Blog Post - 0032
I went to the Vosges again today, to take a further look around the area.
The Grand Ballon was the first destination.
The skies were very clear in the morning and I wanted to have a look and see how clear the view to the Alps was, although it was already mid-morning.
There was a lot less snow than last weekend, some of the paths were clear, but it was still deep in other places.
The sky was full of light fluffy clouds, moving quickly across the sky. There was a beautifully clear view of the Alps and I was looking forward to getting to the top.
Until halfway that is. That's when the wind hit! It was occasional strong gusts at first and until we reached the top. Then it was occasional strong gusts between the really very strong gusts and the stronger gusts that blew lumps of ice off of the monument right in our direction.
I had intended to take some long exposure shots, but as I could hardly hold myself still against the wind there was no chance that the camera would be immune to the wind.
Even in the lee of the monument, the wind was still very strong so the only option was to head down again.
Around halfway down I had another go at getting the long exposure image I wanted. I crouched behind a rock to try and get a little shelter from the wind but wasn't very successful, only one image came out without any unwanted movement showing.
Looking back up towards the monument.
The wind was so fast that although these images were taken in close succession, the clouds have a different appearance in every shot.
One final image of the way back down to the parking space.
I did go further but the next destination that I wanted to visit was blocked.