Sunrise Alpenglow on Mount Liberty
View more photos like this: Sunrise, White Mountains, New Hampshire, Franconia Ridge, Mount Liberty, Alpenglow
November of 2025 has been one of the snowiest Novembers in recent history in the White Mountains. I knew I had to get up north for a hike to enjoy all the snow. Our winters have been fickle enough recently that anytime there is rime ice and snow all over the mountains, I always try to go take some photos because there’s no guarantee those conditions will occur again. I was planning to hike Mount Liberty for sunrise to get a photo of the morning alpenglow on the peaks of Franconia Ridge. I’ve climbed Mount Liberty many times but never for a sunrise or sunset.
Based on the forecast from the Mount Washington Observatory, I was expecting an undercast - atmospheric condition I have always wanted to photograph but haven’t been lucky enough to experience yet. This made me change my plans to hike Old Bridge Path up Mount Lafayatte as it would get me to 4000 feet of elevation faster and thus increase my changes of making it above the undercast for sunrise.
I was on the trail at 3:50am and could tell right away that the sky was cloudless and there would be no undercast. I hustled to get to the top of Lafayette, hoping for the sunrise alpenglow I had originally planned. I made good time up to Greenleaf Hut and soon reached treeline. That was as far as I made it. The wind was howling, the wind chill was right around zero, and the summit of Mount Lafayette was in the clouds. I didn’t want to risk losing the trail in the dark in a cloudbank so I turned around and headed back down towards the trees. As the sun rose on the other side of the ridge, I did get my alpenglow as the east facing side of the summit of Mount Liberty started to glow a golden warm hue.
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