Moonset and Sunrise: a predawn hike up Saleve
Yeah, so I'm a little loopy. I decided to get up at 5h30 and run up the path to the top of the Saleve by moonlight to catch the sunrise. But at least I planned well. Flashlight in one hand, ice axe in the other, gore-texed out, and powerbars, water, and gatorade tucked away in my backpack, I slipped out into early morning darkness and struck out along the familiar path.
The moon was full and the skies unusually clear and full of stars. The forecasts had looked good and I hoped for clear skies all the way to the Alps. Visions of Mt. Blanc and the rest in sunrise splendor spurred me on as I tromped up the mountain path.
My ice axe doubled as a staff on steep, snow-covered slopes along the ascent, and frequent layers of ice on the stone steps helped me to more fully grasp the importance of handrails along the way.
I beat the sun in my race to the top and took a few moments to catch my breath and drink some water. Luckily, it wasn't windy, but nonetheless pretty darn cold for a kid who's lived in Louisiana and Madagascar--around -16 C. So I really shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when I took off my outer layer to find that much of that liquid formerly known as gatorade had frozen on my fleece jacket. And even after taking a few pictures of the sunrise, my camera hand was feeling quite numb and didn't get warmed back up until I ran a good 15 minutes back down the mountainside, with my gloves on, of course.
Unfortunately, the Alps were blocked from my view by a cloud, but here is a series of dawn to sunrise photos anyway.
Snowfield at early dawn
Sun has risen, but behind the clouds
Sun rise from atop the Saleve
Morning has broken!
A shot of Veyrier in the cool morning mountain's shadow. I hurried back down the mountain, but stopped to look out over Monnetier and the Petit Saleve. A bit further down, I could already see the light at the end of the frozen tunnel, and was soon back home and enjoying a hot shower at about the same time I usually get up.
The moon was full and the skies unusually clear and full of stars. The forecasts had looked good and I hoped for clear skies all the way to the Alps. Visions of Mt. Blanc and the rest in sunrise splendor spurred me on as I tromped up the mountain path.
My ice axe doubled as a staff on steep, snow-covered slopes along the ascent, and frequent layers of ice on the stone steps helped me to more fully grasp the importance of handrails along the way.
I beat the sun in my race to the top and took a few moments to catch my breath and drink some water. Luckily, it wasn't windy, but nonetheless pretty darn cold for a kid who's lived in Louisiana and Madagascar--around -16 C. So I really shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when I took off my outer layer to find that much of that liquid formerly known as gatorade had frozen on my fleece jacket. And even after taking a few pictures of the sunrise, my camera hand was feeling quite numb and didn't get warmed back up until I ran a good 15 minutes back down the mountainside, with my gloves on, of course.
Unfortunately, the Alps were blocked from my view by a cloud, but here is a series of dawn to sunrise photos anyway.
Snowfield at early dawn
Sun has risen, but behind the clouds
Sun rise from atop the Saleve
Morning has broken!
A shot of Veyrier in the cool morning mountain's shadow. I hurried back down the mountain, but stopped to look out over Monnetier and the Petit Saleve. A bit further down, I could already see the light at the end of the frozen tunnel, and was soon back home and enjoying a hot shower at about the same time I usually get up.
posted by Ben at 7:00 AM
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