Vorarlberg Day 2 – Flexen Pass and Hochtannberg Pass
On the second day the Flexen Pass and the Hochtannberg Pass were on the programme. In the morning it was still a little rainy, then the weather finally improved and the sun even came out now and then. At the foot of the Flexen Pass conditions were finally good enough to send the drone up – at least for ten minutes, until the connection broke off and Thomm sent poor, ill Oliver chasing after the sinking drone. Thanks to the snow piles and the stream between us and the drone, there was yet another crash, and afterwards poor Oliver’s lungs were completely finished. After a short break we went on into the Flexen Pass tunnel. There was hardly any traffic, so we were able to practise a little portrait shooting right in the middle of the tunnel. The Flexen Pass lies at 1,773 metres and links the Klostertal near Stuben with Zürs and Lech; the first road to the top opened in 1897, and it has been open in winter too since 1936. The Hochtannberg Pass, 1,679 metres high, links Warth with the Bregenzerwald. The portraits get their own post; here, first of all, are the pictures from the second day.
Mist on the wooded slope, a waterfall in between – still a little rainy in the morning.Clouds above the conifer forest, a snowy summit on the left.A horse with a pale mane, a second one grazing behind.The gallery beneath the striped rock face on the Flexen Pass.A camera with a red strap on the bonnet.Round windows cast arcs of light onto the tunnel ceiling.A wet gallery with a stone wall, an orange lamp and tall windows.The gallery and the snowy valley, a person with a camera on the far right.Galleries on both sides of the gorge.The gallery on the rock face, snow and blue sky above.In the middle of the tunnel: hardly any traffic, time for portraits.Beanie, sunglasses, scarf – a portrait against the stone wall.On the stone parapet above the gorge, the tunnel behind.A wooden post with rope and barbed wire in the snow.Footsteps across the pass road.Snow fences from below, a beam lying aslant in front.Wet rock and dry grass in front of the snow fences.Snow fences on the bare slope, a few spruces above.A row of windows and a crash barrier in the empty Flexen Pass tunnel.Blurred windows in the tunnel, snow and rock outside.Mist drifting through the dark conifer forest in the valley.A pale stream in an almost black gorge.A rocky knoll before snowy peaks, conifers in front.Wooden fences on the slope between spruces, light on the grass.Rocky ridges with remnants of snow, the summits in mist.Standing on the logs and looking, the snowy peaks opposite.The gallery on the striped wall, spruces on the rocky top above.A small figure on the concrete arch above the tunnel.Snowy peaks above the rock face – at last the sun comes out.Stacked logs before the gorge, snowy peaks behind.The pass road at the edge of the forest, snowfields on the slope.A collapsed wooden hut between tall spruces.Leaning spruces above root stumps on the slope.A bank of cloud lies on the ridge.Snow lingering in the hollows, the slope vanishing into mist.A small wooden hut between bands of snow on the meadow.Spruces at the edge, the rest dissolving into mist.Spruces on the ridge, a pale scree gully beside them.A tunnel portal, the road blurred in front.A panorama: log pile, river in the valley and gallery.Alone on the snowy pass road.A stone bridge over the river, a tunnel portal behind.Raindrops on the windscreen, wet trees beyond.Two waterfalls on the wooded rock face, mist above.
