You guessed it, it's that time of the year again! Holiday pics!
CAI Path marking on a tree near Passo Gardena, South Tyrol - EF 20-35 f/2.8 L - 35mm, f/5, 1/125, ISO 200
The main way to get around any mountainous region in Italy, even where vehicles cannot get to, is through paths called "sentieri".
The CAI (Club Alpino Italiano) lists more than sixty *thousand* kilometers of sentieri, created through history and now each regularly maintained and marked with the well-known by hikers red-and-white color scheme, on trees and rocks.
Two-person paraglider (Tandemgleitschirm) taking off near Ciampinoi, South Tyrol - EF 20-35 f/2.8 L - 35mm, f/8, 1/200, ISO 200
Here's a shot taken fairly close to a takeoff point opposite of the one seen last year, this time before the actual takeoff.
This activity seems to be ever-growing in popularity especially around this valley, with the sky being filled with easily a hundred of these at once on the day I took this particular pic.
View from the Rifugio Toni Demetz Hütte, Mount Sassolungo, South Tyrol - EF 20-35 f/2.8 L - 20mm, f/8, 1/400, ISO 200
Here's a picture from the tallest place reachable on foot (no climbing) in the valley, at a height of about 2685m.
The Marmolada mountain range (3343m) is visible on the left with its perennial ice, while at the center is another paraglider takeoff point. Shots like these (sun and extreme shade) can challenge the dynamic range of any camera.
Panorama (about 160°, ESE) from Mount Seceda, South Tyrol - EF 20-35 f/2.8 L - 5 pics at 20mm, f/10, Av, ISO 200, ran through Autostitch at max settings
This was sort of an experiment and it turned out pretty decent it seems, without the need for a tripod or a dedicated camera function.
The option to keep the original size of the images can make for some nice massive megapixel counts even for not-so-recent cameras. The original for this is 10331x2363 on a '07 Canon EOS 40D, and that with just 5 images.
Fermeda Kapelle, Mount Seceda, South Tyrol - EF 20-35 f/2.8 L - 35mm, f/10, 1/500, ISO 200
Little chapel on the sloped side of Mount Seceda.