Kiowa Peak as seen from the summit of Niwot Mountain.

On Christmas morning my good friend Dan joined me for a dawn patrol hike to the top of Niwot Mountain.  After a 5am start from the new winter parking lot and some arduous postholing through the trees we were rewarded with a marvelous view of the divide on one of the most peaceful mornings I have ever beheld in the Indian Peaks. 

Kiowa Peak is a stunning 13,276 ft summit in the forbidden kingdom that is the Silver Lake Watershed.  The area between North Arapaho Peak and Niwot Ridge supplies 40 percent of Boulder’s water supply  has been closed to public access since the 1920s following a cholera outbreak.

I took this photo of the stars over the Indian Peaks at the beginning of a hike to the summit of Niwot Mountain this morning.   The weather was clear, calm, and beautiful. 

Merry Christmas!

Partial eclipse beginning now!  A bit cloudy here in Boulder, but the show will go on…

About 1/3 of the way there at 11:58pm…

2/3rds the way to totallity at approx 12:15

Heading to a new location before totallity…

The moon took on a rich red color upon entering totallity at 12:41

I’m excited to have a selection of prints available for sale at Neptune Mountaineering.  Have a look the next time you are in the store and let me know what you think!

The Cynical Pinnacle is a granite spire in the South Platte region of Colorado.  Colorado climbing just doesn’t much better than the clean, steep, and sunny south facing granite found here.  It is also a very photogenic monolith and I went down to scout out possible compositions.  As the winter sun dipped below the horizon, the last warm rays of light reflected off clouds in the western sky and cast a pink glow across the landscape.