First snow back in October

Yep, this post is only three months late. :) At least the photos didn't end up buried somewhere on my disk, with no selection and no post-processing.
Anyway, in mid October my friends Andrej, Črt, Luka, Michelle and I went exploring the west part of Gorenjska. The conditions were perfect - OK, different to say the least: the foliage was still bright colors, but it was covered with a thin layer of snow, and to top it off, the mountains were enveloped in mists.
First we drove to Zelenci, the source of the Sava Dolinka river. It was half-raining, half-snowing.


Then we hopped across the border into Italy to visit the always gorgeous Mangart Lakes. There was more snow here, and more mists.

Mt. Mangart was obscured by the clouds and fog.

Red leaves and snow.




After a hearty meal in Kranjska Gora we went exploring along a winding country road leading into the mountains above the town. Last year I photographed the same area even later, on November 1, but it was a perfect fall day, all sun and no snow. The ski pistes at Podkoren:


The higher we went, the more snowy it became.



From a nice lookout point the views of the valley opened up in front of us. The light around Mt. Špik was eerily blue.



There was an interesting blue cloud above Kranjska Gora, too.

By the time we left it got pretty dark.

The combination of fall foliage and snow is very picturesque. I'm glad we were lucky enough to capture it (and that we kicked our butts out of the house to see it in the first place!).
More photos here.

Kriska planina

Hopefully my photographic black hole is coming to an end. Three months after my last photo outing I decided it was time to grab my camera and head for the mountains again. Leaving home at 2 p.m. we were late for any serious hiking, but I was hoping to at least get some fresh air and nice pictures.
The first part of our short walk was up a grassy slope with Mt. Krvavec in the background.

It was warm - too warm for mid-January!

At the top of Kriška planina, the T-bar lifts waited patiently for some snow. This is supposed to be the high season for skiing! I want some snow!

Views were a bit hazy but you could make out Kamnik, my hometown in the valley below.

Layers of hills, one of my favorite landscapes.

St. Primož chapel on another hill.

Soon the light started to turn warm yellow and orange.

We headed back towards our car.

Orange mists reaching out of the Ljubljana Basin all the way to the mountains.

A lone skydiver and Mt. Triglav in the background.

Fiery sky above the ski pistes of Stari vrh.

We waited for the sun to finally disappear behind the horizon, but as it is usually the case, the show was just beginning. First, everything was calm...

... and then the sky exploded into crazy pink and red colors.

And I didn't have my tripod with me!

Of course, it only lasted six minutes. Then the colors started to fade just as quickly as they appeared.

I was lucky! How many times have I waited for the sunset, equipped with everything from a tripod and a remote control to warm clothes and snacks, but ended up with a sorry excuse for a sunset or no sunset at all? This little hike definitely gave me motivation to start shooting more often again.

2011!

I've been away from blogging for a while. Let's say I had good reasons: in November I bought a house and moved! :) That took quite a lot of my (free) time, and just as I settled in, a persistent and nasty cold wouldn't let me go out and shoot some pics. Anyway: hopefully 2011 will be full of photographic adventures for all of us! ;)

Climbing Mt. Prisojnik

Prisojnik was one of the mountains in the Julian Alps that I hadn't conquered yet, so when I was deciding where to go on a warm October Saturday, it wasn't hard to choose. There are at least five trails leading to the top, most of them quite demanding, and to satisfy my climbing aspirations I chose the Kopiščar route (Kopiščarjeva pot). My friend Sandi had no objections to my selection and off we went.
Setting off from the Erjavec hut through a larch forest we approached the north face of Prisojnik.

Soon we reached the rock face and started to ascend quickly. The first difficult section was soon behind us.

And then we saw her. The pagan girl. Staring into the valley.

By that time the sun rose high enough to illuminate the peaks on the other side of Vršič pass: Mojstrovka.

Higher up there was another demanding stretch of the route, and a few mountaineers were already there.

Steel rope and lots of iron pegs helped us climb.
Iridescent clouds above us.

We changed places all the time to be able to shoot up and down.

Photo by Sandi Ražman

And then there it was, right above us - the mighty Front Window (haha, funny translation for Prednje okno).

One look back towards the valley before we began the last ascent to the big hole.


The narrow and very steep ravine was hard to negotiate but at least there wasn't any snow.

The very wide view from the bottom of the huge cavern.

Of course, the only way up and out is to climb. :)

And so we climbed.

And on the other side: the sun! Looking back into the hole we stripped one more layer of clothing.

The ridge trail to the top which looked deceptively close. Razor and Triglav in the background.


Jalovec and Mangart behind us.

And finally at the top of Prisojnik at 2547 meters! The views were fantastic: from Škrlatica to Triglav and beyond.

The Kamnik Alps in the distance.

Beautiful Jalovec.

Vršič.

Ah, the clouds...

Because Sandi had to be somewhere before dusk, we chose the fastest route to return to Vršič, the south trail. It was very warm and sunny and Razor was smiling at us the whole time.

Only a few larches were really yellow. The prime time is yet to come.

Prisojnik shows a completely different face from the south: friendlier and more approachable.

Back at the car we couldn't help but observe that some mountains look pretty much unconquerable from afar, for mortals anyway. Did we really climb that almost vertical rock wall? :)

As usual I took loads of photos and it's impossible to cram them all into one post. But if you're interested (or just bored/feeling masochistic :), look at them here. Or have a look at Sandi's photos.