Aerial View of Clouded Italian Alps
November 20, 2013
Photographer: Danilo Pivato; Danilo's Web site
Summary Authors: Danilo Pivato; Jim Foster
The photo featured above showing the cloud-shrouded Italian Alps was snapped while flying at approximately 33,000 ft (10,050 m). The camera is facing west -- Lake Garda is below and Monte Cervino (Matterhorn) is in the far distance. Like the Rocky Mountains in the U.S., the Alps are composed of multiple mountain ranges. Due to particular folding processes, regions of the Alpine orogenic belt have been deeply eroded, resulting in the numerous nearly vertical summits that characterize the Alps ranges. According to the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme (UIAA), 82 peaks stand at least 4,000 m (13,120 ft). Note that the highest clouds in the middle distance are also the brightest -- lit by the early morning Sun. Photo taken on September 3, 2013.