A Portal Opens

One fine spring evening, I flew with a co-pilot more than an hour from Anchorage into the stunning Ruth Amphitheater on the southeast flank of Denali. I wanted to photograph its famous granite walls from above, but clouds had enveloped the scene and cast everything in flat light. Then, as we slowly followed a tributary glacier around a corner, we came upon a view where strong winds had ripped open the shroud above us. The shredded clouds glowed with sunset, casting an eerie light over the surrounding ice and rock. It felt mystical, maybe a bit unnerving, as though we had been given a glimpse of a violent realm in the sky. This image illustrates wisdom an old bush pilot once shared with me, “I never fly in clouds…because sometimes, there’s rocks in them clouds!”