What shines through the fog there?

Posted on September 7th, 2015

Within minutes the weather has changed.
Where had I ended? Ah yes, … and I turned me around and it blows me away! While I was taking a few photos to the northern direction, all the clouds are gone and only a thin fog was left. And what can we see there? A brighter band of light, that’s maybe the Milkyway.
Because I was walking the wrong way, it was nearly midnight, when I reached the peak. If I were earlier on the top, then I had seen nothing and because of the cold wind, I certanly left the top frustrated a few minutes later. But so I was at the top, nearly to the best time to see the Milkyway. What a moody image and within seconds all the fog was dissolved and I could take one of the most intense shot of the Milkyway which is possible in the centre of Europe, but stay tuned and see it in my next article.

On the top of the Sidelhorn

Posted on September 4th, 2015

It was windy, cold and foggy on my steep way to the peak.
After my short excursion on the wrong way, I climbed the correct, steep trail up to the peak. Because it was already late, it quickly became dark. The good thing was, because it was so windy I was not sweating although it was really steep. And the wind was blowing and blowing, but it blows the clouds not away, the clouds becomes thicker and thicker.
Soon I saw, in the beam of my headlamp, the clouds flying past. Oh, no the wind didn’t blow the clouds away, he brings the clouds to me. Sigh, another night of effort without any reward, but now as near the peak I was now, I wouldn’t give up and I will bring it to an end.
The last part of the trail was not only steep, it was also stony and I had to climb from stone to stone through the dark and foggy night. Yes it was pitch dark, because of the new moon, which was the main idea, so I can see a clear and beautiful Milkyway. After I reached the top, the wind was still blowing and I was surrounded by thick clouds.
Only to the west I could see some stars. Therefore I put my backpack to the ground, took my tripod and mounted the 14mm lens on the A7s. Apart from some stars, I couldn’t see nothing, it was really, really dark. Okay, take some shots from the direction where I can see the few stars. Because it was so dark, i pumped up my camera up to 12800 ISO and then … BAMM!
Wow, look at the stars and you can see two glaciers, the Oberaar glacier and the Unteraar glacier. And behind the mighty Finsteraarhorn and the Schreckhorn. Yes, an impressive landscape! It’s too bad I couldn’t see the Milkyway because of the thick clouds around me. After a few shots I turned me around and…

Blue hour above Grimsel lake

Posted on September 2nd, 2015

Still windy and still clouds in the sky.
A few minutes later I had a good view over the Grimsel barrier lake. And because it was still windy I was full of hope that the clouds will disappear in the time until I will reach the peak.
So I was hiking further along the panoramic road to the left. But wait! Can you see the line over the lake on the right part? It’s the cable of the Sidelhorn funicular which comes up from the Hospiz. You know, the Sidelhorn funicular! Where did I want to go? Yup, up to the Sidlehorn. If I had read my map correctly, I had to know a few minutes earlier, that this way leads me not to the Sidelhorn peak.
But Mr. Fear needs another few minutes until he realized, that this way can’t be the right one and with some nice words on his lips, he marched back to the point, where the steep part begun.
Read the next time about my way up through the clouds to the Sidelhorn peak.

Brake

Posted on Juli 27th, 2015

Some people use their brakes too often, good for the photographer…
After I was driving twice over, because the hiking trail was still covered with snowand well hidden, I took another way from a higher point. And as I was walking to my favored shooting point, I saw down to the valley and I could see the whole pass road. Good for me, there was a car already started to drive down to Gletsch.
Hurry up, mounting my tripod and setting my camera for 30 seconds shots, pressed the shutter and waited. It tooked 10 minutes until the car was down in the valley and I had a bunch of photos. Well now I had only to blend all images together to get a nice light stream.

First things first

Posted on Juli 22nd, 2015

What happend the last three weeks?
Until two years of bad weather, suddenly the summer was back. After I realised it, I planned my evenings in a new way. When other peoples were drinking an evening beer and watching tv the feeds lying high, was Mr. Fear already on the road to the mounains. Two hours until I reached a high position, then hiking up to two hours, making photos, walking back and took the way back home. Normaly it ended in the early morning hours, when the sun was coming back again.
You may think this is exhausting, yes it was, but it was also like little hollidays. I left my daily neighbourhood behind me and enjoyed the high mountains surrounded me. And while all the other peoples tried to sleep and sweating, I could enjoy the cool and fresh alpine breeze. And even when I was back at home, was the heat no more so bad.
The big thing was, the heat wave was not ending and so I was going again and again, who knows when the next time comes, with such good conditions….

Wrong way

Posted on Juli 20th, 2015

Sometimes the wrong way isn’t the bad way…
After I was walking about 20 minutes or so, along the panoramic route to the Oberaar glacier, I saw a piece of reddish, far away in the sky. It was a nice surprise, because although the weather forecast had said, there shouldn’t be any clouds, the whole sky was covered with them. I took the chance to shoot one shot before the sunlight was gone and the clouds covered the rest of sky.
Then I put my camera back and took my map out of my pants and had a look, how long I still has to walk on the road, until the steep trail is beginning, where I will climb up to the Sidelhorn. OH NO! I already missed it, darn! Now I had to walk back to find the right way and I was already late, as you can see, because the sun was setting right now.
But there is no other way as to walk back…