Let's gain new heights ...
... we thought by ourselves and decided that the first location to perform "Extreme Measuring" should be up in the mountains. Since the first location is always acts as a benchmark for the next one we decided to chose a moderate height for our first measurement: 2000 m.s.l (= 6562 ft AMSL).
Extreme Measuring - Lünersee
Coordinates: 47° 2' 48.15"N, 9° 45' 2.77"E
The Lünersee is at the end of a valley called Brand. It is also named: „Pearl of the Rätikon“.
The lake itself is 1.979 meters above sea level at the base of the Schesaplana, which is the highest mountain in the Rätikon.
It is in the middle of a nature protection area and a famous starting point for hiking. Furthermore it is also very attractive for fishermen and mountain climbers.
In 1959 the lake was enlarged by building a concrete dam in order to carry more water for electricity production.
The Photographers Shooting Diary
(by Andreas Bodenmüller)
The day before - Preparation: The major thing was to have all the equipment together that might be needed up in the mountains hours away from home.
Therefore my team mates and me scrupulously went through all the necessary test and photo shooting equipment.
We all where surprised, that we filled three backpacks but most of the space was needed for the photo shooting equipment and personal gear such as cloths and and food. For the measurement equipment itself, including Bode 100, the cables, some test prints, the battery and a laptop, only a laptop case was needed.
After checking everything twice we where ready...
The day of the photo shooting
4:30 am - My alarm went off and I climbed out of my bed, hardly seeing out of my eyes. About ten minutes later I heard the car coming and my fellow team members made waking up a little bit easier by serving me a cup of tea.
Then we drove to the Lünersee cable car station at the end of the Brandnertal (valley of Brand). We enjoyed the wonderful sun rise in the mountains, drinking the pleasant warm tea and having the first ration of food for breakfast.
It seemed as if the red shafts of sun light were awaking live where they reached through the mountain peaks and touched the ground.
Watching this breathtaking event time passed by really fast and we had to hurry to get our big backpacks and catch the cable car.
7:05 am - We took the first ride the cablecar made that early morning, which usually just transports goods and staff to the restaurant at the lake.
At least I enjoyed the fast ride which ups and downs between the carriers produced a prickling feeling in our stomaches like in a roller coaster.
Up at the concrete dam at the western side of the lake we heaved our backpacks to our backs and went on hiking along the lake to look out for a nice place for the foto shoot.
The stunning landscape made us forget the heavy equipment and after passing a few barriers like a big dove of cows we made our way to the south east side of the lake.
8:15 am - We found a nice place for our first shooting.
Although it needed some preparation, which meant carrying quite big boulders that made me sweat a little we could start taking pictures quite soon as setting up the test and the photo equipment worked very well.
13:00 pm - Enjoying the warm sun at the outside of the Restaurant we ate lunch. And used the brake to regenerate in the beautiful nature.
14:00 pm - Our shooting marathon went on.
We tried to make pictures at two other locations and got really busy in the end as we had to catch the last cablecar down to the valley. Furthermore, at our last location we were surrounded by fishermen who were looking for the big catch before it would start raining. In other words we really had to fight for our place to take some pictures.
17:00 pm - As fast as we could we grabbed all our stuff and cluttered up our backpacks somehow.
Running to the cablecar station we ceased - a 50m long queue in front of the station. Happy waiting!
Are you ready to beat our record?
If you take on the challenge just grab your Bode 100 and perform a measurement above 2000 m.s.l and send us some pictures and a short report. We are looking forward to some cool photos and stories.
