Thanks for the link. Interesting reading indeed. I just can´t understand why he screwed everything up in the post processing. Way too often I see great photography getting ruined by overdone HDR and color saturation.
mmm, not seeing it. Really doesn't look over saturated to me on my displays - the location lends itself to rich colors.
I know he mentioned he uses HDR in the article, but did he explicitly state he did so on this image (I didn't see it) I've read a couple of his books, and he really doesn't do HDR just to do it, let alone for the funky effect most get out of it. More likely layered a couple of versions and manually blended in a few highlights or shadows, but this image doens't look like it would have really pushed his sensors dynamic range.
As far as color, seems about right to me. The wet red rocks are very saturated and rich, and the sunset glowing in this canyon is famous for colors like this. But he himself would probably tell you, each person to their own visualization and vision.
Off the subject though .. sounds like a somewhat risky adventure ... better be prepared, geared correctly and hopefully have a companion and sat. radio if you tackle this. Some winters are probably much easier than others, but after reading it, I'll stick to my original plan of venturing up there sometime this summer, and maybe again in the fall - a winter trip is probably too much for my somewhat out of shape 58 year old body.