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.

Views from Stari grad on a windy January afternoon

I climbed Stari grad above Kamnik yesterday after a long abstinence from any hiking. It felt so good! Due to the cold and windy weather my fingers almost froze off while I was taking photos at the top, but the views made up for it.

Is this winter?? Where is the snow? Come on, it's the middle of January. I want snow!


This is the view from the top towards the Kamnik Alps:


Kamnik:


You can sort of see my house from here. :)


My favorite "training" hill, Kamniški vrh, was glowing red in the late afternoon light:


Mt. Brana and Mt. Planjava, as well as the clouds, turned orange-pink as the sunset was approaching.


Then the sun was almost gone:


Mt. Triglav and the Julian Alps in the distance:


Stari grad castle ruins and the after sunset sky:


Even after running all the way down the steep trail back to Kamnik my fingers didn't thaw. I really need to bring my gloves next time. :)

Oh, and all these photos were taken with my new compact camera, Canon Powershot S100, fitted with a polarizing filter. Around 200 grams altogether, heh. It was strange to go on a hike with so little weight. :)