09/23/2026
‘Clearing Storm at Guardsman Pass’
As I sat in a group of tiny krumholz trees in a whiteout just below the point of a narrow ridge and contemplated the decisions that led me to this point… I was kinda disappointed with myself, and a little afraid.
The weather forecast wasn’t great, I had picked an unfamiliar spot and hiked in the dark/ early twilight to get there so I didn’t have much of an idea of what could happen other than some photos I had seen online. The distant thunder rumbled, the graupel blew sideways, I packed my electronics away to keep them safe from the moisture so I didn’t have my phone to distract me and I decided to try and wait it out.
Then just as I was about to give up and make my way back down the slippery, narrow trail to the saddle in defeat… the sky lightened a bit. The clouds below me opened to reveal a slope covered in golden aspens and soon the ridge before me also popped out of the clouds. The blowing, misty clouds glowed in the early morning sunlight. The scene was incredible and short lived as the clouds moved back in.