Silkroad: Tajikistan Photo

Photographer’s Note

Silkroad travels: Pamir

That's it, the highest point of the Silkroad network from Rome to Bejing!

We are on the Akbaital ashuu (=pass); 4655 m asl) and enjoy the view into the Muzkol range. Peaks no longer seem so high, despite the fact that the Muzkol peak (to the right) is 6'128 m asl. The white matter is not snow but natural salt outcropping. This area is climatically continental with little precipitation and very cold winters.

The Swedish explorer Sven Hedin described how the mercury in his thermometer froze up here in 1893. He also wrote about this pass: "It was the considerable thinning of the air that made the horses to use all their strength. They fell continuously, sometimes kept lying on the ground and gasped for breath."

As we had no problems with altitude, my friend Peter tried to climb a sidehill in an effort to reach 5'000 m (see photo in workshop section). The geology appears to us laymen absolutely strange, there is a lot of granulate matter of maybe volcanic origin. Help will be appreciated.

macondo, hispic trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

macondo (13183) 2008-01-01 2:53

Hello again Dietrich.
I have had a look at all your Silk Road shots and find the scenery incredibly open and vast. This one is extra good because of the sharply defined bike in the foreground. Probably the shot would look even better if you had placed it more to the left. But what a landscape! I like the sight of the clouds' shadows on the slopes, even if they do have a little purple fringing. An incredible journey and very well documented in your photos.
Enjoy your new year's day.
Regards,
Andrew

Buin (37988) 2008-01-01 3:31

Hallo Dieter!
Man freut sich mit euch, dass ihr diese eindrucksvolle Passhöhe erklommen habt ... nur noch 150 m unterm Mont Blanc - Gipfel. An dieser Stelle sei es nochmals erlaubt: Hut ab!
Geologisch kann ich leider nicht helfen ;-)
Alles Gute für 2008!
Frank

brandstaetter (14246) 2008-01-01 5:12

Hallo Dietrich,
ich kann dazu nur gratulieren ! Eine außergewöhnliche Leistung und außergewöhnlicher Mut.
Beste Grüsse Christian

smarcell (14437) 2008-01-02 3:21

I love it. A bike and a road to nowhere. It gives a great sense of freedom. The colors of the mountain, and its contrast with the blue of the sky and the grey of the road are just perfect.

sayeed_rahman (2295) 2008-01-02 4:09

HEllo Meyer

You gotto have the strongest pair of legs to take a cycle up there with all that load..is that yours??..:)

Perfect use of the elements with the right perpective..gives enough depth to the compo..the exposure seems right..the colours are indeed well saturated..

Overall a good photojob..New Year Greeting !

Cheers
Sayeed

:)soon

ahmet54 (2247) 2008-01-02 11:32

Hallo Dieter,
das satte Blau des Himmels und die Vielfarbigkeit der Berge gefallen mir. Gut gelungen ist dir der künstliche Vordergrund.
Viele Grüße,
Roland
PS: Frohes Neues Jahr!

ViktorVaughn (1517) 2008-01-16 11:46

Another beauty, this one has the gorgeous blue sky, and expansive nothingness. Placing the bike in this shot was a very good idea, providing some foreground interest that your other shots lacked.

Regards,
David