Photo: Night descends on camp at Iceberg lake with Mt. Whitney in background, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California.  April 2012

Over the weekend my brother and I attempted a quick trip up the Mountaineers Route on Mt. Whitney, California’s highest mountain.  We were a bit rushed on time, with my brother having a motorcycle race starting at 8am on Sunday, and also trying to beat the permit quota which starts today, May 1st.  So We turned around a little short the summit, not being able to commit the time needed and also not acclimatized enough.  This was his first real trip into the mountains so we weren’t looking to push things at all; the mountain isn’t going anywhere anyhow.  Was still a fun trip and wonderful weather.  Conditions this year are super dry, compare to my photos from this time two years ago.

Photo: Hiking over rocky terrain of the mountaineers route with Mt. Whitney in the background, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California.  April 2012

Photo: Ascending the mountaineers route on Mt. Whitney, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California.  April 2012

Photo: Descending the mountaineers route towards Iceberg lake, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California.  April 2012

Photo: Sunrise on east face of Mount Whitney, Sierra Nevada mountains, California.  May 2010

If everything has gone alright, something similar to this should be my view this morning and I should be on the top in a few hours…

In early November I made a quick visit to the mountains of the Polish High Tatra.  I had been in the region once before, in Feb. 2007, but I never made it into the mountains at the time.  This time around, and with a Polish friend and fellow photographer as a guide, I was looking forward to heading up into the hills.

After an overnight car-bivy in the parking lot we headed out under clear skies into the crisp morning air up the road which forms the first park of any hike in the region.  After a few kilometres we headed into the forest and up the trail towards the Five lakes Valley.  A little before 10am we arrived at the hut where we would stay for the night, right on the edge of a beautiful lake and surrounded by steep mountain peaks.  After a brief rest and some food we headed off with camera’s in hand to go wander about.  With no plan, we headed in the general direction of Zawrat pass arriving some time later.  Being November, there was a bit of snow about, but thanks to an unusually dry and mild autumn for most of Europe in 2011, we were fine in just trail runners and no winter gear.  From Zawrat pass a bit of a scramble along a ridge led us to some small 2,200 meter peak with stunning views back to the Five Lakes Valley and south into Slovakia (where the highest mountains of the Tatra are).  After a bit of time taking some photos, we eventually wandered our way back to the hut a little before sunset.

A side note:  As an American, I have basically no experience with mountain huts.  If I hike in the mountains in California, I carry a tent, tarp, or sleep in the open.  I cook (crappy) food on my little stove and drink from rivers or melt snow.  In winter, I go to sleep in the cold and get dressed in the cold the following morning; my boots usually frozen solid.  Now for Europeans, this is almost barbaric.  As much as I like wilderness and wild camping, I cannot deny that I enjoy the luxury of mountain huts.  Maybe I’m just getting old.  In Poland the huts are fairly cheap by European standards, with dorm bed running around 40 Zloty ($12) and dinner $3-6 (A huge schnitzel, sauerkraut, potatoes, potato pancakes, and a beer cost be about $6 at Morskie Oko hut).  A warm shower after a long day on the trail is probably worth a few dollars alone.  Plus the benefit of the weight savings from not having to carry camping gear means I can either travel lighter than possible back home, or load up on more camera gear.  Probably better to choose the first option…

At 6am the following morning we were on the trail to Morskie Oko.  We had hopes of perhaps trying to get up Rysy, Poland’s highest mountain, but upon closer inspection it would have been a rather dangerous adventure on the icy snow without crampons and ice axe.  After a few hours wandering around the lakes we headed back to the Morskie Oko hut a bit after noon to a shock of surprise.  Hoardes of people.  Everywhere!  A definite change of scene from the 5 people that had been in the Five Lakes hut the day before.  But Morskie Oko is one of the most famous places in Poland.  And the fact that people can be taken by horse drawn carriage the 10km up to the hut, means there is more of a city looking crowd of day tourists filling the dining room.  Luckily they all leave by late afternoon and only a few smelly hikers seem to be left.  After a good dinner it was off to an early night while setting my watch for 4:00 am.

