First snow in Kamnik

After having a very warm October and hardly any fall colors, it snowed at the end of the month. While I love snow, I wasn't too thrilled about not having any autumn! :) But, to capture the unusual sight of green trees covered with snow I hiked the nearby Špica hill one afternoon to get some views of Kamnik. The views were foggy and the trail was slippery, and what I came away with were some cool pics and a bruised rib from a sudden fall when returning.

The road was ... interesting, to say the least!


Fog enveloped the hill I was headed to.


Lots of broken branches due to heavy wet snow.


The trail was extremely muddy and slippery.


Fall colors? :)


The fog descended upon Kamnik and the sun only peeked through occasionally for a few seconds.


On the way down I was passed by a jogger.


Just as I reached the road again, the sun reappeared in this spectacular display of red glow.


The rib still hurts more than a week later.

Christmas midnight mass on Velika planina

For those who have been waiting for this post: better late than never, they say. :)

After two years of really bad rainy weather for Christmas I was finally happy to hear a nice weather forecast for December 24, so I headed up the mountain in the evening to take photos of an extraordinary event that only takes places once a year - on the Christmas eve. The procession of people hiking to the Velika planina chapel with torches and flashlights is a sight you don't get to see very often, religious or not.















After everybody was gone, I climbed the ridge overlooking the valley and took a few photos of Kamnik, Mengeš and Ljubljana in the mist below.


An hour later the chapel was deserted again.

Opening of the World Cup alpine skiing season in Soelden

Traditionally the World Cup races in alpine skiing started in Sölden, Austria in late October, and traditionally we were there again. Apart from following the women's and men's giant slalom races we had time to ski, take photos and enjoy the gorgeous, sunny weather in the Alps.

Early in the morning, on the road leading up to the Rettenbach glacier:


At the top, looking back into the valley:


A newly built reservoir for snow making:










Friday was skiing just for fun, but on Saturday and Sunday it was all (ok, mostly) about the races.










More photos can be found here.

Photos from my Sölden trips in 2008 and 2009.

Snow and rain in Mengeš

The last couple of days were interesting again, weather-wise. After a warm period in which all snow had melted, it started to snow on Sunday. On Monday, the view from my window was the right winter color again - white. :))


After some heavy snowfall last night our street looked like this in the morning.

As the weather forecast said the snowing would turn to rain, I went for a walk around town.

I doubt the rugs and laundry will dry in this weather. :))

I continued along the path that leads along the creek ...

... to a field. The fog descended and it started to rain!

I hurried back, but I did manage to snap a few pictures of a junkyard on the way.



Do you see rain drops? By the time I got home I was completely wet. I really hope the weather doesn't get any warmer. I prefer snow to rain any day! ;)

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.

Winter sunset

Those few days on Rogla were really spectacular. The temperature rose from -14 degrees on the first day (hence the white, snow-laden trees!) to -2 on the third and fourth days, so some of the romantic winter atmosphere was gone after the snow on the trees had melted, but if you looked in the shady places, it was just as much a fairy-tale as on the first day!