Category: NFN

Perhaps the most satisfying thing about a day in the mountains, to me, is that nothing ever stays the same for more than a few minutes. If you walk into any direction for half an hour, your perspective of the surroundings will be entirely different. Even if you stay put in one spot, the light will have changed — and the weather may well have shifted from comfortably warm to freezing cold, and back again. These clouds literally flew by during a spring storm at around 9.000 feet. It was so cold that after taking my gloves off I only managed to take two frames. An hour later, back down in a valley about 1.600 feet below, you could have walked around in a shirt.

My visit with Jens in the Dolomites is not yet sufficiently documented on this blog. For my main interest, of course, was researching the food. I came with a particular plan: I wanted to walk from rifugio to rifugio, and taste their strudel di mele (that is, apple strudel). A kind of small competition. Since I visited only for two days, my procedure was highly unsystematic – I’m sure there are many more delicious versions out there. But for what it is worth, I want to report on two extraordinary incarnations. However, I have to do it in two installments, because there is reason to digress…

I begin with the Rifugio Tre Scarperi. The place reminded me of a Greek temple: everything is about location, perspective, light, sun, and the horizon. The rifugio is built into a kind of corner, high up in the mountains. When you sit in front of it, it’s like sitting in a theater, built for perfect vision of panoramic events. Also, you can sit outside even though it’s still winter, because the layout of the building provides unbelievably smart shelter against the wind.

Anyway, the strudel. Impressively different from anything one might find in Manhattan: practically no sugar, only a tiny bit on top. It didn’t really taste like cake, more like a kind of nutritious bread, with raisins, apples, and nuts. This is serious mountain food, perfect if you have a couple more hours of hiking to do. Five stars for its lovely flavor and total lack of pretension. And, of course, for location. *****

This image is hard to judge for me because I had to work hard to get it. It is from a narrow valley just below the tree line, where lone skiers come down from their tours higher up. The trees stand on a steep slope facing north, with the sun coming directly from above/behind. At this time of the year, on a sunny day early in the afternoon, the avalanches start to come down from the southern slopes. That’s where I was when I made this image. Once you’ve climbed up and down an avalanche area, to get just the right angle and the right light, you are tempted to think that the result must be good.

I don’t believe in ‘forced’ images — usually the ones that just ‘appear’ are the good ones. Time will tell.