Hikers climb from Cunningham Gulch up Dives Basin toward the summit of 13,416-foot Little Giant Peak in the San Juan Mountains outside Silverton. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Captivating images from The Gazette photo staff from the past year. Prints from these and other photos can be purchased online.
Hikers climb from Cunningham Gulch up Dives Basin toward the summit of 13,416-foot Little Giant Peak in the San Juan Mountains outside Silverton. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)A bear cub climbs a tree to be with its mother and sibling Thursday morning, Aug. 27, 2020, near downtown Colorado Springs. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (Christian murdock)The giraffe exhibit at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on Saturday, June 6, 2020. After nearly a three-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo reopened the next week. (The Gazette, Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)Deer peer through the snow-covered aspen trees along Edlowe Road Tuesday, June 9, 2020, outside Woodland Park, Colo. A spring storm dropped a couple inches of snow on the upper elevations the Pikes Peak Region. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)King Mosiah and King Edwards, two of Joe Exotic’s tigers, at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colo., make their presence known Aug. 20, 2020. ( The Gazette, Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)A bighorn sheep ewe stands on steep terrain on 11,990-foot Loveland Pass in Colorado on May 27, 2020. (Christian Murdock/The Gazette)An orphaned Alaska moose relaxes in its new home at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo on Wednesday, July 15, 2020. The calf was orphaned shortly days after birth outside of Anchorage, Alaska, when his mother died in a fatal human-wildlife conflict. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett) (JERILEE BENNETT THE GAZETTE)Canada geese stand on the shores of Horseshoe Lake Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, in Lathrop State Park. Lathrop was Colorado’s first state park, opening in 1962. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (Christian Murdock/The Gazette)A bull moose walks toward the road before sauntering across and disappearing behind a hill on the other side at Guanella Pass on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett) (JERILEE BENNETT THE GAZETTE)Storm clouds reflect on the water as a western grebe swims across a pond in Woodland Park’s Memorial Park Tuesday, April 21, 2020. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)A F-35A fighter jet flies over the Air Force Academy Friday, April 17, 2020, to honor the Class of 2020. The senior cadets graduated early because of COVID-19 the next day on the terrazzo at the center of campus rather than Falcon Stadium. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)The class of 2020 toss their hats into the air as the Thunderbirds fly over Saturday, April 18, 2020, at the conclusion of the Air Force Academy graduation on the terrazzo of the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. The graduation was a closed ceremony at the center of campus rather than Falcon Stadium to allow the cadets to stay 8 feet apart. The cadets didn’t march on stage to receive their diplomas and high fives and hugs were banned. The academy graduated 967 cadets. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)President Donald Trump enters the Broadmoor World Arena for a rally Feb. 20, 2020. (Gazette file)Fire Station 23 Capt. Juliet Draper had seen a lot in her 24 years as a Colorado Springs firefighter from the 1997 blizzard to the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires in 2012 and 2013. This year she and other firefighters were fighting the COVID-19 virus. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)Pikes Peak Young Marines Jhoanna Bonifas, 14, left, Riley Landis, 9, and Jessica Bonifas, 12, salute the grave of a veteran after placing a U.S. Flag and rose next to it Friday, May 22, 2020, at Fountain Fairview Cemetery in Fountain, Colo., in observance of Memorial Day Monday. The Young Marines placed flags, provided by the V.F.W. Post 6461, and flowers on about 160 veteran graves dating back as far as the Civil War. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)The Air Force base honor guard carries the casket of retired Air Force Staff Sgt. Clyde Baldwin Friday, Feb. 7, 2020, during a memorial at the Pikes Peak National Cemetery in Colorado Springs. Baldwin, 91, never married and had no local family members. Local posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars reached out on social media for people to attended his service. The word spread and hundreds braved the snow and cold weather to attend the services for Baldwin, who served from 1950 to 1970. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)U.S. Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck, right, and Gen. Terrence J. O’Shaughnessy touch elbows during the change of command ceremony Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020, at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. Gen. VanHerck assumes command of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command from Gen. O’Shaughnessy. O’Shaughnessy retired after 34 years of service in the U.S. Air Force. