Jason Weiss stood at the top of Mount Siyeh moments before the sun rose.  

He and a few friends began their hike up the 10,019-foot peak in Glacier National Park just after 1 a.m. After hours of climbing in the dark and a distanced run-in with a curious grizzly bear, Weiss had reached the top. 

As the sun broke the horizon, warm colors beamed down on the park. Two distinct ridge lines littered with blue alpine lakes, once dark and cold, turned a warm pink in the early sun’s glow.  

Weiss, traveling to the top to capture a sunrise image of the park, situated his camera and tripod on a small ledge with nearly 4,000 vertical feet of drop to the Cracker Lake Basin to prepare for the rising sun. Of all the hikes in Glacier, he says Siyeh offers one of the best views.  

It is a sight that only few will see for themselves.  

It is also the moment that drives Weiss, whether that because it fulfills physical adventure or completes an artistic achievement. The photo that results from his climbs often captures views of iconic mountains from a higher than usual vantage point.  

“To me, there is a lot of meaning when I can go climb a peak and take a picture and it’s a photo that may not have been seen before,” Weiss said.  

And the climb to get the photo is not often easy. 

“Suffering ceases to be suffering when it finds meaning,” he smiled, speaking of the Type 2 sort of fun that is climbing a mountain in the dark.  

After securing the shot, Weiss grabs his tripod, camera gear and equipment and heads down Siyeh’s rocky decline. After a nap in his car, Weiss got up to do the same thing again: this time on the Reynolds Mountain matterhorn with a start time of 2 a.m.  

It is a pattern that he is used to as a high-altitude photographer, specifically focused in capturing various landscapes from above at the time the sun rises or sets. On any given climb, red, orange and vibrant colors seep through the clouds, or a warm blue ski transpires onto Weiss’s lens, which he hauls up the mountain in the dark. 

Weiss grew up in Miami, a place with no snow or mountains, but frequented national parks with his family as a kid. Looking back, Weiss reminisced that his favorite was actually a middle school family trip to Glacier National Park and Banff National Park in Canada.  

“It was a light bulb moment,” Weiss said of the trip. “It took my breath away. Now Glacier is my favorite park today. It still sparks my interest. It still takes my breath away.” 

Weiss graduated from Duke University with a degree in finance and economics in 2017. During his college years, he began camping, hiking and spending more time outdoors. After graduating, he backpacked 250 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail. From there, the adventures just continued to get bigger.  

With stints in Austin, Texas and Santa Monica, California, Weiss worked in corporate finance for a few years before transitioning full time to photography. He moved to Colorado in 2021, the whole time still advancing this mountaineering resume.  

In just a few years, that passion would lead Weiss to some of the tallest peaks in the world. He’s photographed a sunrise from the top of 20,308-foot Denali — recently renamed Mount McKinley — in Alaska. He’s climbed remote peaks in Peru and summitted peaks in the Swiss Alps. On April 12, Weiss takes off for the Himalayas for a months-long ascent of the Tibetan side of Mount Everest, the tallest peak in the world.  

“It was just this transformation from hiking to camping to backpacking to mountaineering to taking pictures from the highest peaks in the world,” Weiss reflected.  

Weiss often travels to art shows in Whitefish throughout the year, most notably for the Whitefish Arts Festival in July. He is regularly involved with the Glacier Park Conservancy and is working with Far Country Press in Helena to publish a Glacier National Park photo book featuring Weiss’ photography.  

While it would be cool to one day summit every peak within the boundary of Glacier National Park or beyond, Weiss is steadfast in taking it peak by peak, stretch by stretch, sunrise by sunrise. 

“Looking at any single one of these photos, I reminisce about what it took to capture them,” Weiss said. “But sunrises and sunsets are so brief, if you’re not there in that moment in time you’ll miss it... if they lasted all day, the photos wouldn’t have that same sort of meaning.”  

Jason Weiss’ portfolio and online store can be found at jasonweissphotography.com.

Reporter Kate Heston may be reached at 758-4459 or [email protected].

Jason Weiss atop a peak in the Peruvian Andes. (Photo courtesy of Jason Weiss)

A sunrise photo from the top of Mount Siyeh in Glacier National Park. (Photo courtesy of Jason Weiss)