow	Reynolds Peak
Reynolds Peak	Mt. Goode	Storm King and Mt. Goode	Mt. Buckner
Ripsaw Ridge, flying saucer, and Mt. Buckner	Cascade Pass and Sahale Peak	Flying saucer above Eldorado Peak	More cool lenticulars
And a sundog	And some altocumulus (or possibly cirrocumulus, depending on their altitude)	Mt. Despair	Southern Pickets (L-R: Ottohorn, Himmelgeisterhorn, Twin Needles, The Blob, Terror, Degenhardt, The Pyramid, Inspiration, McMillan Spires, The Stump in L foreground)
Southern Pickets (L-R: Ottohorn, Himmelgeisterhorn, Twin Needles, The Blob, Terror, Degenhardt)	Flying saucers have turned into a brigade above the Northern Pickets (L-R: Crooked Thumb, Ghost, Phantom)	Northern Pickets (L-R: Crooked Thumb, Ghost, Phantom)	Northern Pickets (Mt. Challenger) color and black and white
Mt. Challenger in pink alpenglow	Mt. Blum	Mt. Blum	sunset

This photoset is from a 1h 38 min, 237-mile aerial adventure conducted by John Scurlock and Steph Abegg on the winter afternoon of March 3, 2013. Although a thick layer of cumulus clouds blanketed the North Cascades, the mighty Mount Baker and nearby Sisters poked through, allowing for some spectacular photography. While photographing Baker, we spotted summit of Glacier Peak struggling through the clouds in the distance. However, by the time we flew over there, the clouds had again captured the summit, so we flew back to Concrete over the peaceful white puffiness, photographing glories of the plane as we went.

Black and white treatment worked well for this photoset, capturing the dramatic nature of the clouds and afternoon light.

South Twin Sister	Little Sister, Hayden Peak, South Sister	North Twin Sister and South Twin Sister, Mount Baker in distance	Mount Baker from the Sisters
Mount Baker from the Sisters	Lincoln Peak, Colfax Peak, Mount Baker	Lincoln Peak and summit of Mount Baker	Lincoln Peak and summit of Mount Baker
Mount Baker	Mount Baker	Mount Baker North Ridge	ripples in the snow on Mount Baker
Glacier Peak shrouded in clouds	Clouds streaming over summit area of Glacier Peak	Rimed summit area of Glacier Peak	Glory of plane
Glory of plane

It was one of the last winter evenings before winter officially transitioned into spring. We made laps around Mounts Baker and Shuksan, which had freed themselves from the thick layer of clouds that enveloped the rest of the Cascades in order to bask in the light of the setting sun. I took video footage while John snapped still photos.

Aerial Footage 1:
Flying around Mt. Shuksan
Soundtrack: I Dug Up A Diamond, Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris

Aerial Footage 2:
Flying around the west side of Mount Baker
Soundtrack: Journey of the Sorcerer, The Eagles

The goal of this 382-mile aerial adventure, on the fourth day of spring 2013, was to photograph several of the highest summits of the Methow Mountains, Chelan Mountains, Okanogan Range, and Central North Cascades. In just a couple of hours, we photographed 32 of Washington’s Hundred Highest summits, as well as passed by several others that we had already extensively photographed in prior flights. Quite the aerial peak bagging adventure!

(Note that the following photos are just a selection of my favorites from the day, so they neither include all 32 nor are limited to the 32 Hundred Highest summits photographed during this flight.)

