Marmolada

Marmolada

The highest peak in the alps around Val Gardena, Italy (also known as Groedn, Austria. It’s a World War I thing. Language-wise, the area is if anything more German/Austrian).

The view from the Marmolada was pretty staggering, the altitude was high, the ski back to the chairlift long, and (after I mistakenly skied past the chairlift) the challenge of getting back to the hotel before the whole region shut down was intense. And although I failed to make it back all the way and had to settle on a taxi, the photo was arguably worth it.

It also achieves a rare (though dubious) personal photographic honor. For the last three ski trips, my favourite mountain photo has been my computer’s desktop theme for more or less a full year until the next ski trip. And this is the one for 2009.

Below : the one for 2008:

Below : the one for 2007:

(interestingly, the ones for 2007 and 2008 were both taken on cheap Nikon point-and-shoot digital cameras. 2009 was taken on a Pentax DSLR. Which proves that even cheap point-and-shoots are no slouches in the right conditions)