Best time of year to photograph the Alps?

I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to the Swiss and possibly the French Alps. I'll probably be taking my MF camera as well as my 300D.

As I havent been able to find very much information of the subject I was wondering whether anyone has any experiences of photographing the Alps during winter.

Asides from the obvious shorter days and bitter coldness, would there be any other major obstacles? Just how bad is the snow fall in winter?
Will it severely hamper visibility/ picture opportunities.

I have actually read that "fresh snow fall" during winter is eagerly anticipated.

Can anyone shed some light on the situation?

Thanks for your help

Mrotzik said:

I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to the Swiss and
possibly the French Alps. I'll probably be taking my MF camera as
well as my 300D.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately entire Alps area ( including Italian) had been excessively photographed within last 150 years all over the entire year cycle.

Statisticly speaking it is little more demand for the photographs taken in the spring, due to avalanches covering photographers and their work.
(aar)

How much time are you planning to spend there? Are you a skier? Do you have the proper closing to handle potententially extreme weather conditions? Are you willing to hike at high altitudes? By what means are you planning to travel in the Alps?

In this gallery are some images from the Alps which will show you what is possible if you know how to get there and are lucky enough that the weather cooperates with you. http://www.pbase.com/adaossi/europe_2004
Cheers,
Oskar F. Neuhold

Mrotzik said:

I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to the Swiss and
possibly the French Alps. I'll probably be taking my MF camera as
well as my 300D.

As I havent been able to find very much information of the subject
I was wondering whether anyone has any experiences of photographing
the Alps during winter.

Asides from the obvious shorter days and bitter coldness, would
there be any other major obstacles? Just how bad is the snow fall
in winter?
Will it severely hamper visibility/ picture opportunities.

I have actually read that "fresh snow fall" during winter is
eagerly anticipated.

Can anyone shed some light on the situation?

Thanks for your help

Click to expand...

Oskar Neuhold said:

How much time are you planning to spend there? Are you a skier? Do
you have the proper closing to handle potententially extreme
weather conditions? Are you willing to hike at high altitudes? By
what means are you planning to travel in the Alps?
In this gallery are some images from the Alps which will show you
what is possible if you know how to get there and are lucky enough
that the weather cooperates with you.
http://www.pbase.com/adaossi/europe_2004
Cheers,
Oskar F. Neuhold

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response Oskar,

I'm looking at spending between 10 to 14 days there.
Unfortunately I'm definite not a skier.

I've hiked Snowdonia and various bits of Scotland, but not considerably higher than 2000 meters. I'm certainly willing to put in the effort and am relatively young and fit. As for clothing I have some money set aside to get some basics... though I guess the experience of survival (of which I have little) is just as necessary. I'll probably be flying to Geneva and then renting a car to get me as near as possible perhaps staying at the Zermatt resort.

Was your visit made during the summer time? Do you know of photographers (who aren’t survivalists) visiting there during winter?) Do the guides still operate?

February to April for the winter season, mid-August to mid October for the summer.

The weather is more settled then, the main holidays are over and the light is more attractive (whether near minimun, nor near maximum).

Do not rent a car, at least at first, until you are sure you need it. All Swiss alpine resorts can be reached easily and conveniently by public transport, mostly rail.

Mrotzik said:

I'm in the early stages of planning a trip to the Swiss and
possibly the French Alps. I'll probably be taking my MF camera as
well as my 300D.

As I havent been able to find very much information of the subject
I was wondering whether anyone has any experiences of photographing
the Alps during winter.

Asides from the obvious shorter days and bitter coldness, would
there be any other major obstacles? Just how bad is the snow fall
in winter?
Will it severely hamper visibility/ picture opportunities.

I have actually read that "fresh snow fall" during winter is
eagerly anticipated.

Can anyone shed some light on the situation?

Thanks for your help

Click to expand...

--

• Alfred

http://www.pbase.com/alfredg/

Alfred said:

Do not rent a car, at least at first, until you are sure you need
it. All Swiss alpine resorts can be reached easily and conveniently
by public transport, mostly rail.

Click to expand...

I second that Knowing that Zermatt is a no car little town, but they have golf car style vehicule which are as anoying for pedestrian.

I would recommand snow shoes. It allow you to travel in easily in the snow.

There are cable car in any valley to take you to summit with resto and wonderfull views. The sky domaines are big but you are not always allowed on them unless you sky. But You still can find some country ski/snow shoes path.

The Alpes are crowded anytime the weather is acceptable. The most difficult part is to get rid of the crowd and If you don't know the mountains and stick to real path, that will be mostly impossible.

There are guides to help you travel in the Alpes safely if you want to leave the beaten tracks.

As a destination, I would recommend you to have a look at the Diablerets. We had some nice walk there.

Laurent

Alfred had some excellent advise as to the best time to travel the Alps, after all he resides in Switzerland.

To photograph in the Alpine Regions is an exercise in frustration. You can go for weeks sometime and never see the mountain scenery for the low hanging clouds, rain or blowing snow. Spending good money to go for two weeks to one of the Alpine regions can fast become a bad investment if all you get is a couple of days where there is an opportunity to get good shoots. The weather also has a tendency to change quickly. You start your travel to a destination by sunshine and by the time you get there, a couple of hours later, you find yourself in a snowstorm. Too many tourists get caught every year in such situations and some due to improper clothing and preparation do not survive.

I would not recommend to you, since you are not a skier and could enjoy this aspect on your trip, to go in the winter time. An all white scenery is difficult to photograph and as exiting it might be for you to experience it, the resulting images will most likely not please you. End of May early June I find most beautiful, with spring flowers, green grass and snowcapped mountains. Also the tourist season has not started yet and the weather is fairly stable. Late fall, end of October early September is also a good time. This year I was there during the month of September and had 25 beautiful days of sunshine which is very unusual. But by way of illustration, by the end of September, a pass I crossed with ideal weather conditions was closed only 2 days later because of heavy snow falls and avalanche danger.

In my opinion the best you can hope for is, go as a tourist, take the train and gondola rides, enjoy your stay and take shoots to document where you have been.

Cheers,

Oskar F. Neuhold

L. Lerusse said:

L. Lerusse said:

Do not rent a car, at least at first, until you are sure you need
it. All Swiss alpine resorts can be reached easily and conveniently
by public transport, mostly rail.

Click to expand...

I second that Knowing that Zermatt is a no car little town, but
they have golf car style vehicule which are as anoying for
pedestrian.

I would recommand snow shoes. It allow you to travel in easily in
the snow.
There are cable car in any valley to take you to summit with resto
and wonderfull views. The sky domaines are big but you are not
always allowed on them unless you sky. But You still can find some
country ski/snow shoes path.

The Alpes are crowded anytime the weather is acceptable. The most
difficult part is to get rid of the crowd and If you don't know the
mountains and stick to real path, that will be mostly impossible.
There are guides to help you travel in the Alpes safely if you want
to leave the beaten tracks.

As a destination, I would recommend you to have a look at the
Diablerets. We had some nice walk there.

Laurent

Click to expand...