SURETTA LAKES

July 2018

Summer was fully under way in the Alps as I made my way to the Suretta Lakes in this southern part of Switzerland. The hike starts on the Splügen Pass which leads across the Italian border a little further down the road and goes upwards along a very comfortable incline. It’s not too far and after a little over an hour, you reach the first lake. As I was quite early, the light was very harsh, and I continued on to the upper lake where I sat down in the shade of a big rock to unwind and enjoy the nice weather.

When it got towards sunset, I had already set my stuff up on a hill between the lakes and grabbed my camera to try and get some nice photos around the lakes in the evening light. As the sun got lower, it created some amazing beams over the valley, but the real spectacle didn’t happen until the sun had already gone. I had been strolling around the lower lake during the last moments of the sunset and was already headed back up to my camp to call it a night as I looked over my shoulder one last time and immediately knew I had to turn around.

The surface of the lake had completely calmed down, reflecting the backlit clouds of this incredible blue hour sky. I made my way back to the shore of the lake, where I took some of my favorite photos of the year. The colors in combination with the mirror-like reflection were so beautiful, I didn’t even care about the mosquitoes constantly nibbling on my legs. What a great way to end the day.

The next morning’s sunrise wasn’t anything special, but I was okay with that as I had already gotten so lucky the day before. There were a couple moments where the light and the clouds made for some nice scenes, but I also needed to head back rather early as I had a bus to catch down in the valley.