Red Mountain Pass, in February

Red Mountain in February is the most dangerous and most rewarding drive in the state. The highway department closes it more often than they admit, the avalanche paths cross the road at six known points, and the views from the upper switchbacks are, on a clear winter morning, almost unreasonable.

I have done the pass in February fifty-three times since 1989. Half of those trips, looking back, I would not do again. The other half produced about a quarter of the winter work in the new book, and one photograph I am willing to defend without reservation: a single pine in deep snow, made on a turnout most maps do not show, on a morning when the road was officially closed and I was officially not there.

I do not recommend the trip. I do not regret a single one of them.