An Autumnal Alpine Traverse, Trip Journal 2

Recharge - An Autumnal Alpine Traverse, Trip Journal 2

 

Bye Bye Hintersee…in just one moment

After I camped several days near Lake Hintersee it was time to go ahead with my journey. BUT…not without checking the weather apps a last time, just to be sure not to miss sth spectacular. I use mainly three weather apps, Windy, Clear Outside and (now) Bergfex. While CO and BF will give you a nice overview on uncountable parameters in tabular form, W presents itself with an interactive weather map that shows you cloud-, rain-, wind movement and directions. Plus you can choose from different weather forecast models like ECMWF or ICON EU depending on the area you are located in the world.

Combine those apps with Photopills and you have a mighty setup for carefully planning your photographic encounters.

The forecast of the last morning showed some really promising parameters. A band of middle layered clouds just over the area of lake Hintersee at the time of sunrise. No Clouds in the east, the direction of the sun to rise above the horizon.

 

 

With the local knowledge I gathered throughout the past days I checked PhotoPills again for a nice spot on the north-eastern shore line of the lake. 

 

 

The reason why I choose this spot is the angle of the sun that breaks through a long valley in the mountains and directly hit the spot with a nice ~45° back light which were perfect conditions for an image I took here a few days ago, I just wanted to have some nice clouds in the sky here.

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 12 mm / F5.6 / ISO 200 / 1/125 sec

Beside all that planning I was very lucky that morning with the conditions met the forecast. You never know in the autumnal mountains if everything comes out as planned. I had plenty time left and I checked out another composition at the most famous spot with its west-southwest direction of view but couldn’t work it out to have enough clouds in the sky and a nice foreground element. I was also not satisfied with the subject separation of those islands against the mountains in the background. In my opinion, this scenery needs a layer of fog between the islands and the mountains in the background, at least a stripe of light enlighting either the foreground islands or the lake shore/mountains in the background.

So, stick to your initial plans and see how it goes! Two out of three spots were left aside by the photographic tourists and I was lucky to have both places for myself.

OM-D EM 1.3 / PL 8-18 mm / HighRes / 8 mm / F8 / ISO 100 / 4 sec

OM-D EM 1.3 / PL 8-18 mm / HighRes / 9 mm / F10 / ISO 200 / 1/3 sec

Before heading back to the camp ground I decided to cycle the lake roundway since some low hanging clouds started to form as soon as the sun hits the surrounding forest and also give another famous spot in this area a chance afterwards. 

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 28 mm / F8 / ISO 200 / 1/100 sec

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 16 mm / F8 / ISO 200 / 1/100 sec

The sun was already high up now and the light very bright. All of the low hanging clouds have dissipated but the viewpoint of the last spot is in western direction, the scene should be nicely lit up from the low late morning sun and hopefully some of the early autumn colours come out.

There is only one interesting spot at this church (St. Sebastian Church in Ramsau) so I did not have to search for that long. I've just parked my bike, checked out the composition for some details and pushed the trigger, plain and simple.

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / HighRes / 22 mm / F5.6 / ISO 200 / 1/400 sec

The clerk of the weather is not on my side

There aren't any several week autumn trips through the mountains without bad weather for sure. But what the weather god had planned for the upcoming weeks made me think about what to do next. The initial plan was to drive into Triglav NP in Slovenia for a 5 day stay and then driving into Hohe Tauern NP and the Dolomites afterwards.

There was a massive rain front in the forecast which should at least stay for 5 days (plus) over the complete alpine area and down south to the northern parts of the Mediterranean Sea. The cold weather was coming from the north side and the warm Föhn (a high and warm alpine wind) was coming from the south. Both temperature systems where about to collide over the Alps bringing in a lot of rain and possibly some snow, too.

 

 

Checking the weather apps several times, making split plans and asking a mountain experienced friend (check out mikepage-mountainlightphotography.blogspot.com) I decided to skip on Triglav NP to directly head into the Dolomites. The two mandatory factors where, that a massive raincell formed over Triglav (at least it should be much closer to and superpositioning Triglav than the Dolomites) and it was predicted to have some snow in the Dolomites but no snow in the Julian Alps. Just for photographic purposes it would be silly to drive into the rain and leaving the chance of autumn colours and snow combined aside.