Now, we weren’t getting up at 4:00 am to continue further into the mountains.  It was in hopes of getting to the parking lot before the attendant and thus saving 20 Zloty.  When we had arrived, on a Thursday, the parking attendant got there around 6:00am.  Cool we though, get there a little before that and we should be fine.  So at 4:15 am we left the hut and started the 10 km walk down the road towards the parking lot.  Making near record time, we at the car at 5:30 am and started loading our gear.  Then we saw the light in one of the buildings turn on and the parking attendant man come walking up towards us.  Bugger, I guess someone spends the night on the weekend.  20 Zloty poorer we hit the road.  So much for that genius idea.  Though a bit of luck was on our side as we came across some nice light over the forested foothills a bit down the mountain (the last photo).  Leaving the mountains we headed to Bielsko-Biala to visit a few more friends and spend the day eating pizza at the climbing gym.

Overall, I’m quite impressed with the Tatra.  Though not the highest mountains in Europe, they are rugged and beautiful with a good network of trails and fun scrambles, I’ll definitely be heading back one of these days and wander around for a week or two.

Photo: Przedni Staw – Front lake, Five Lakes Valley, Tatra mountains, Poland

Photo: View of Wielki Staw – Big lake in Five lakes valley, Tatra mountains, Poland

Photo: Slovakia – left, Poland – right, High Tatra mountains, Poland

Photo: View south into Slovakia from near Zawrat Pass, High Tatra mountains, Poland

Photo: Dawn comes to Tatra foothills, Poland

Photo: Snow storm and whitout on Fan Brycheiniog, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales. Dec 17, 2011

Winter arrived in the mountains of Brecon Beacons national park this weekend.  So as the weekend came, and with a friend visiting, it was off to the mountains for a bit of hiking.

Saturday we headed out west to the Black Mountain range for a hike up Fan Brycheiniog.  Well, there was no plan really, but as we arrived on scene to less than ideal conditions, it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be a super long day in the hills.  I had actually been hoping for colder temps to freeze the super-bog of a trail that makes up most of the approach, but nope, not cold enough and the super-bag was as bad as could be.  Not to mention it was covered in a layer of snow so it was difficult to avoid missteps into the mud at times.  The path up the hill hill to Fan Brycheiniog was barely visible and had sections of thigh deep snow drifts.  Once on higher ground, snow stayed about ankle deep for the most part with deeper drifts here and there.  Winds were in the region of 40-50mph once up high, with a face stinging icy snow falling most the time.  It was pretty much impossible to look into the wind, so we had took look down at our feet if walking into the wind – which was the whole way up the mountain. We were more or less in whiteout for most the hike as well, but the clouds cleared from time to time giving a nice view over the frozen land.

Sunday we had plans to hike Pen Y Fan from the south, but the road was too icy to get to the trailhead so we headed to the main parking area on the A470 between Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil.  Conditions down low were mostly calm, but the summits were hidden in cloud.  The forecast for Sunday had been better that on Saturday, but I’m not sure how true this was.  While there was less snow falling, once we reached the gap between Windy ridge and Corn Du, a strong, icy wind made it difficult to walk straight.  Again, conditions were complete a whiteout, even worse than Saturday.  Luckily I know the way quite well or it would have been pretty easy to get lost up there.  And I’m always amazed, especially on Pen Y Fan with its close proximity to larger cities, by the amount of people up there totally unprepared for conditions.  Once we were back down and heading towards Brecon the clouds cleared from the summit for what would have been a nice view at sunset.  Oh well…

Photo: Winter conditions near summit of Fan Brycheiniog, Brecon Beacons national park, Wales.  Dec. 17, 2011

Photo: Dark skies over Vestfjord, Stamsund, Lofoten Islands, Norway.

—-CLICK HERE— To go to the Lofoten autumn gallery.

It’s taken a few months, but I’m finally getting a few photos online (60 so far) from my Sept/Oct trip to the islands.  I’ll keep updating things over the next weeks as well, so keep checking back!

