Randy Olson, Melissa Farlow Photography

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  • Winter snow scene of the French and Italian Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114511.jpg
  • Aerial view shows snow that accentuates the contours of a flattened, freshly cut mountaintop removal site in Cabin Creek, West Virginia. Mountaintop removal is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are blasted away to expose the seams of coal underneath.<br />
As much as 500 feet or more of a mountain summit may be leveled. The earth and rock from the mountaintop is then dumped into the neighboring valleys.<br />
Analysis from a study that Appalachian Voices commissioned along with Natural Resources Defense Council  shows that 1.2 million acres have been mined for coal. “Over 500 mountains have been leveled, and nearly 2,000 miles of precious Appalachian headwater streams have been buried and polluted by mountaintop removal.”
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023729-2.JPG
  • Fresh snow on mountains overlooking Mendenhall Glacier and Lake.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114694.jpg
  • Snow clouds cover Sassolungo Langrofel, the famous Dolomite mountain.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114530.jpg
  • A skier makes a run downhill on artificial snow at Siestriere.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114505.jpg
  • A wild horse struggles to find food in the snow packed Ochoco mountains. They are adept at pawing at ground under trees where drifts are not as deep.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222904.jpg
  • A wild mustang trudges through snow pawing at drifts foraging for grasses to survive on in the Ochoco Mountains.
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  • South Chilkat Mountain peaks are kissed with warm light at sunset above the Icy Strait. High winds sweep ice and snow from ridge tops creating a landscape that is severe, yet appears serene. Winds were so strong that it took several flights to find calm air to make this image.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075066.jpg
  • Frosty morning snow on a canoe and trees surrounding a small lake near Mendenhall Glacier.
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  • Fog slowly lifts in the valley following a morning snow in Juneau near the Mendenhall Glacier and surrounding mountain peaks in the Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075063.TIF
  • Icy winds blow snow clouds blow over the jagged ridges of the South Chilkat Mountains that rise above Southeast Alaska's coast. Weather makes aerial photography a challenge as strong gusting winds force small float planes to land.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075061.jpg
  • Children playing in the snow on a hillside outside their home in Sylvester.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023949.jpg
  • Snow accents the contours of a fresh valley fill at a coal mine site seen in an aerial view. Tops of mountains are blasted away and flattened to reveal a small seam of coal, and the rock and debris is dumped into V-shaped valleys filling in stream beds.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023727.jpg
  • A rushing stream flows through woods blanketed in snow in Niagara reservation that surrounds the area around Niagara Falls. Frederick Law Olmsted, America's first landscape designer, worked with both U.S. and Canadian officials to make a plan to preserve the natural beauty from logging and overuse.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968648.jpg
  • Aerial view shows snow that accentuates the contours of a flattened, freshly cut mountaintop removal site in Cabin Creek, West Virginia. Mountaintop removal is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are blasted away to expose the seams of coal underneath.<br />
As much as 500 feet or more of a mountain summit may be leveled. The earth and rock from the mountaintop is then dumped into the neighboring valleys.<br />
Analysis from a study that Appalachian Voices commissioned along with Natural Resources Defense Council  shows that 1.2 million acres have been mined for coal. “Over 500 mountains have been leveled, and nearly 2,000 miles of precious Appalachian headwater streams have been buried and polluted by mountaintop removal.”
