Landscape

It was not our plan to go to the Dolomites this year, but COVID-19 showed us the way to there. Well, it was not a punishment. The area is so beautiful, valley after valley, that we didn’t get bored for a second.

One of the valley’s is Val di Funes. Here we did a nice hiking trail, with a pleasant stop in one of the mountain huts to lunch. The food in Italy is very nice, no matter the place you our.

For photographers, St. Johann Church is a famous spot. Here is my photo of it, with some very dramatic clouds hanging over the mountain tops.

The hike takes around 4,5 hours from Rotenboden. And it’s not difficult till the point you reach the top part of the glacier. We saw the crevasses growing from very small ones, till very width and deep ones.
Other hikers started to connect them self with ropes to each other and make a train to get over this part. We got crampons on our feet, but didn’t prepare any ropes. Here we experienced some scary moments, when you need to get to the other side of such a big gap. Jumping over a big crevasse, knowing if you fall in, it’s the end of you.

It looks like a real devils pit at night, the shortest way to the hart of earth. It’s very impressive to walk around the edge of it. It even feels a little unsafe and scary. But I got attracted like a magnet, to go closer and closer to that edge. So I could take this photo in the very early morning.

Located in the north of Ethiopia, Erta Ale is the longest existing lava lake in the world. Its surrounding terrain is some of the most inhospitable on Earth, making travel difficult and dangerous.

I always wondered, after I have been to a lot of high points in the world, how would it feel to go to one of the lowest points in the world? Travelling trough the Danakil Dessert with an army patrol on your side all the time, it was very special. At that time in history, almost no tourist came to this place and rebels where spotted frequently. In fact after we left… the next group was attacked by them, 5 tourists and their guide were killed.

Anyway, you don’t feel a thing when going to an attitude of minus 166 metre below sea level. But you will see these very colorful sulfur lakes. It feels like you are on another planet. A very toxic planet!

In 2018 we traveled throughout Tibet, it ‘s still a remote place to go.
We made a stop at Mt. Everest base camp. The luck was not on our side this time, as the mountain was mostly covered in clouds.

We waited till late evening so it got much cooler and the clouds started moving downwards and slowly the Mt. Everest revealed itself.

I made this photo a bit brighter, so it looks more like a daytime photo rather than a late evening photo.

Here is a photo I took of Mt. Everest and Mt. Lhotse at sunset, on Kala Patthar. It is by far the very best spot on Earth to watch those mountains. You feel that you almost can touch them. Golden peaks of the Himalaya you can shoot by sunrises and sunsets.

Only don’t forget to prepare well before you come to this place and spend hours to enjoy this moment. Check that you have enough juice with you to power all your lights for the descent afterwords.
All my lights went empty, but I was lucky to have a full moon that night.