“Many of the passes were filled with lots of snow, which would melt during the day, then freeze into solid ice under our feet,” says photographer Dusan Smetana of this hazardous pack-in for a weeklong elk hunt in late September. “Normally it would be safer to ride than to walk, because the horses can plow through. So you can imagine how nervous we were when we got to a pass no wider than 2 feet and 10,000 feet up, where the outfitter told us to dismount and follow the animals on foot.” Smetana snapped this photo right after their caravan made it through safely, then resumed riding into the next basin. “The outfitter hadn’t seen it that bad in 20 or 30 years.” —K.B.
Location: Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Montana
Issue: December 2012/January 2013 
Photo by Dusan Smetana