Not too many people get to see sunrise this way.	Morning cloud deck over the Cascades	Monument Peak and Blackcap Mtn	Lake Mtn
Lake Mtn	Mt. Lago	Lost Peak	Big Craggy North (front), Big Craggy (behind left), West Craggy (right)
Sunrise Peak	Sunrise Peak	Sunrise Peak	McLeod Mtn
Goat Peak Lookout	Wine Spires (near Silver Star)	Gardner Mtn (left), North Gardner Mtn (right)	Oval Peak
Star Peak	Seance Peak (left front), Star Peak (middle back), Courtney Peak (middle back right), Buttermilk Ridge (right)	Raven Ridge (high point at distant end)	Pinnacle Mtn
Castle Rock (front right), Flora Mtn (back left)	White Goat Mtn (front), Tupshin Peak (behind)	Bonanza Peak	Dumbell Mtn (behind left), Northeast Dumbell Mtn (front right) (note the slide track)
Fortress Mtn, Chiwawa Mtn	Fortress Mtn	Fortress Mtn (b/w version)	Fortress Mtn
Buck Mtn	Buck Mtn (behind ridge)	Napeequa Peak	Clark Mtn, Luahna Peak
Miners Ridge Lookout	The buried Green Mtn Lookout	The buried Green Mtn Lookout

The goal of this 2h12min, 329-mile aerial adventure was to photograph the peaks of the Stuart Range. However, as we flew south the cloud layer became thicker and murkier, and we found the Stuart Range encased in clouds. So we headed back home. As we flew northward, the clouds thinned and raised, allowing the sun to poke through and cast brilliant sunspots on the summits. Let the photography begin!

Video: Video! Flying by the towering northern walls of Johannesburg. Soundtrack: Crazy Mama by The Band

West Ridge of Mt. Stuart in the clouds	Dragontail Peak capped by clouds (Asgard Pass to left, Colchuck Lake below)	Temple Ridge (Prusik Peak on right side)	The Mole (popular climb)
Bandit Peak, Black Hole Couloir is the long couloir from summit to base	Sitting Bull, with Bonanza Peak behind in the clouds	Sitting Bull	Dark Peak, with Bonanza Peak behind in the clouds
Needle Peak	Agnes Mtn	Sinister Peak	Fracture line on the south side of the summit area of Dome Peak
Dome Peak	Dome Peak	Dome Peak	Spire Point
What a view! Spire Point ridge in foreground, Dome Peak in background	What a view! Spire Point ridge in foreground, Dome Peak in background	Sentinel Peak (front), Old Guard Peak (behind)	Sentinel Peak (front), Old Guard Peak (behind)

The goal of this 2h23min, 360-mile aerial adventure was to photograph the peaks of the Enchantments, which were now free of the clouds that had enveloped the summits on our flight to this spot a few days previous. We photographed quite a lineup of rocky snow-peppered summits: Mt. Stuart, Sherpa Peak, Argonaut Peak, Colchuck Peak, Dragontail Peak, Little Annapurna, McClellan Peak, Enchantment Peak, Temple Ridge (Prusik Peak), Cannon Mountain, and Cashmere Mountain. Also, en route to the Enchantments, we made a looping path in order to photograph several other prominent peaks on the way.

Towering northern walls of Johannesburg	Mt. Buckner (which summit is higher?)	McGregor Mtn	Bowan Mtn
Abernathy Peak, NW side	Abernathy Peak, east side	Hoodoo Peak	Switchback Mtn (note the switchbacks on the ridge)
Martin Peak	"Cheops" (satellite peak just north of Martin Peak)	Cashmere Mtn, north side (Mt. Stuart and Mt. Rainier in distance)	Cashmere Mtn, south side
Cannon Mtn (Mt. Stuart behind)	McClellan Peak (Mt. Rainier is distance)	Mt. Stuart and Sherpa Peak, south sides	Mt. Stuart, south side
Mt. Stuart, west ridge, color and b/w	Argonaut Peak	Dragontail Peak	Dragontail Peak, a nice view of Triple Couloirs
Little Annapurna through Asgard Pass	Little Annapurna	Little Annapurna	Enchantment Peak above Enchantment Lakes basin, Prusik Peak on right
Enchantment Peak	Prusik Peak, south face	Temple Ridge	Glacier Peak
Glacier Peak

This photoset is from a 2h10min, 296-mile spring afternoon aerial adventure over the Skagit Valley and Salish Sea (San Juan Islands). On this unique departure from mountain aerial photography, John and I flew around and photographed a spectacular display of tulip fields, cows, tide flats, islands, lighthouses, ships, and much much more.