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023729-1.JPG
  • McGinnis Mountain in early morning after a fresh snow.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114696.jpg
  • Artificial snow covers ski runs at Siestriere.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114504.jpg
  • Snow blows across an icy, wintery back road in Steens Mountain as harsh weather comes to Oregon's high desert.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222778.jpg
  • A storm clears creating a serene landscape along the Mendenhall River after a light, morning snow on trees and surrounding mountains in the Tongass National Forest.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075062.TIF
  • More than 5,000 miles of roads are carved into the remote landscape to clear-cut large swatches of forests on Chichagof Island. An aerial picture after a winter snow reveals the patchwork on lower reaches of the mountains where logging traditionally occurs. <br />
Taxpayer money has subsidized the timber industry since 1980. Tongass National Forest timber management has cost U.S. taxpayers roughly one billion dollars, making it the largest money loser in the entire national forest system.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1073536.TIF
  • A couple relaxes in an outdoor heated pool surrounded by snow in the Dolomites. Steam rises in the cold alpine air that attracts tourists to the Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024090.jpg
  • A young evergreen tree doubled over in deep snow.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760119.jpg
  • Aerial view shows snow that accentuates the contours of a flattened, freshly cut mountaintop removal site in Cabin Creek, West Virginia. Mountaintop removal is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are blasted away to expose the seams of coal underneath.<br />
As much as 500 feet or more of a mountain summit may be leveled. The earth and rock from the mountaintop is then dumped into the neighboring valleys.<br />
Analysis from a study that Appalachian Voices commissioned along with Natural Resources Defense Council  shows that 1.2 million acres have been mined for coal. “Over 500 mountains have been leveled, and nearly 2,000 miles of precious Appalachian headwater streams have been buried and polluted by mountaintop removal.”
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023729.jpg
  • Aerial view of a drag line that scrapes through rock after a explosives blast away the top of mountains. A fresh snow contrasts the blackened coal that is revealed. Mountaintop removal mining devastates the landscape, turning areas that should be lush with forests and wildlife into barren moonscapes.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_1023728.jpg
  • A full moon rises over a snow covered McLean Hospital building in Belmont that first opened in 1811. The former asylum is a private, nonprofit psychiatric hospital that combines teaching, treatment and research for psychiatric disorders.<br />
Frederick Law Olmsted designed the grounds in his early life and spent his last years there as a resident.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968661.jpg
  • A car stuck in snow.
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  • Harsh winds blow snow across the craggy peaks of the South Chilkat Mountains, illuminating intense, orange colors of a winter sunset.<br />
Photographed from the air, the Coastal Range is directly across the Lynn Canal and the Juneau Icefield in southeast Alaska.
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  • Portrait of a wild horse in the snow-covered Ochoco National Forest in the Big Summit Wild Horse Territory in Oregon. The origins of the herd are not entirely clear according to the U.SD. Forest Service. Early accounts describe local ranchers in the 1920s turning loose quality animals from a good breeding stock to ensure a future supply of good horses. Recent genetic testing has linked the Ochoco Mustangs to Iberian and Andalusian stock, leaving much to be discovered about their true heritage.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7517_1222777.jpg
  • A logger takes a coffee break near a campfire  while cutting trees in a snow-dusted forest near Lake Bled.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024030.jpg
  • Harsh winds blow snow across the craggy ridges and peaks of the South Chilkat Mountains illuminating intense, orange colors of a winter sunset.<br />
The aerial view of the Coastal Range is directly across the Lynn Canal and the Juneau Icefield in southeast Alaska.
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  • Morning sun kisses the icy tops of winter trees in snow blanketed New York’s Central Park. An elevated view shows a walker following a curved path planned by Frederick Law Olmsted to create a greater sense of space and mystery about what was to come around the next bend.<br />
Olmsted partnered with Calvert Vaux to plan “Greensward,” and won a design competition to make the what became a beloved urban park. When the idea was conceived, New York was much smaller and no one could imagine the open space surrounded by a city with tall buildings. Olmsted was a visionary and understood that man needed nature to combat the stresses of city life.  Construction began in 1858  and was completed fifteen years later. Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963 and is now managed by Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit which contributes eighty five percent of the park’s $37.5 budget.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968752.jpg
  • Snow dusted a sequoia tree located in the southern portion of Yosemite National Park. The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias is the largest sequoia grove in Yosemite and is home to over 500 mature giant sequoias. The national park idea is rooted in the Mariposa Grove. In 1864 President Lincoln signed legislation protecting the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley for "public use, resort, and recreation." This landmark legislation holds an important place in our country's history and was enacted at a time when the nation was embroiled in the Civil War. For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government set aside scenic natural areas to be protected for the benefit of future generations. Later added to Yosemite National Park in 1906, the Mariposa Grove is a popular feature for visitors.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968657.jpg
  • Snow dusted a sequoia tree located in the southern portion of Yosemite National Park. The Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias is the largest sequoia grove in Yosemite and is home to over 500 mature giant sequoias. The national park idea is rooted in the Mariposa Grove. In 1864 President Lincoln signed legislation protecting the Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley for "public use, resort, and recreation." This landmark legislation holds an important place in our country's history and was enacted at a time when the nation was embroiled in the Civil War. For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government set aside scenic natural areas to be protected for the benefit of future generations. Later added to Yosemite National Park in 1906, the Mariposa Grove is a popular feature for visitors.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968594.jpg
  • Synthetic blankets cover a Pitztal Glacial ski slope in an attempt to absorb the sun and reduce snow melt.  Such drastic measures to save the Alps' retreating glaciers may prove futile. If current temperatures trends hold according to climate scientists, half the Alpine ice will be gone by 2050 and two thirds melted by 2100.<br />
Loss of alpine glaciers would alter the region’s ecology–not to mention its economy. Workers are hired to cover the snow pack with a fleece blanket seems equivalent to putting a band-aid on a glacier.
