The Thaw...

Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
841
Hi there :) ! Since a couple of weeks we have a real Spring around here in the plains. T° are up in the 19-21°C range during the day and 10-13°C during the nights and, since the weather forecast for the weekend was good, I decided to go for a hike to get some scenery and have a look at how the thaw is going :) . It’s always a beautiful season in the mountains; rivers, creeks and mountain brooks are in full swing due to the melting ice and snow and the flowers blossoming is amazing. My elder son (14 yrs. old) joined me this time and we had some father & son moments :D, not happening so often with the usual busy family life!

We took a rather easy trail, initially following a small river with some nice waterfalls and climbed up to a small Alpine pond, reaching 2300 m. A beautiful blue sky and a warm sun upon us :) . The cold was still biting up there but ice is really melting and, with a stretch of imagination, one can even feel a bit in a little Antarctica :D . Strolled around the small lake a bit, took some shots, met a grazing chamois and then we headed down to one of “our” favourite clearing, a high pasture land (1550 m) which always is covered by a carpet of crocus flowers (mainly Crocus albiflorus and Crocus vernus) during this season. We were not disappointed! Millions of flowers in full blossom! :thumbup: Sat down in front of a magnificent scenery, had our small lunch, some talks and we played a bit with easy camp tasks, collecting some wood, chopping it down, starting a small camp fire and put to work some new and old tools. Since I just got a new ZT0095 last week, I thought it would have been nice to put it down to work a bit. Not a camping tool as such :D but she managed, good knife! Finished up our lunch, got a rest and some more talks, cleaned up our spot and headed down to the village in the valley. Made it home for mid-afternoon where we gathered with the rest of the family in time for the afternoon Mass. Some pics, just to share :)!

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Very nice pics once more!! :thumbup: Thanks for sharing!! John
 
Once again beautiful photos of some spectacular scenery! Two questions, one, how close were you to that chamois? Second the stone house and outbuilding, is that home lived in all year long or is it empty during the winter? John
 
All those crocus , wow ! My little patch has been battered again and again - very high winds , heavy rain, two feet of snow , very cold again and again ! A rough year for them though ever time a little sun appears they open up and smile !
A recent article about ancient plant fossils in the Austrian Alps . Have you found any in your area ?
 
That is some stunning scenery. You reside in some gorgeous country, I have to say that I am somewhat envious of the views you have. Fantastic!
 
Hi!

@ Jmh33/Jds1 /Tilley Knife/91bravo/Lambertiana: Thank-you guys! Glad you liked the pics and thanks for stopping by :).

@ John A. Larsen: Hi! Thanks. We were more or less 50 m away from the chamois. Note these are rather “domesticated” animals :); they are protected species (though they can be hunt, with special permission, in a limited number every year, depending on the headcount done by Corpo Forsetale dello Stato – our Rangers) and very used to hikers, campers, farmers, breeders and shepherds so they are not afraid of human presence and relative proximity. Originally these buildings are shepherds’ huts, they are the cabins where they spend the summers, following the ancient tradition of Alpine transhumance. Along the years some of them have been refurbished and transformed into summer cabins for tourists or they keep their original meaning but have been modernized to offer more or less the same comforts the shepherds are used to have in their homes in the villages in the valleys :D. The ones you see here are all shepherds huts. There are no real roads taking up here, just trails, so everything must be carried up with mules or donkeys :).

@ Hi Mete! Sorry to hear about such a foul weather you still have there. Keep it up, Spring is really just around the corner :). Yes, flower blossom here is always amazing and even more when I think that these are all natural/spontaneous flora, nothing is cultivated! Fossils, yes. Since my childhood the fossils hunt was one of our past times during our family hikes :). I keep this tradition with my kids, we normally search for them in some scree and we have been rather lucky sometimes. I have a couple of fossils with parts of ferns and a few with shells.

@ Pàdruig: Thanks! Yes, I consider myself lucky to have such an amazing “playground” just one hour/one hour and a half driving away from home. But don’t be “envious” :), I think every place has its own beauty, many times it’s just up to us to stop and look closer to find it ;) .

Take care!
 
Brad "the butcher";17066595 said:
Can't believe how much that looks like parts of British Columbia, great pics my friend

Hi Brad! You have told me this sometimes ago already and now I'm curious. Which parts of BC shall I look for (for the moment on the web) to appreciate these similarities? I am always amazed by this where in totally different parts of the World landscapes look the same :)! Glad you liked the pics!


awesome photos

Thanks Neeman! Happy you liked the post :) !
 
Brad "the butcher";17066595 said:
Can't believe how much that looks like parts of British Columbia, great pics my friend

I agree. These pictures reminded me of 'home' as in North Western Montana in the Cabinet Mountains. Beautiful Herlock. I always enjoy your threads.
 
I agree. These pictures reminded me of 'home' as in North Western Montana in the Cabinet Mountains. Beautiful Herlock. I always enjoy your threads.

Thank-you HK! Glad you like the post :). I have checked out Cabinet Mountains (thanks Google :)), true, it's a very similar landscape! Amazing :)! Beautiful places you have there :thumbup:.
 
My crocus photos have proven a theory. Here if you buy crocus you get a mix of white , purple, and yellow .The yellow ones never last so I assumed it's a weak hybrid. Your photos have no yellow crocus so I guess I'm correct. Anyway yesterday's very warm sun started the next event - forsythia. Perfect place for them here so I usually prune them 4 times each year !

Alpine farming in the old days !

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170406152313.htm
The big event of bringing cows up to the rich alpine grass each year is an old practice !!
 
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Hi!

@ Mete: The yellow crocus being "weak" theory is a funny one but probably not wrong. No yellow ones up there :). Forsythia is very common here also, beautiful yellow bushes, specially close to coasts. Enjoy the Spring :) !

@ Aias/Dluna55: Thanks! Happy you enjoyed the pics! :)
 
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