My first experience of the Stelvio Pass came from the amazing series Top Gear, where those three crazy lads drove exotic sports cars up and down the pass. It was amazing! And at that moment, I told myself I need to go there. Fast-forward a few years later and this is the view I was treated to, after my buddy and I raced from the southwest side from Bormio in our speedy Fiat 500, GoPro mounted to the front of its hood or bonnet as the Brits would say. When we finally arrived at the top after about 75 hairpin turns, at about 9,000 feet, this is what we saw. We were so awestruck and mesmerized by the sheer beauty that we left the GoPro recording, stuck to the front of the hood the whole time we were up there. At one point, those puffy white clouds hanging low in the valley made their way up to the top, creating a white-out for a brief moment. Such an amazing experience I will remember my whole life. 7536 Santa Maria Val Müstair, Switzerland Google Maps Location: http://goo.gl/VoDbr
Just another ho-hum view right? Can you believe this?? My finger got fatigued from taking so many pics like this along the Icefields Parkway. This lake is so disgustingly gorgeous it’s not even funny. You have the ever imposing but majestic Crowfoot Mountain standing tall before you, butted up right against Bow Lake, with its varying shades of color, from tan to emerald green and blue waters. Then there are some light, puffy clouds to dot the skyline and hug the mountain peaks, plus gorgeous fir trees dotting the shoreline and hills. Then, if your senses weren’t already overloaded, just for kicks, add in a glacier off to the left, namely Crowfoot Glacier. There is such overwhelming, immense beauty in this world, for when you experience it, you feel like one in a billion. Bow Lake, Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada Google Maps Location: https://goo.gl/xyZVZo
This is the Icefields Parkway, one of the most amazing, breathtaking, eye-popping drives I have ever been on in my adventures around the world. This is just one of many views your brain will be permanently etched with, along the 140 mile highway that parallels the Continental Divide. Few places in the world have scenery as replete as this. You have small and large glaciers at every turn, rugged, worn and tall rock faced mountains, emerald aqua blue lakes, roaring rivers and quiet little streams, waterfalls of the typical sort and green rocky mountain fir trees as far as the eye can see. And if that scenery isn’t enough, throw in the chance to encounter wildlife that spans the gamut with grizzly bears, black bears, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, caribou, lynxes and bobcats. Where else in the world can you get that, all in one place? I wish we had more time for that part of the trip, for I could spend days and days photographing scenes like this at every turn. Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada Google Maps Location: no GPS, somewhere along Highway 93
