The Dolomites have been high on my hitlist for some time; the endless stream of beautiful photos that flood my Instagram feed is most to blame. Having starred locations on Google Maps for months, there were a lot of places that I had in mind to visit on our short trip to Italy. As it turned out, too much to see!
Our first stop was one of my top three places to visit whilst there, Tre Cime di Lavaredo. What a surreal set of peaks, something I just had to see. With the purpose of this trip being photography, the alarm was set before sunrise every day. Probably not the wisest of choices when this is your only break after three weeks without a day’s rest and heading into another three weeks of the same.
Unfortunately, the first morning, and for the rest of day, the weather did not deliver. There was no sunrise, but instead thick fog was rolling in. I'm all for moody weather, it's my favourite to photograph, but not when it's completely covering my subject! A slightly disappointing start to the trip. We completed the loop walk; a nice challenging hike to open
the week with.
The second day I had earmarked for Lago di Sorapis, which meant we were still in the same area. As we woke up at another unearthly hour, the weather looked slightly better, so we decided to take a punt and head back to Tre Cime di Lavaredo. The previous day had proven a useful recce operation and we knew where to head to get the angles we were after. Although we still did not get the sunrise we were hoping for, it did provide plenty of cloudy mood for us. Something that certainly suits my style of photography more than Aurélie’s!
It was my first time hiking in Italy and I was already pleasantly surprised by their Rifugios. On previous trips, I had found myself getting annoyed at them for being in the way of perfect landscape shots, hoowever, I found myself wanting to use them more and more as they tell a great story. Imagine deciding that you want to build a hut at 2,600 meters and then just doing it. Even in this day and age it would be tricky, let alone decades ago when they were built. They also provide a great place for breakfast, another reason why I’m falling in love with them!
Day 2 was a lot more successful, I now have enough photos of these three peaks to keep me going for a life time - although I will be coming back in the not-too-distant future I’m sure, especially tonk one place I was most looking forward to visiting in the Dolomites, scheduled for our third day: Lago di Braies.
Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be. Heavy overnight rain meant the electronics at our hotel’s underground carpark no longer worked. At 4.50am, we found ourselves stood outside the hotel waiting to go, eager to get to this beautiful lake for sunrise, and we realising we were stuck. We couldn’t access to our car at all! Thankfully the hotel owner answered his phone soon after and cycled down from his home to let us in. It probably didn’t affect much in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly set the tone for the day - disappointment.
Once we arrived at the lake we were greeted with sheer fog; you could only just see the famous boathouse whilst stood on the shores. We gave it a couple of hours but no such luck. The fog never cleared. We’ll call this one an enforced rest day, which proved a stark contrast to our last full day in the area: we managed to cram so much into it, from sunrise over the alpine meadows at Seiser Alm, via a second sunrise where mountains provided the perfect backdrop to a tiny little church, on to a strenuous hike up to the Vajolet Towers. A 670-metres scramble up the side of a mountain.
For the towers, I went up specifically with one shot in mind; pretty scary to think I would
climb a mountain just for one photo these days, but it’s worth it. I got the shot with the weather conditions just right, creating the perfect moment. You can’t ask for much more than that.
Our plan for the final day was to visit Lake Karersee before leaving the Dolomites and heading to Venice. As we were staying less than a mile away from the lake, we decided to poke our heads in that very evening and do a quick scout around. Probably the single best decision of the trip. The light was just perfect, in fact, better than at sunrise the next day. It was stunning; an amazing way to end our short trip into Italy.
With the recent purchase of a project camper van, I will most definitely be driving it down this way in the not-so-distant future; I need that Lago di Braies shot!
zacharytknowles
July 2018
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