Skagit Valley tulip fields	Skagit Valley tulip fields	Skagit Valley tulip fields	Skagit Valley tulip fields
Snaking watercourse near Fidalgo and Padilla Bays	Tide flats near Fidalgo and Padilla Bays	Puget Sound Oil Refinery near Fidalgo Bay and Padilla Bay	Deception Pass bridge
Cattle Point Lighthouse, San Juan Island	Roche Harbor, San Juan Island	Spieden Island	Washington State Ferry and shimmering waters
Waldron Island	Patos Island Lighthouse	Patos Island (Sucia Island in background)	fishing boat and wake (this is a textbook example of "gravity waves")
fishing boat	ships in Samish Bay (note the interface between coastal waters in the foreground)	Skagit Valley cows

Our primary goal of this 292-mile 1h53min aerial adventure was to photograph Amphitheater Mountain and Windy Peak in the far eastern Pasayten Wilderness, but as we flew eastward the clouds became murkier and murkier. We were just about to give up and turn around when the clouds parted and gave us entry to the wild mountain landscape below. On the flight back to the airstrip in Concrete the clouds parted yet again around Redoubt and the Pickets, revealing the spectacular snow-clad spires.

This was a monumental flight for John and me, since it was on this flight that we completed our quest to photograph the Highest Hundred summits of Washington. For me, Amphitheater Mountain was #99 (John had photographed Amphitheater on a previous flight), while for both of us Windy Peak completed the list. So how long did it take to photograph the Highest Hundred? Well, that is somewhat difficult to quantify since while most flights involve passing by and photographing at least one of the Highest Hundred, no flight has been done solely for the purpose of photographing summits of the Highest Hundred. And John and I did not start conciously pursuing the Highest Hundred until sometime in 2012, when we realized that I was in low 70s and John was in the high 80s. Some of the summits we've photographed several times, while other summits just once. I suppose I mark the beginning of my (then unknown) quest to photograph the Highest Hundred as my first flight with John in December 2008. (John's first mountain flight was in December 2001, for comparison.) Which means that it took me 4.5 years, 35.3 flights, and 9430 air miles. The overlay of all of these flights is shown in the map on the left. One thing is for sure, it's probably safe to say that John and I are the only two people to have photographed (by air) all of Washington's Highest Hundred summits.

The poster on the right shows a list and map of the Highest Hundred summits of Washington.

Amphitheater Mtn, Cathedral Peak, Grimface Mtn	Virga on the horizon behind Amphitheater Mtn	Virga on the horizon behind Cathedral Peak	Cathedral Peak
Remmel Mtn	Windy Peak	NW Mox and SE Mox	NW Mox and SE Mox
Mt. Custer	Mt. Redoubt I	Mt. Redoubt II	Mt. Redoubt III
Mt. Redoubt IV	Mt. Redoubt V	Mt. Challeger	Mt. Fury
Luna Peak	Luna Peak	Late afternoon sun behind the Southern Pickets	Sunlit Southern Pickets

The purpose of this early morning flight was to get “better photos” of Little Tahoma and Mt. Rahm. Of course along the way we photographed other peaks too! Since we started before sunrise, we were back on the ground by 8am, what a way to start the day! Flight distance: 390 miles; Flight time: 2 hours 27 min.

The three north-side ridges of Mt. Rainier: Curtis Ridge, Liberty Ridge, Ptarmigan Ridge.	A closer look at Curtis Ridge.	A closer look at Liberty Ridge and Ptarmigan Ridge.	Little Tahoma
Little Tahoma and Mt. Rainier	Looking into the Silver Lake cirque: Mt. Custer (L) and Mt. Rahm (R)	Mt. Rahm and Silver Lake below	Mt. Custer, north side
Mt. Redoubt, north side	Moxes (SE Mox on right), with Mt. Redoubt behind left	Moxes (SE Mox on right)	Towering E walls of SE Mox
Bear Mtn, north side	Mt. Fury, SE side	Wet slide activity on the arm of Mt. Fury

Early in the morning on May 31, 2013, a sizable debris flow descended the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River, which drains off the Deming Glacier of Mount Baker. The event was detected on seismometers, the gauge down at Deming, and on turbidity meters. A week later, John Scurlock and I flew around the Deming Glacier terminus in hopes of spotting the source of the debris flow. We discovered a sizable landslide on the muddy walls just above the terminus (to the NW).

