I finally did a proper winter hike with my new Hilleberg Unna tent. The weather has been all over the place in the weekends lately and I never seemed to find suitable conditions. But this time I woke up and decided to go even though it was blue skies for sunset and fog for sunrise….;) Not ideal conditions for landscape photography to put it that way. But things change fast in the mountain…

I drove to Rondane and parked the car on the edge of the national park. I had my mountain ski on and all the hiking stuff was in my 60 litre backback. I walked about 8 km and looked for a spot that could serve as camp site and photography opportunities. It was not the perfect spot as I still was a bit to far from the mountain peaks. But I did not want to get to get exposed to avalanches neither. The tent was up and ready just before the sun disappeared behind the mountains and hills to the west. There were still some light on the highest peaks.

I had pitched the new tent just once before, but its a very easy tent to set up. I used only 6 snow pegs as the forecast said quite little wind. I also used my mountain skies to secure the same guidelines more.

Here are some photos of some snow patterns catching the very last light of the day

When the light was gone the temperature dropped very fast…. I had to use all the clothes I had brought. The new gloves and bivvy shoes were came in very handy.

I did some night photography before heading into the sleeeping bag, but it was cold and I missed the focus because it was almost pitch dark. Need to practice night photography in more suitable surroundings.

I was up again at 5 am and very curious to see what the weater and conditions was like. What a sight. The clouds were already red in the horizon in the east. Quite a contrast to the weather forecast. That sunrise was magic and lastet for a long period due to the constant changing cloud formations. i didnt have direct sunlight were I was but it was on the surrounding peaks.

At some point I managed to get some dirt on the camera sensor. Tried to remove it but it only got worse, I will always bring sensor cleaning from now on, even on a winter hike like this.

Here are photos during blue hour and the sunrise.

The good light and colours lasted for a couple of hours as the low clouds were passing by

After a while the contrast got low and it was almost whiteout. The light was great in the golden hour and I also got some decent photos in daylight

Some behind the scenes with my mobile phone. The Hillberg Unna was great. I kept pretty warm. It was some condense inside when I woke up, but it was gone with some better ventilation.

So all in all it was a great hike. It was ment to be a test and I sure learnt a few things. Cant wait to get out again!