There has been colossal snowfall across the Alps in the last few days and weeks, with resorts, including Zermatt, temporarily cut off by avalanches disrupting transport links. Avalanche protection, management and awareness has advanced dramatically in recent years and thankfully there have been no major disasters. My trip to Whistler next month draws closer where snow is also falling. My boots still fit, I’ve been out running, and I am getting in the mood.
I’ve also been trawling through the archives, one of those winter tasks, clearing out some of the images that will never see the light of day, and finding the occasional image that has been neglected for far too long and is worth airing.
Today’s image was taken over ten years ago at Saas Fee in the Swiss Alps on my first compact digital camera. Much of the skiing in Saas Fee is on the upper levels of the Fee Glacier – you can see an area towards the right edge of the image where the piste machines have been working. It was one of those atmospheric days when the wind was whipping up the powder. Drama in spade-fulls.
LensScaper 
What a stunning shot, I can taste the cold in that whipped wind.
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Thanks Paula. It can get very cold in the wind. -25C on one occasion – that’s cold!
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Very dramatic image, Andy. No one would guess it was from a compact camera. It holds up very well.
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Thanks Ken. It was a Sony compact. The images were just over 1Mb in size – how things have changed.
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The snow blowing off the top of the mountains is beautiful, and dramatic. It’s lightness is a perfect complement to the solidity of the snow-covered rocks. I confess I didn’t know what a piste machine was (or a piste, for that matter), but now I’m informed, and could point right to its track.
A blog friend — a Canadian journalist working out of Germany, who’s a B.C. native — used to post wonderful photos from the area. He was an avid skier, too, and once had the opportunity to skate the Dutch canals. That’s more my speed.
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Thanks Linda. Mountains in winter when the weather is windy can be very atmospheric.
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The photo must bring back great memories; it’s a beautiful illustration of the territory. We’ve been having mudlside warnings, flood watches and avalanche warnings in the region lately. January has been wet, but hopefully enough for great powder but not enough to heed the traffic up to the resorts!
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The weather is extreme in so many places – colossal smowfall in the Alps, flooding in Paris and extreme heat in Australia. Thanks for your comment, Lynn
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