Here is an article about the debris flow written by geologist Dave Tucker. The article contains lots of great photos of the debris flow which help give a sense of scale to the aerial photos posted on this page. The Bellingham Herald also published an account of the debris flow and its potential danger to hikers in this article.

Baker landslide

This photo marks the location of the landslide at the terminus of the Deming Glacier.

Close up view of the landslide (on left in photo) just off the terminus of the Deming Glacier.

Another close up view of the landslide, photo by John Scurlock. The annotations in the upper photo are by John, and the lower photo by geologist Dave Tucker.

Remnants of the resulting debris flow in the Middle Fork of Nooksack River.

Shuksan

(I climbed the North Face of Mt. Shuksan three days after these photos were taken.)

Shuksan from west.	Shuksan from west (North Face on left skyline).	Shuksan North Face on left.	Nooksack Tower, Price Glacier, North Face.
Nooksack Tower, Price Glacier.	Nooksack Tower, Price Glacier.	Jagged Ridge, East Nooksack Glacier.

This 300-mile 2-hour aerial adventure was an autumn potpourri of fire lookouts, larches, and mountains.

Mebee Pass Lookout	Mebee Pass Lookout	North Twentymile Lookout	North Twentymile Lookout
Kangaroo Ridge	Liberty Bell group from the north	Liberty Bell from the north, Blue Lake Peak behind	Yellow larches near Rainy Pass
Yellow larches near Rainy Pass	Inspiration, McMillan Spires (Southern Pickets)	Mt. Challenger, Crooked Thumb, Ghost, Phantom (Northern Pickets)	Mt. Challenger
Summit area of Mt. Challenger	Challenger from Challenger Arm, Mt. Fury and Swiss Peak behind	Challenger from Challenger Arm	Rugged northern walls of Mt. Fury and Swiss Peak

On this chilly afternoon flight, John Scurlock and I photographed six snow-encased lookouts and enjoyed a beautiful evening above the wintery North Cascades.

Pilchuck Lookout	Cloudcap on Glacier Peak	Miner's Ridge Lookout	Green Mountain Lookout
Green Mountain Lookout	Fracture line on slopes below Green Mountain Lookout	Mt. Chaval	Mt. Chaval
Copper Mountain Lookout	Mt. Redoubt and Bear Mountain	Mt. Slesse	"Mirage" is caused by plexiglass of plane window.
Winchester Lookout	Mt. Larrabee	American Border Peak and Canadian Border Peak	Mt. Shuksan
Mount Baker	Park Butte Lookout

On this 2-hour 292-mile flight we photographed five fire lookouts and were treated to a beautiful alpenglow show on Glacier Peak during the flight back to Concrete.

Heybrook Ridge Lookout	Evergreen Mountain Lookout	Evergreen Mountain Lookout (Gunn Peak and Jumpoff Ridge behind)	Evergreen Mountain Lookout (Gunn Peak and Jumpoff Ridge behind)
Alpine Lookout	Sugarloaf Mountain Lookout (Glacier Peak in distance)	Sugarloaf Mountain Lookout	Tyee Mountain Lookout
Glacier Peak from the SE (near Lake Chelan)	Fire-scorched landscape near Chelam	Glacier Peak alpenglow I	Glacier Peak alpenglow II
Glacier Peak alpenglow III	Glacier Peak alpenglow IV	Glacier Peak alpenglow V	Sunset view from above the Cascades

www.StephAbegg.com

Intro

Map

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Photosets

CLICK ON THE SECTION HEADER TO DROPDOWN THE CONTENT

The photosets are in chronological order.

