Pikes Peak stands at 14,110 feet, and it gets a lot of weather because of it. I'm no climatology expert, but I do know that this special combination of altitude with dark clouds equals a storm. And I had the special chance to ride right into one. When we first arrived on the railway, there was only a light rain. Nevertheless, the winds kicked up and a wonderful combination of light hail and snow started to fall. As I've mentioned before, a water resistant camera can come in handy. But no degree of resistence can combat the high winds that lovingly shove snow right into one's lens.

Having to wipe off my lens every thirty seconds proved to be a rather unpleasant task, especially when I realized that the shot I wanted forced me to aim my camera directly at the wind. The best part came when I wanted to get a long exposure shot of the clouds in the distance. As I pulled out my tripod, lightning flashed in the distance. Thinking nothing of it, I continued to setup my gear.

As I mounted my camera to the tripod head, the winds kicked up and began pelting me with hail. That and the increasing amount of lightning convinced me to keep my photography handheld for the time being. Though it might be hard to see in the thumbnails, the extent of the weather can be seen in the enlarged images. More photographs from this trip can be found in my Flickr set.