Castle Mountain Sunrise

January 4th, 2019 brought a huge snowfall to Banff National Park. The 80+ cm (31.5 inches) of fresh snow made travel impossible on the mountain roads and in fact, the famous Icefields Parkway (Hwy 93) was closed for several days. At the first notice of the reopening of the Icefields Parkway, I headed for Banff National Park, knowing full well that the huge snowfall would present some wonderful photo opportunities.

My first stop was just before sunrise near the spot where the Trans-Canada Highway meets Hwy 93 South, about halfway between the townsites of Banff and Lake Louise. The intersection is known as Castle Junction, which is so named for the nearby iconic Castle Mountain.

The Bow River cuts in front of the mountain base and creates great views of the multiple peaks of Castle Mountain. As I knew I wanted to create an ultra-high-resolution photo and knowing that such an undertaking would require considerable time, I set up all my special equipment and started photographing the foreground well before the sun reached the horizon. By the time the sun was kissing the peaks of Castle Mountain, I was ready to capture those parts of the image. But before I was done, I quickly returned to the foreground and re-photographed the reflection pool now that it presented the wonderfully illuminated grandeur of Castle Mountain.

This image presented considerable technical challenges that tested my skill set like never before. As most of the foreground was very close to my telephoto lens, special techniques were used to ensure everything in the photo is in focus and tack sharp. This image was created by combining over 980 individual images, all of which were captured for the sole purpose of ultra-high-resolution with incredible depth of focus. I encourage you to explore the image and see for yourself the vast amount of detail that can be found within.

Photo Information: A very high-resolution photograph of Castle Mountain (Blackfoot: Miistukskoowa), a mountain located within Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, approximately halfway between Banff and Lake Louise.

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