David Howland Photo
A panoramic winter landscape photograph showing snow-dusted dark forested ridgelines in the foreground, with the snow-covered Presidential Range including Mount Washington rising behind them, all bathed in vivid pink and orange alpenglow from a sunrise or sunset sky.

Winter Alpenglow on Mount Washington and the Presidential Range

This photo represents both good and bad luck to me - and ultimately stands for the difficulty of weather forecasting in the winter in New England. I had been planning a sunrise from the top of Mount Liberty for months and was waiting for the right combination of clear skies to the east and some interesting clouds over Franconia Ridge.

On February 10th, 2026 the forecast looked good and the temperature was supposed to be warmer than previous weeks - only around zero instead of multiple tens of degrees below. I left my car at 4am and cruised up the Liberty Springs trail on perfect snow only to find the summit of Mount Liberty and the skies to the east blanketed in clouds. There was a narrow bank of dawn light visible over the Pemigawasset Wilderness as I watched the sun rise.

As the sun crested the horizon, I watched this incredible alpenglow unfold across the peaks of the Presidential Range including Mount Washington, Mount Monroe, and Mount Jefferson. All I could think about was my alternate plan for the morning: a sunrise from the side of Mount Adams looking across at Mount Madison. There would have been no way to know, however, that the best sunrise was 20 miles to the east and the alpenglow that I did get to watch more than made up for it.

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A panoramic morning alpenglow photograph of snow-covered Mount Washington and Tuckerman Ravine glowing in shades of pink and red against a deep blue pre-dawn sky, with the broad glacial bowl of Tuckerman Ravine clearly visible on the mountain's face, dark evergreen trees silhouetted in the foreground, and a small structure visible on the distant summit.
A panoramic sunrise photograph of snow-covered Mount Washington, with Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines visible as dramatic bowl-shaped glacial cirques on the mountain's face, bathed in warm pink and red alpenglow light against a deep blue pre-dawn sky, with small structures visible on the summit and dark evergreen forest in the foreground.
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