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (Christian Murdock/The Gazette)Honor guard members carry the casket of WWII veteran Donald Stratton into the chapel during a memorial service held at the Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel on Feb. 29. Stratton was a survivor of the USS Arizona during the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (The Gazette, Chancey Bush)Crowds of visitors walk on the trails that wind through the colorful rock formations at the Paint Mines Interpretive Park near Calhan on Aug. 25, 2020. (Jerilee Bennett, The Gazette)A dead tree scared from a fire is a piece of art along the Goose Creek Trail Saturday, May 2, 2020, in the Lost Creek Wilderness Area. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)Low clouds along the Grizzly Creek rest area in Glenwood Canyon on Friday, Jan. 23, 2020. (The Gazette, Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)Sunflowers frame the sun as it rises over Trinidad Lake State Park Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020, in sourthern Colorado. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (Christian Murdock/The Gazette)A summer thunderstorm rains on northern Colorado Springs with Garden of the Gods in the foreground Sunday, July 12, 2020. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)Erosion over millions of years has created the unique rock formations in the Wheeler Geologic Area as seen Monday, July 6, 2020. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)Clouds reflect on the waters of a beaver pond Saturday morning, Aug. 8, 2020, on the westside of 14,115-foot Pikes Peak in Colorado. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (Christian Murdock/The Gazette)The moon sets over the mountains surrounding the Chicago Lakes Thursday morning, June 10, 2020. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)An aspen tree with one branch of leaves turns yellow outside Frisco, Colo., Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (Christian Murdock/The Gazette)The morning sun shines through the frost-covered evergreen trees near Glenn Cove on 14, 115-foot Pikes Peak Monday, Sept. 28, 2020. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (Christian Murdock/The Gazette)Hikers explore Treasure Falls on the westside of Wolf Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, Colo., Monday, June 22, 2020. The 105-foot waterfall is a short hike, 1/4 mile, from the parking lot along U.S. Highway 160 and makes for a quick break for motorists traveling through Southern Colorado. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)Isaiah Shaffer, 6, leaps into the air with his dog Bella while on a walk in Colorado Springs on Friday, March 27, 2020. (The Gazette, Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)Chris Oberle and Kristen Ergenbright of Denver give each other a kiss as they pose for their friends at the Ice Castles in Dillon, Colo., on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020. (Chancey Bush, The Gazette)Newly married couple Susanna Hedenstrom and Air Force Capt. Joseph Babitsky get in place atop one of the rock formations at Garden of the Gods for wedding photos by photographer Jen Lints (right) on Sunday, March 22, 2020.The couple was scheduled to get married at the Garden of the Gods Resort, but the resort was closed because of COVID-19 (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett) (JERILEE BENNETT THE GAZETTE)Jerriann Hance visits her husband Danny Hance through the window at Springs Ranch Memory Care Community April 27, 2020. She couldn’t visit inside because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett)Doctors and nurses wave to the Thunderbirds Air Force squadron as they fly over UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs to honor Colorado’s frontline workers, healthcare workers, first responders and military members on Saturday, April 18, 2020. The Thunderbirds saluted the graduates of the Air Force Academy with a fly over, and then proceeded with a number of fly overs of Colorado cities and medical facilities along the front range to Pueblo. ( The Gazette, Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)Bride Jeannette Adelmann shares a moment with her mother, Mary, 77, during her wedding outside UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Saturday, May 23, 2020. Jeannette and her fiancé Mark Cravens moved their July 4th wedding date after Jeannette was told by doctors that her mother might not make it to their original planned wedding date after Mary was rushed to to the Intensive Care Unit for underlying health issues last week. The couple decided they would move the wedding date to Saturday, so that Jeannette’s mother could attend. (The Gazette, Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)From the left, Lisa Nowak, 59, Max Forti, 6, Hope Forti, 28, Mercy Forti, five-months, Carolyn Michaels, 83, and Joy Nowak, 18, inside their home in Colorado Springs. Gazing from the bay windows of her historic Colorado Springs home, Hope Forti, 28, is together with her family — four generations under one roof. Three years ago, Forti started the national nonprofit Foster Together after she and her husband, Kyle, fostered four children. After Kyle died last year in a helicopter crash, some of Forti’s family left California to help the young mom raise her two children: 6-year-old Max and 5-month-old Mercy, who spent her first month on life support in the hospital. The family began taking steps last year to limit Mercy’s social interactions and planned to continue isolating through the end of flu season. Then the