The new plans were made and after a short visit at a friend’s house at Lake Chiemsee for one day I drove down south via the Brenner Pass, where I stayed for one night at Lake Obernberger See, beautifully located in the Stubaier Alps.

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / HHHR / 86 mm / F8 / ISO 200 / 1/160 sec

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 44 mm / F8 / ISO 200 / 1/6 sec

 

The bad weather was already moving in and the lake was lacking of water after a dry summer in this region. Since I was only planning an overnight stay here I took one's time to explore some features of my camera, the internal intervalometer and the Live ND function to reach longer exposure times without filters. Both functions are easy accessible without diving deep into the menu and I developed a good feeling on how to use it properly for my future use cases.

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 16 mm / F8 / ISO 200 / 1/10 sec

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / handheld LiveND / 44 mm / F7.1 / ISO 200 / 2 sec

 

Welcome to the Dolomites! Where exactly are those?

As I arrived in the Dolomites at Passo di Giau I’ve seen nothing than the bare hand in front of my eyes. Will this really be the weather for the upcoming days? OK, let’s make the best out of it now. 

At the first day the weather was very mixed and I was also able to snap some nice long exposure images of the surrounding area and sometimes, if a cloud window allowed it, snapping some image of the Sorapis and Cristallo mountain ranges in the east...

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / M.Z. 100-400 mm / 100 mm / F7.1 / ISO 200 / 1/80 sec

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / Nisi ND 64-CPL / 86 mm / F8 / ISO 100 / 60 sec

 ...and Fjorgyn, the godess of weather and mountains. Sometimes I've had the feeling that she was watching me here and shows her presence to remind me who is the boss!

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / Nisi ND 64-CPL / 86 mm / F8 / ISO 100 / 60 sec

 

I've parked my van on a small parking lot beneath Mountain Hotel Passo di Giau, just in the first curve of the eastern descent to Cortina d’Ampezzo. Until the weather will get better, I’ll stay here to get the first best views when the clouds are breaking up.

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 38 mm / F6.3 / ISO 200 / 1/125 sec

OM-D EM 1.3 / PL 8-18 mm / 8 mm / F10 / ISO 200 / 1/125 sec

I did many small hikes to explore the area for some potential compositions and to get things moving. Checking out the areas of Nuvolau, Averau and Monte Cernera and also the area surrounding Ra Gusela. Although heavy raining sometimes I've had my weather sealed camera beside me, ready to shoot if the light was coming through the thick cloud layers and lighting up potential point of interests within my view or when a composition just reveals itself in front of me.

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 38 mm / F6.3 / ISO 200 / 1/125 sec

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 14 mm / F7.1 / ISO 200 / 1/60 sec

The weather wasn’t really clearing the following day but revealed some awesome views. Not only that some rainbows occurred partially within all the small patches of rain, but there were forming a lot of cloud holes where one could see glimpses of the surrounding mountain ranges lit up by the sun.

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 80 mm / F6.3 / ISO 200 / 1/320 sec

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 100 mm / F10 / ISO 200 / 1/400 sec

 

All of a sudden the temperature dropped below zero one night and it started to snow which was a welcoming surprise after all the rain and mist the days before. Waking up to frosty -9°C, where it was a cosy +10 °C the night before, forced me just warming up the van and myself without checking the outside. After having a hot tea and a warm Porridge with fruits and nuts I was peeking through the curtains and couldn’t see anything except for a ~5-6 cm snow cover. The sun was already up but the cloud layer was thick and hanging deep in the summits. I checked the weather app and recognised having enough time for a more prolonged breakfast until the cloud cover should break up and possibly reveals the beauty of an autumnal winter landscape!

I got myself out in my most cosy winter garments to walk up to a scenic point quite next to my camp spot and found me there waiting for nearly 2 hours in blistering cold winds for the cloud cover breaking up. Even though all the weather apps predicted clearing for the same time, the mountains decided to just let me wait a little bit longer, but then…

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 100 mm / F6.3 / ISO 200 / 1/800 sec

 

OM-D EM 1.3 / 12-100 mm Pro / 12 mm / F5 / ISO 200 / 1/1600 sec

After being here for 5 days without doing anything but small hikes around the corner I decided to stay here for some more days to make up leeway due to the rainy and stormy days here before.