Sunny days with strong, directional light and deep shadows are a real killer for landscape photographs - even with the latitude that film gives. Velvia was a brave choice on such days - print film would have given greater latitude, as you know. At least with colour photography the blue sky is attractive. For me, a blue sky in mono is almost as tedious as the flat, slab greys we get in the UK much of the year.
These days, when I'm out shooting, I always hope for "cloudy bright" or even stormy cloud conditions - anything that helps provide a more even light across the scene and still some detail in the sky.
Your photos are lovely, by the way. This is the one place in the USA that I want to visit - primarily because I was "hooked" by Ansel Adams' photos when I first saw them in the early 1970s.