coronavirus hit. This is not the first pandemic the family has experienced. Forti’s great-great grandfather Andrew Drebot died in the 1918 Spanish flu. From stories told by her grandmother, Forti learned that Drebot kept on farming to support his family despite the symptoms, almost until the hour he died. Forti’s great-great grandmother Anna Klukewich Drebot was left as a widow at age 26 with four children to care for. Six generations later, Forti is reminded that she and her children are here today because of Klukewich’s perseverance. “I know that even in this 2020 pandemic, some families around the country and around the world feel more like my great-great grandmother,” Forti says. “I didn’t do much to deserve the ease compared to my great-great grandma and other heads of households struggling right now. The ease feels heavy, almost guilty.” (The Gazette, Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush)Janice Day holds her teddy bear in the window of her home on Grand Overlook Street in Colorado Springs Tuesday, April 7, 2020. Day, who is a retired elementary teacher, put her bear in the window to entertain the neighborhood children after learning about the movement during the COVID-19 pandemic on a morning news telecast. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)The Ebell family, Ivan, left, Lara, June and Torry, dance outside their home on Corona Street in Colorado Springs Friday night, March 27, 2020, during a city wide Neighborhood Dance Party. Residents turned up their car radios to local stations playing the same music and danced while abiding by the state’s stay-at-home order to fight the COVID-19 virus. The dancing allowed neighbors to feel connected but safely separated. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)Seven stories tall, the newly installed Mile High Tree at the Sculpture Park at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, was the largest of its kind in the U.S. About 60,000 LED pixel technology lights are used for a choreographed lightshow that entertains within and without the sculpture with holiday songs representing Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett)A young couple takes a selfies at dusk in the haze at the overlook in Garden of the Gods Park Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020. An air-quality health advisory was in effect for El Paso County because of the wildfires across Colorado and the West. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett) (JERILEE BENNETT THE GAZETTE)Amy Walden and Paul Romero pose among the aspen for a wedding photo outside Rocky Mountain National Park on Sept. 22, 2020. Walden and Romero were married earlier that day and wanted to have some of their pictures in the fall colors near Estes Park. (The Gazette, Forrest Czarnecki) (Forrest Czarnecki)Camille Goodwin, 19, of Pueblo West, practices her tricks on Lake Pueblo Thursday, Sept. 17, 2020. Goodwin, who started wake surfing at 11, is ranked fifth in the world in the Pro Women Skim division by the Competitive Wake Surfing Association. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (Christian Murdock/The Gazette)Freestyle snowmobile competitors practice during the X Games Aspen 2020 at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen Snowmass, Colo., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. (The Gazette, Chancey Bush)A skier sails over a feature in Copper Mountain’s Central Park Thursday, July 16, 2020, during Woodward Copper’s day camp. The ski resort’s overnight camps were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but daily classes were offered during the summer. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) (CHRISTIAN MURDOCK/THE GAZETTE)Vista Ridge senior Bella Mitchell shows off her braids during the Colorado Girls High School Wrestling State Championship at Thornton High School in Thornton, Colorado on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020. (The Gazette, Katie Klann)Coronado senior Angel Flores reacts after winning the 126-pound 4A state title against Mountain View senior Malachi Contreras during the 2020 Colorado State Wrestling Tournament at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo., on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2020. (The Gazette, Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)Denver’s Brittany Charboneau crosses the finish line in downtown Manitou Springs to win the women’s race of the Pikes Peak Marathon Aug. 23, 2020. Charboneau reached the summit behind local runner Allie McLaughlin but made up ground during the descent to win the race in 4 hours, 25 minutes and 21 seconds. (The Gazette, Jerilee Bennett) (JERILEE BENNETT THE GAZETTE)Racers compete in the girls’ cross country race at Liberty High School in Colorado Springs on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020. (Chancey Bush/ The Gazette) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)Racers compete in the 11th annual Broadmoor Pikes Peak Cycling Hill Climb on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020. The cyclists raced 12.42 miles with an elevation gain of 4,725 feet to the summit of Pikes Peak. (The Gazette, Chancey Bush)Jacob Twersky, from Colorado Springs, is framed in gold leaves from outlining trees as he walks through the sand flats with his sand board at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern Colorado on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. (The Gazette/Chancey Bush) (Chancey Bush The Gazette)
