22 January 2009

Peričnik - a symphony of icicles

Peričnik is one of the most magnificent waterfalls in Slovenia during winter. Three photographers, Luka, Andrej and I, set off one early morning in mid January to capture its glory before the weather got too warm.

After a leisurely walk through the Vrata valley and a short ascent from the road the first glimpse of the waterfall took our breath away.

A huge wall of icicles and a small fir tree.

There is a single waterfall which plunges over 50 meters deep, but in winter the whole wall freezes in thousands of icicles.

Icy pattern.

Luka in front of the waterfall.

The icy water falls into a deep hole which resembles a crater.

The ice is incredibly blue and formed in various shapes.

After a few hours of shooting from all possible places, the sun finally hit the top of the wall.

These are broken icicles that fell from the wall after the sun had shone on them. Their base melted and they crashed to the ground. The roaring sound they made was overwhelming.

And afterwards, every ten minutes or so a huge chunk of ice collapsed with a thunder.

When the whole wall bathed in sun rays, we called it a day and headed home, very pleased with our photo session.

We were lucky. The weather turned very warm and wet after that and I'm sure the icy waterfall is shrinking by the hour. I only hope the winter is generous with cold and snow once again so we can enjoy and admire this glorious winter spectacle one more time before the spring arrives.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very, very ice. I mean nice =)
Prvi dve sta mi všeč, pa predzadnja.

Anonymous said...

Krasno! Enkratne fotke, kot vedno... Četrta mi je najbolj všeč, meni se ni posrečila, tvoja je pa odlična! Pa tista s smrekco je lepa, zanimiva kompozicija. Pa seveda tista, kjer sem jaz gor - to je lepota! :)

Anonymous said...

Klemen, :))))

Luka, če bi imel rdečo bundo, bi bila pa še večja lepota, hehe. :p

Anonymous said...

hoj hoj. lepe slikce ja. zdej sta me malce zaj... sem mal pregledal moje, pa so vse iste kot vajine. edino, kje hudiča sta našla vidva tisto smreko? noro zgleda. jest je nisem opazil. :-( hmm. osma je čudovita, četrta tudi zelo všečna. no, se beremo. lp, A

Anonymous said...

Hehe, Andrej, ne vem, zakaj si mislil, da bodo najine fotke tako drugačne od tvojih. :)
Tisto smrekco pa lahko vidiš tudi na prvi fotki, nekje na sredini spodaj.

Anonymous said...

Ma noro, te fotke so res nekaj posebnega. Te sveče imajo na slikah, posnetih s širokokotnim objektivom nek psiho efekt. Če jih preveč dolgo gledaš, je kr mal skeri, kot bi se vse premikalo.
Ana, čestitke.

Anonymous said...

Hvala, Aleš! Je bilo tudi kar psiho stati pod temi ogromnimi svečami, še posebno, ko so začele leteti dol! :))