“The heart of Austria!”, my cousin exclaimed as we stood on the far side of Pasterze Glacier on the Carinthian side of the border between Carinthia and Tyrol, deep in the Austrian Alps. High in that uninviting world of ice and rock four climbers are slowly making their way up a 45 degree ridge-line to […]
Read Moremountains
Grand By Any Measure
In the deep alps of Austria, lies her heart, the peak of Großglockner, Austria’s highest mountain. As mountains go it might be dwarfed on paper by 58 higher peaks scattered throughout the alps but in absolute prominence relative to the surrounding terrain it stands only second to France’s Mount Blanc. In the heatwave of a […]
Read MoreA Balance of Worlds
There is a defining moment when the natural twilight over the land begins to dim and the lights of civilization briefly reach a balance. The timing of that moment can not be determined in advance. It depends on the way the daylight is drawn away in cloud and sky and haze and the waking of […]
Read MoreContext
Context is everything and depending on who you are this might be a scene of tranquility or a scene of distress. Below the thin dark line to the right of the bridge is a wall with a large sign ‘Welcome To The Killeen Course’. Further down below that dappled lake’s surface is asphalt marked with […]
Read MoreFirst Light
It might be the first light of a Lake Killarney dawn but there is nothing tranquil or serene here. The battered shoreline strewn with debris and the dirty brown froth, barely visible in the gloomy half light, hints at night’s fury now abating. If I wait long enough tranquility might return but I don’t like […]
Read More