This is the second VASTphoto dedicated to the Alps Giants: the Matterhorn.

The Matterhorn (in Italian named Cervino) is one of the most famous mountains of the Alps, very popular destination among the most experienced mountaineers: is 4478 meters high asl, seventh peak and third Italian mountain by altitude, located in the Western Alps, along the border between Italy and Switzerland.

Characterized by the particular very pronounced pyramidal shape, it has significantly marked the history of mountaineering: its north face is in fact one of the classic north faces of the Alps and around it develops the Matterhorn Ski Paradise ski area with the possibility of summer skiing on the Plateau Rosa glacier.

With this VASTphoto you can see the Matterhorn surrounded by stormy clouds, during a very rainy and cold summer like the 2021 one: is very difficult in this season to find the peak clean, but I'd like to realize a very dramatic ultra high resolution photo with a dramatic sky and light.

The details of the glaciers, rocks and peaks are impressive, as you can see by the previews. Is also visible the Jean-Antoine Carrel Refuge in one of them.

To reach this point of view I walked two hours along an extremely steep ski slope, with a backpack loaded with photographic equipment. The weather was bad all over the day and the peak constantly covered by clouds. Suddenly, towards sunset, a hole in the sky opened and the summit was partially uncovered, so I was able to immortalize it in this very dark and dramatic scenario

The postproduction of this VASTphoto was quite difficult and long, due to the optimization of the fast clouds over the mountains: as usual I use a motorized equipment to do the gigapixel image, so it was very hard to join correctly the 260 images with the clouds border over the rocks and glaciers, but I succeeded.