Tag Archives: mountain

Take a 360-degree train ride to the mountains and fjords of Norway at home

2017-02-20

Traveling in western and northern regions of Norway is a dream come true for everyone who admires dramatic sceneries. The downside is that it takes more time than most sightseeing trips because of those majestic landscapes. Yet, it is possible to choose road travel, sea cruises or even train journey (in some parts of the country). The Flåm railroad in western Norway is probably the most popular section for train travelers. Now, you can watch how a train ride along the famous Flåm railroad looks like.

Flåm, the end station of the railtrack, is a village at the bottom of a fjord. The track starts from Myrdal, a station on the mountains that is connected to Oslo and Bergen via railroad. The 20 kilometer journey from Myrdal to Flåm is considered the steepest railtrack for passenger trains (with the most spectacular sceneries along the way) in the world.

The Flåm railroad company has recorded a 44 minute film of the whole journey in 360 degree video format. You can view the video below, and change the viewing angle as you wish.

Virtual Flåm by Expedia.no

A good question is why capture a train ride in a 360-degree video? The camera that has recorded the journey was attached at the front of the train. It doesn’t make sense to rotate the image and watch back because all you can see is the train’s front window. Look down, and you see the railroad track. Probably a better result could have been achieved with an ordinary weatherproof camera. Perhaps the experience on a virtual reality device is better than on a computer. Nonethless, the journey itself is impressive, and definitely one that we will have add to our bucket list.

We can recommend another magnificent train ride that starts from Norway and ends in Sweden. Originally, the railroad track between Narvik, Norway and Kiruna, Sweden was constructed for transporting mining produce, but nowadays it is a popular way to access some of the best sceneries, hiking trails and skiing tracks in Swedish and Norwegian Lapland.

A major road that connects not only two Nordic countries, but places like Abisko and other national parks to the rest of the world follows the railroad track. Here is a video captured during road trips between Narvik and Kiruna.

Scenic road and railroad from Narvik, Norway to Kiruna, Sweden from Klaava on Vimeo.

More spectacular Arctic landscapes and useful information on
traveling in Lapland is available in this travel guidebook.

Amazing works of art on the mountains of New Zealand and in the wilderness across the world

2016-02-01

Artist Martin Hill and his collaborator Philippa Jones create rare pieces of art that can only be seen in unique locations in the great outdoors. Fortunately, the artist tends to record his creations with a camera so we all can admire the wonderful objects that my exist only for a brief period. He may use, for instance, ice or snow and set up a sculpture on a mountaintop in New Zealand.

Martin Hill and Philippa Jones live on New Zealand’s Lake Wanaka, where many of his works are set. It is not the only place where he has worked. To create the sculptures, Hill and Jones have travelled far away from Lake Wanaka: from Antarctica to moss-covered rain forests.

Watch Martin Hill’s video below, or at his home page.

The pair started working on a project titled the Fine Line project in 1995, and it is still an active, ongoing project. They are building sculptures on mountaintops so that they form a line that circles the earth. It requires careful mapping, planning and perseverance, but if they have been pursuing the project for 20 years already. Let’s hope someone shows us satellite photos of the project soon.

Martin Hill told Fast Company: “Philippa and I love to go to wild natural landscapes especially in the mountains. We make our sculptures where we love to be.” Recently, they created a work called Ice Circle (a semi-circle) on Lake Wanaka. You can see the work on video below. Hill told how the photo of the work was taken: “We set it in the lake with a reflection at dusk to get the great light effect,” says Hill. “A low camera angle provided the drama.”

Watch the Watershed Experience video by Martin Hill that shows many of his artworks on the mountains of New Zealand and how they were created. The video is over seven minutes long, but every second is worth watching.

Watershed Experience from Martin Hill on Vimeo.

Here is Where the Pyrenees Mountains End (or Start)

2015-04-07

It is difficult to tell where large mountain ranges end (or where they start) when you are exploring a region. The Pyrenees is different: the other end of the mountain range plunges into the Atlantic Ocean and the other end to the Mediterranean. In any case, this setup provides beautiful sceneries from the mountain for hikers and mountainbikers.

The video was shot at the foothills of Pyrenees near Argeles-sur-mer, France. The Mediterranean can be seen behind the town.

Planning to visit southern France? Here is a travel guide available for download to smartphones, tablets, ereaders and laptops

Video: Spectacular Scenery over the River Var for Mountain Goats

2014-10-19

When authors and photographers collect material for travel guidebooks, they take hundreds or thousands of photos and perhaps video clips from a destination. As a book project progresses into final manuscript stage and a graphic designer begins to create the layout for the book, hard choices have to be made.

Plenty of beautiful photographs and fun videos have to be left out from the book because every element must add value to the content – even though the space is not that limited in an ebook as it used to be in paper books.

Here is a video clip that was shot on a mountain just above the city of Nice in Cote d’Azur, France. The valley of river Var looms in the background. The video was intended for the book The Gems of Nice and the French Riviera.