Peaks and Lookouts featured in the above photosets (with photoset number)

Aerial Trip Reports

Peaks featured in the above trip reports (with photoset number)

Flying with John Scurlock

(I wrote this in 2011. I enjoyed several aerial adventures with John from 2008-2013, most of them when I lived in the Sedro-Woolley area 30 minutes from the airstrip in Concrete. The ebb and flow of life moved us apart but John will always be a good friend of mine.)

A bit about John

The Challenge of Aerial Photography

Aerial Photography

Intro

Map

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Photosets

CLICK ON THE SECTION HEADER TO DROPDOWN THE CONTENT

The photosets are in chronological order.

Photoset 1: "A Grand Tour of Wintery Northern North Cascades"Baker, Shuksan, Pickets, Bonanza, Dome, Boston, Forbidden, Eldorado, Lookout Mtn LookoutDecember 16, 2008

Photoset 2: "South to North over a Sea of Rugged Cascades Summits"Three Fingers Lookout, Vesper, Pugh, Dome, Spire Point, Gunsight, Goode, Logan, Jack, HozomeenFebruary 19, 2011

Photoset 3: "Spring Flight over the Rugged Heart of the Cascades"Snowking, Snowqueen, Buckindy, Formidable, Johannesburg, Torment, Forbidden, Snowfield, Pickets, Shuksan, Twin Sisters, BakerMay 24, 2011

Photoset 4: "Mount Baker and Dramatic Clouds, Stills and Video"Mount Baker (represents 2 flights) July 1, 2011 & July 26, 2011

Photoset 5: "Winter has Arrived Early" Snowfield, Pickets, Despair, Triumph, BlumNovember 24, 2011

Photoset 6: "Two Cascades Monoliths and a Beautiful Pink Evening"Stuart, Dragontail, Prusik, GlacierDecember 3, 2011

Photoset 7: "Mount Baker Evening Light and Height" Baker, Lincoln, Colfax, Sherman CraterDecember 11, 2011

Photoset 8: "Jagged Northern Extremities of North Cascades National Park"Shuksan, Redoubt, Mox, Spickard, PicketsDecember 22, 2011

Photoset 9: "Evening Entrance"Spectacle Butte, Maude, Seven Fingered Jack, Fernow, Copper, Bonanza, Sinister, Dome, Spire PointJanuary 11, 2012

Photoset 10: "Morning Window of Opportunity"Triumph, Despair, Pickets, ShuksanJanuary 12, 2012

Photoset 11: "Winter Afternoon Flying Loops around Mt. Rainier"RainierJanuary 27, 2012

Photoset 12: "A 318-Mile Morning Mountain Adventure" Jack, Hozomeen, Castle, Cathedral, Wine Spires, Silver Star, Snagtooth Ridge, Kangaroo Ridge, Early Winter Spires, Liberty Bell, Cutthroat, Goode, Logan, Torment, Forbidden, EldoradoFebruary 5, 2012

Photoset 13: "A Pleasant Evening above the Southern North Cascades"Three Fingers Lookout, Whitehorse, Red, Vesper, Big Four, Del Campo, Columbia, Wilmans, Kyes, Monte Cristo, Sloan, PughFebruary 15, 2012

Photoset 14: "Shrouded in Clouds"White ChuckFebruary 23, 2012

Photoset 15: "A Sunday Afternoon Mount Baker Flight" Baker, Lincoln, Colfax, Sherman CraterFebruary 26, 2012

Photoset 16: "The Jumping Jackrabbit Flight"Bear, Pickets, Despair, Triumph, Bacon, Eldorado, Hidden Lake LookoutMarch 8, 2012

Photoset 17: "Cloud-Capped Cascades Giants"Glacier, Baker, Colfax, Lincoln, ShuksanApril 4, 2012

Photoset 18: "Reconnaissance Flight"Glacier, GoodeJune 28, 2012

Photoset 19: "Aerial Inspection of the Seismic Station on Glacier Peak"Glacier, Tenpeak, Clark, Luahna, BonanzaJuly 21, 2012

Photoset 20: "Crevassed Late Summer Glaciers in the North Cacades"Snowfield, Primus, Klawatti, Dorado Needle, Boston, Sahale, Formidable, Dome, Gunsight, Spire Point, Glacier, SnowkingSeptember 19, 2012

