valhalla...not that easy

Last winter, my wife and me visited sweden. she insisted that she had to trek in/near the arctic.

the very thought put me off. but we went over to abisco..really north of sweden and she said
she would cross into valhalla..

legend has it that across the 'u' shaped crossing at the top center of the image lay heaven..

i love legends, but the facts are what they are..just a trek across wasn't going to get us into heaven,
but did get us into the hospital for severe frostbite.

that is she..the brave but knaive soul!

Fahim,

Your wife has your interests at heart! Many friends and relatives are satisfied with order and the expected. It's really more worthwhile to be challenged at the edge of one's comfort, the wind in one's face, risk of failure or showing one's weakness. She is a good driving force.

Sorry about the frostbite, I really hope it didn't cause permanent damage or loss of toes! Did your clothes get wet? Did you have no guide? How could you get so cold?

In any case, providence brought you back.

Now what was it you saw and felt? After all you took the risk!

Asher

To focus on the picture : very nice one ! We can feel this very little red character is lost among white and cold immensity. I like this man centered who is facing the rude world.

Hi Fahim

I second Cedric's thoughts, and beeing a alpy boy, I know that feeling of the little human beeing beeing in the immense white. Contrary to what one might expect, I don't fear but respect it.

That said, I' m aware that even heaven (a little mountain/pass) can become a dangerous task:
a few years ago, a snow avalanche bypassed me by about 6 feets - when going up to a rather easy peak. The sensation of seeing a real avalanche coimg down blocked me completly: I was'nt able to run away from it (what I have should done) and it took quite a few minutes of real fear before beeing able to move forwards.

You' ve been lucky, that the wheater din't turned in a storm, with the loss of visual orientation.
Didn't you had good gloves or shoes?

Asher, she is a risk taker..i am a professional op risk manager. i can mitigate its consequences, but
not eliminate it..i do not even try. in this instance our risk mitigation techniques, shall we say, were
not 'stress tested'. meaning we did not know sh*t what we were letting ourselves in for!

what did i feel?..cold and missed riyadh!

cedric..so true, we felt very very insignificant ( which we are but don't accept ) and lonely.

Michael..Glad you escaped the avalanche. it must have been a frightening experience. Just like survival
in the Alps, survival in the desert needs experience and luck...lots and lots of it.

In any case, undaunted ( but shaken ) the camera clicked and i post processed what i wanted
valahalla to look like rather than what it did look like.



Thanks for your comments, and wish the best to all of you.

fahim mohammed said:

In any case, undaunted ( but shaken ) the camera clicked and i post processed what i wanted valahalla to look like rather than what it did look like.

Click to expand...

Hi Fahim,

It certainly looks like you got something worthwhile back, to somewhat compensate for the frostbite. Lovely scenery to look at with a 25 degrees Celcius room temperature!

Bart

Looks like a place that you shouldn't forget the way back from. That second picture is lovely.

Personally, I find the first image (with the clouds) more interesting than the 2nd one; the 2nd one looks a bit postcardish, meanwhile the first has more of unifinity - getting lost.....
The human figure is important in the first as well!

Fahim, I agree on the "comparison" desert/alps/sea.
Yes, in these extremes, one has to accept borders, unlike today's °unlimited° modern world.

Bart, Ron..thanks for stopping by and your comments.

Michael, yes the first image does show the relationship of the solitary figure to the whole emptiness
around.

The second image reminds me of another world..something that Asimov would have created.

Thank you all.