John Muir called the Sierra the “Range of Light,” but with the hard edges around our narrow valley, we’re maybe just as much a “Range of Shadow.” Lit by the low sun, the walls cast a heavy shade onto snow-covered contours that carve a jagged geometry of stone and silhouette as curious as the cliffs themselves. Blue can then the snow appear, no longer reflecting the sun’s dominance but instead attuned to the aloft azure, and with that blue the scene seeks a seated repose against the brilliant rock and adjacent ice still defiant in warm illumination. It’s a spectacle of shape that plays out daily in the dwindling light of winter, but it’s spectacle enough to keep us true to our name. #yosemitenps #yosemite