Photoset 21: "What a Study Break!"Baker, Colfax, Mox, Hozomeen, Castle, ChallengerNovember 10, 2012

Photoset 22: "Cascades and Clouds"Whitehorse, Pugh, Glacier, Shuksan, BlumNovember 24, 2012

Photoset 23: "Aerial Photography of Mt. Olympus and Company"Olympus, Athena, Tom, Valhallas, Meany, Carrie, Lone TreeDecember 30, 2012

Photoset 24: "New Years Day Flight over the Western Rim of the North Cascades"North Twin, South Twin, Three Fingers Lookout, Baring, Chimney Rock, OvercoatJanuary 1, 2013

Photoset 25: "A Spectacular Series of Morning-Sun-Lit Snowy Summits"Jack, Ballard, Azurite, Golden Horn, Tower, Logan, Goode, Buckner, Booker, Hurry-up, Johannesburg, Snowqueen, Chaval, Higgins, Whitehorse, Three Fingers, Sloan, Pugh, White ChuckJanuary 3, 2013

Photoset 27: "Chelan-Sawtooth Wilderness and a Pink Pickets Encore"Black, Stiletto, Liberty Bell, Early Winter Spires, Silver Star, Wine Spires, Oval, Bigelow, Reynolds, Goode, Storm King, Buckner, Sahale, Eldorado, Southern Pickets, Northern Pickets, Blum, etc.February 15, 2013

Photoset 28: "Sisters, Baker, Glacier, Glories, and Clouds" Twin Sisters, Baker, Glacier, etc.March 3, 2013

Photoset 29: "Evening Laps around Mounts Baker and Shuksan"Baker, ShuksanMarch 18, 2013

Photoset 31: "Murky Mountains and Brilliant Sunspots" Stuart, Dragontail, Temple Ridge, The Mole, Bandit, Sitting Bull, Bonanza, Dark, Needle, Agnes, Sinister, Dome, Spire Point, Sentinel, Old Guard, Johannesburg, etc.March 27, 2013

Photoset 32: "A Sunny Spring Afternoon in the Enchantments"Johannesburg, Buckner, McGregor, Bowan, Abernathy, Hoodoo, Switchback, Martin, Cashmere, Cannon, McClellan, Stuart, Sherpa, Argonaut, Dragontail, Little Annapurna, Enchantment, Temple Ridge, Glacier, etc.April 1, 2013

Photoset 33: "Skagit Valley and Salish Sea"Tulip fields, cows, tide flats, islands, lighthouses, ships, and more.April 14, 2013

Photoset 34: "Magical Mountain Mystery Tour" (and completion of our quest to photograph the Highest Hundred)Amphitheater, Cathedral, Remmel, Windy, Moxes, Custer, Redoubt, Challenger, Fury, Luna, Pickets, etc.April 16, 2013

Photoset 35: "Mount Rainier and the Chilliwacks" Rainier, Little Tahoma, Rahm, Custer, Redoubt, Moxes, Bear, etc.May 1, 2013

Photoset 36: "Aerial Reconnaissance of a Landslide at the Terminus of the Deming Glacier on Mount Baker"Baker, ShuksanJune 6, 2013

Photoset 37: "An Autumn Potpourri"Mebee Pass Lookout, North Twentymile Lookout, Kangaroo Ridge, Liberty Bell, Larches, Southern Pickets, Northern Pickets, etc.October 26, 2013

Photoset 38: "Six Snowy Fire Lookouts"Pilchuck Lookout, Miners Ridge Lookout, Green Mountain Lookout, Copper Mountain Lookout, Winchester Lookout, Park Butte Lookout, Glacier Peak, Chaval, Redoubt, Slesse, Larrabee, American Border, Canadian Border, Shuksan, Baker, etc.December 8, 2013

Photoset 39: "Five Fire Lookouts of the North Cascades" Heybrook Lookout, Evergreen Lookout, Alpine Lookout, Sugarloaf Lookout, Tyee Lookout, Glacier Peak, etc.December 16, 2013