Photography
The Dolomites, Party of Four
Jan
The last time that I was here in the Dolomites I came alone with Banksy on a very romantic Valentine’s Day date, (Taking Banksy to The Dolomites) and now I’m back with some additional company as Gaby and Jack have joined us for the adventure! I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy revisiting places like this, as it allows me to create more meaningful bonds with the place, fortify my memories, and add depth to my experiences. I’m definitely not someone who will just visit as many places as I can just to check places off a bucket list, and especially when I have the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience of a place with someone else – I truly find it to be rewarding. Just like Banksy on his first time here, this is the first time that Jack has seen snow and we were both pretty excited to see how he would react to it. I already knew that Banksy would love seeing snow again, and it’s honestly so funny seeing their little faces covered in it after they sniff around.
This trip I decided that Pordenone would be a great base which was a great compromise between being able to visit the Dolomites and also having easy access to exploring Northern Veneto while we were there. I guess I also just really enjoy driving, seeing that 99% of the year I don’t have to. I rather enjoy driving back when I lived in the States – minus the hassles of driving like parking, traffic, etc. – so when I do have the opportunity to drive I usually elect to drive a bit farther to get the most out of my experience 🙂This trip I rented us a small Jeep with a manual transmission which I was honestly pretty Impressed with to be honest. It was the perfect size for the two of us, the boys in the back and all of our gear in the trunk. The only thing that stresses me out a little bit is the thought of having stop-and-go traffic going uphill in a manual transmission in the snow. Sure, it might not be the ideal situation for anyone – but seeing that I only drive maybe once or twice a year it is a bit unnerving to think about. Thankfully this didn’t occur during this trip 🙂
The first stop on our trip was to get a mandatory coffee and hit an ATM. We stopped in a little town I had never been before and visited ( name of place ) and I was able to stretch my legs a bit after driving for a while. Gaby picked Jack up and put him on a little patch of snow which was pretty funny as he had no idea what was going on but otherwise seemed to enjoy it. After that we continued on our journey again and headed towards Lake Misurina. I knew we would come back to the frozen lake on the way back down the mountain so we proceeded up the mountain again to where I knew we were going to go hiking in the snow. At one point there were two police officers that were telling everyone to turn around because it was a dead end, and there wasn’t any parking at the top where we were going. I asked if I could go and look to see if there was a space, and they agreed, informing me to not park illegally on the street. I agreed and we continued up the mountain ( I hope you appreciate my use of foreshadowing here – In case you missed it – I did park illegally and got a ticket ) Anyways, so we barely found a place to park, but made it work and decided to head off on our hike through the snow towards one of my favorite places called La Stube – Malga Rin Bianco.
During my first trip with Banksy it was honestly a bit tough because I had to take all my photos while also holding onto Banksy, while also walking through Ice and snow with the absolutely worst shoes that I could have chosen so I was slipping all over the place. Really though – I hope you look at the photos taken from my first trip to the Dolomites and appreciate them 100% more knowing that I was half slipping and keeping my dog from running off to be a wild mountain dog half the time.
So what I’m saying here is I’m really thankful that Gaby was with me during this trip as she held onto both dogs while trying to not fall while I carried all my camera gear – including my 300mm f2.8 while trying to not fall. Great team work I must say, and I’m also really thankful I recommended we both get some good shoes for this walk because otherwise she would have been doing the involuntary iditarod with two dogs the entire time, and I probably would have broken several lenses while half, or completely falling all over the mountain again.
So we started walking up the hill while we enjoyed the scenery, taking photos, and watching the occasional cool transport vehicles ferry people to and from where we’re going. We trekked along and occasionally I stopped to take photos of the scenery, of Gaby and the dogs – or sometimes just stop and just breathe and take in the scenery. It’s honestly just so beautiful and the cold helps me keep my focus and present in each and every moment.
Once we got up to La Stube we secured a place for us to rest and Gaby went and worked her magic with getting us drinks since there was a crazy Italian line (Imagine just a blob of disorganization, in the snow). About 10 minutes later she walked back to us with an enormous beer and a glass of wine uphill both ways in the snow! Proud boyfriend moment. Once she got back with the drinks I got our mandatory Italian Sausage and started (what has now become an apparent ritual) cutting small slices of sausage for us to share while we enjoyed the view, the sun, and our drinks. I honestly love this place and hope to come back here again sometime – if not several times again in the future. Once we finished our drink and our snack we started heading back down the trail towards the car – basically repeating what we did on the way up, but this time stopping to take more photos while we went along.
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After we got back to the car and accepted our certificate of rebellion (parking ticket) we started heading towards Lago di Braies as I knew it was something that Gaby would really appreciate. It’s actually kinda funny because Lago Di Braies is one of those places that is Instagram Famous, but I’ve never actually been there during a season that anyone would typically recognize since the lake is completely frozen over during the winter. Something that I also learned the first time I went there is that the entrance to the lake itself is really slippery and subsequently a pretty funny spot to people watch while they struggle to descend all but two stairs to get onto the lake. I think it must have taken the couple in front of us a good five minutes of half slipping to get down two steps! Once we were on the ice we just walked along and took some photos and admired the scenery. It was Gaby’s first time being on a frozen lake, so that was a pretty special experience to share with her 🙂
At one point the sun poked through the clouds and and amazing light started filling the sky and nearby peaks which was a pretty amazing site. I know experiencing these things in real life is never the same as in photographs, but I hope you’ll agree that there was certainly a unique beauty to the light shining over the mountains.
After walking around the lake for a bit we decided to head back towards the car and our very patient boys, but before doing so we needed to get some greatly needed sausages and potatoes because we were honestly starving. At that point the sun was starting to go down but I was thankfully able to arrive at this perfect spot to take some truly epic photographs at this location, which is where I took one of my favorite shots from the entire trip. The mountain ( TRE CIME) is just such a dramatic subject, and the fading light was just perfect. The shot which I’m sure will be a part of a future collection (not shown here) was also taken while half-slipping on icy snow while Gaby and the dogs waited in the warm car in case anyone is curious 😉 Leaving the parking lot was actually (thankfully) the only moment when I had to do some creative snow drifting in order to get out of it due to a curved incline that was iced over. Handled it like a champ though if I can say so myself 😉
Once the sun was almost completely set we arrived back at Lake Misurina and we decided to let the dogs out and have a run on the frozen lake there as well. I actually brought my onewheel out as well and rode it on the frozen lake alongside the dogs for a bit as well which was both challenging and rewarding 🙂 Too dark to really capture anything though, so here are some additional photos from our snowy adventure instead!
All in all I think this trip up to the Dolomites was a great success and I can’t wait to return again someday 🙂
Just great photos and amazing and detailed description of an epic journey !
Glad you enjoyed it! We definitely had a great time 🙂