Overall it was quite a stormy, yet warm autumn.  Often there was a southwest wind which brings an awful misty rain much of the time, especially on the days I was hoping to go out camping.  Overall, Norway had the warmest November in 111 years.  There was one brief night of snow a week into October, but nothing like the cold I experienced in 2009.  So no pics of nice snow capped mountains this year.

I found myself struggling against wind and mist or rain nearly every day, often with only brief moments of better weather.  A few days into the trip a big gale arrived that cleared most of the trees of their leaves, leaving the forests mostly barren and ugly looking.   This led me to have a greater focus on seascapes that I was originally intending, but that is how it goes in the north.  And despite the weather, I still managed a fantastic afternoon up on Reinebringen and on my last night conditions were near perfect for shooting the best Northern Lights that I’ve seen thus far.

I often get asked for info about travel and photography on the islands.  My best piece of advice is to give yourself as much time as possible, the islands need lots of it.

Photo: Hiker on Reinebringen with Kjerkfjord in background, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Mount Rainer at dawn from Reflection Lake, Mt Rainier national park, Washington.

I know better than to show up in a national park without a campground reservation on a Friday, but I had to be back in Portland on Saturday so I didn’t have much of a choice.  I thought that by arriving pretty early there might be something available, but nope, the whole place was reserved.  Oh well, I guess I’d worry about sleeping options later and so I headed up to Paradise to do a bit of hiking.  The perfect summer weather and seeing a few climbers coming down off the mountain made me wish I’d brought my gear with me, but without a partner there wouldn’t be much I could do anyway.  So I had to content myself to wandering around with the crowds of tourists on the hiking trails.

Sunset was boring and uneventful.  And anyhow, summer is not a good time for the south side of the mountain as the sun sets too far to the north for any good light.  I headed off to the overnight hiker parking to sleep in my truck for the night and hopefully not to get a ticket from a ranger.  As the morning arrived I ended up at the Reflection Lakes, along with every other photographer in Washington state.  My jaw kind of dropped as I pulled up alongside the 10-15 cars already there in the morning darkness, and which continued to show up for the next hour.  I’m pretty unfamiliar with the Rainier area, but it looks like I must have found the place to be.  Sunrise was also pretty boring and after an hour of so of getting eaten by mosquitoes it was time to head south towards Portland.

Photo: Crescent moon in Reflection lake, Mt Rainier national park, Washington.

Photo: Mt Rainier from near Paradise, Mt Rainier national park, Washington.

Photo: View from Reinebringen, Lofoten islands, Norway

I’ve written several post about mountain hikes and camping on the Lofoten islands, but they’re a bit scattered across my blog at the moment so I putting links to them all here in one place.

Reinebringen hiking and info: CLICK HERE.  Reinebringen trailhead is located near Reine, on Moskenesoy.

Justadtinden hiking and info: CLICK HERE.  Justadtinden trailhead is located at Hagskaret, between Leknes and Stamsund on Vestvagoy.

Steinetinden hiking and info: CLICK HERE.  Steinetinden trailhead is located in Stamsund, on Vestvagoy.

Bunes Beach camping and info: CLICK HERE.  The ferry to Bunes Beach is located in Reine, on Moskenesoy.

Photo: Summer afternoon on Justadtinden, Lofoten islands, Norway

Photo: Saviors of my knees, Justadtinden, Lofoten Islands, Norway

Photo: Sunset from a flooded Tuolumne Meadows over Lembert Dome and Mount Dana, Yosemite national park. June 23, 2011

Over the weekend I was on a short camping trip with my dad and brother.  While I’ve taken trips with each of them individually in the last years, it’s probably been 10+ years since the 3  of us sat around a campfire together.  Highway 120 to Tuolumne Meadows just opened last weekend, so we were some of the first to enjoy summer in Yosemite’s high country this year.  The sky was cloudless and the sun was hot.  Snow seems to be melting quite fast and the river are quite big at the moment.  These first two photo’s show the current conditions of the meadow which is quite flooded at the moment.  Mosquitoes still haven’t arrived in the high country, but were quite viscous at the campground.

