For quite a few years, I have wanted to experience and photograph the mountains in Italy. I love snow-covered mountains, so it made sense to take this trip during winter.
After a night’s rest in Venice, we made our way north to Misurina. The drive along the way was stunning and confirmed why I was there. The next morning, we were taken in sleds behind snowmobiles to the top of a nearby mountain. When we got there, the wind was gusting to 50 mph. While this created some really nice blowing snow and atmosphere on the mountains, it was just impossible to stay out in it with the wind chill factor.
After 10 minutes, we retreated to a safe and warm “winter room” at a nearby structure. I had managed to capture the following image and was surprised that the conditions did not ruin the focus. I thought I was going to lose a few fingers to exposure. After a short time in the “winter room”, we called it a day and had the snowmobiles take us back down the mountain.
The next morning, we headed to an area called Pratto Piazza and stayed in a remote, but wonderful, Hotel Gaisl. The views from this area were some of the best I have ever seen. We only had time to be there one night, which was unfortunate, as there is so much there. The wind was still howling that afternoon, as captured in the first image.
By the following morning, the winds were gone and we were treated to an amazing sunrise. It was still super cold, and I struggled with fingers that did not want to stay warm. I was happy to have been able to stay out long enough to capture the full color of sunrise.
After sunrise, we made our way to Cinque Torri, where we stayed in dormitories at the top of a ski resort. I had never experienced getting on a chair lift with a duffel bag and a camera bag. I managed, but really don’t want to do it again.
We were able to shoot both sunset and sunrise from this location before heading back down on the chairlifts. The rock formations here are simply awesome.
After another day, where we didn’t have much success, we finished our expedition by photographing the mountains near San Martino di Castrozza. We had been without clouds for a few days, but they moved back in just in time for the late light. The natural “bowl” of this particular mountain helped to result in a beautiful, winter mountain image.
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