It wasn’t really a photo trip for me so I didn’t shoot too much.  Though I still managed to get myself up at 4:00 am on a couple days and go looking for images.  Didn’t end up with anything interesting.

Photo: Sunrise from a flooded Tuolumne meadows, Yosemite, California.

Photo: Dawn reflection on Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite, California.

Photo: Winter view from Stamsundheia towards Steinetinden in distance.  Mar 2009

Steinetinden (sometimes called Steinstind, Steinstinden) is a relatively small 509 meter high peak located between Stamsund and Steine on Vestvågøy in the Lofoten islands.  By Lofoten standards its not anything spectacular.  The main attraction of the peak is its close location to the Stamsund youth hostel, about a 5 minute walk across the street for the beginning of the trail.  If you have access to a car, I would recommend setting you’re sights on more aesthetic peaks.  If you just got off the Hurtigruten in Stamsund, are lucky enough to have some fair weather, then Steinetinden is the perfect introduction to what the Lofoten Islands have to offer.  The views aren’t bad, just not as good as elsewhere on the islands.

Location:
Steinetinden is the highest peak along the circular mountain ridge towards the east of Stamsund.  The most direct and straight forward way is walk up ‘Ringveien’ street which is located across from the Joker market.  From Ringveien one has several options.  One way is to turn on Halsbakken street and continue walking east towards the mountain.  When you see a yellow house with what looks like a parking area  for 2-3 cars in the street before it, head into the bushes at the back of the parking area.  You should detect a faint and probably overgrown trail.  This way will take you up and over Mannfallet first.

Otherwise, from Ringveien take the pathway into the forest at the back of the road that heads towards the lakes (this is also the cross-country ski route in winter).  After several hundred meters on the trail, there should be a sign and a small trail coming from the left.  Once on this trail, there are also two options when one comes to the fork.  Towards the left takes one up the middle peak of Mannfallet (308 meters), towards the right the trail continues through the forest and up a steep, often muddy trail towards Steinetinden.  Personally I think hiking up Mannfallet first is the more scenic route, and even slightly easier.  I generally save the steeper, more direct route for the way down, to make a bit of a loop out of things.

Whether going over Mannfallet first or heading direct towards Steinetinden you will eventually find yourself in a flat grassy area between the two peaks.  From here the trail steeply climbs about another 150 meters up to the summit of Steinetinden.

A word of caution:
while for the most part the trail is not anything technical, there are several locations where it passes quite close to high, steep cliffs and one is exposed to a possible fall of 400-500 meters.  In wet conditions the trail can also be quite slippery/muddy.  There are also several short rock steps that need to be negotiated, again with some exposure to a possible long fall. Go with a group of people if possible, and especially if you’re new to mountains.  Be sure to have proper footwear and don’t be afraid to turn around if necessary.

Photo: Final climb towards summit.  July 2006

Photo: Summer view from Manfallet towards Steinetinden.  July 2006

Photo: Spring view from Mannfallet towards Steinetinden.  April 2007

Photo: A bit of exposure near the summit.  July 2006

Photo: View of Stamsund from summit. Aug 2010

Photo: Winter view towards Glamaig – Sgurr Mhairi and Red Cuillin hills, Sligachan, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Jan 2011

Some years back I was making my way down Glamaig, back towards Sligachan to hitch a ride back to Portree.  I’m not sure if I was on a people trail or a sheep trail, the latter I think, when I came upon some more-than-normal-looking boggy section.  After a quick estimate, I set myself up to jump across most of it, figuring I’d end up a little above my ankle in mud, but would otherwise avoid too much of a mess.  Ha!  I ended up nearly to my waste as my leg plunged into the bog.  My momentum, and the unexpected depth of my step took me flying into the ground on the other side of the pit.  Quite lucky really, as I could have ended up totally submerged.  Once back at Sligachan, I was left to wash off as best I could in the river before attempting to catch a ride up to Portree.  Luckily it was getting near dark so my true state couldn’t be seen and a ride came along after not too long.