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  • Crisp winter air clears over freshly snow-dusted trees in Tongass National Forest looking across the Icy Strait in the Inside Passage toward Southeast Alaska’s Chilkat Mountain Range. The region is known for it’s harsh winds and rugged landscape as well as it’s beauty that is seen in this aerial.<br />
Chilkat, in the native Tlingit language, means “storage container for salmon.” The name was given because of warm springs that keep the Chilkat River from freezing during the winter as it flows through the mountain range, thus allowing salmon to spawn late in the season, and creating safe “storage.”
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  • Sunlight kisses a snow-dusted peak in the Dolomite Mountains. The mountain range in the northern Italian Alps numbers 18 peaks which rise to above 3,000 meters. The striking landscape features vertical walls, sheer cliffs and a high density of narrow, deep and long valleys. The geology is marked by steeples, pinnacles and rock walls, the site also contains glacial landforms and karst systems. The characteristic rock of the Dolomites consists of fossilised coral reefs formed during the Triassic Period (around 250 million years ago) by organisms and sedimentary matter at the bottom of the ancient tropical Tethys Ocean.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024145.jpg
  • Tourists gather to wait for a bus on snow-covered streets in trendy Courmayeur. It is a busy ski season in the area of Mont Blanc on the Italian side of the Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024036.jpg
  • Slovenians walk along a snow-covered path to a hilltop church near Ljubljana.
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  • Tourists carry umbrellas to make their way up snow-covered streets during a winter storm in Fussen, Germany.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024016.jpg
  • A stand of snow-dusted evergreen trees on a hillside.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760113.jpg
  • A stand of snow-dusted evergreen trees on a hillside.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760112.jpg
  • Twilight view of snow-capped Olympic mountains and foothills below.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760088.jpg
  • Twilight view of snow-capped Olympic mountains.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760087.jpg
  • Mount Olympus and other snow-capped peaks in the Olympic mountains.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7061_760053.jpg
  • Twilight scene from above snow-covered New York's Central Park. An elevated view shows a curved road planned by Frederick Law Olmsted to create a greater sense of space and mystery about what was to come around the next bend.<br />
Olmsted partnered with Calvert Vaux to plan “Greensward,” and won a design competition to make the what became a beloved urban park. When the idea was conceived, New York was much smaller and no one could imagine the open space surrounded by a city with tall buildings. Olmsted was a visionary and understood that man needed nature to combat the stresses of city life.  Construction began in 1858  and was completed fifteen years later. Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963 and is now managed by Central Park Conservancy, a nonprofit which contributes eighty five percent of the park’s $37.5 budget. More than thirty-five million visitors to Manhattan come to the park annually.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_968596.jpg
  • The Taku winds blow icy ridges that  overlook the Inside Passage. Stillness is only broken by the sound of skiers breaking through crusty snow to view the sunset view on top of Douglas Island nearby Juneau.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1086960.jpg
  • Cross country skier glides along side his dog as snow falls on frozen Mendenhall Lake surrounded by trees at the base of the glacier in Alaska's Southeast.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075065.jpg
  • A glacier recedes near the Matterhorn leaving ridges and jagged peaks where there was once ice. An aerial photo shows much of the iconic mountain was carved away by glacial erosion. <br />
The National Snow and Ice Data Center describes Matterhorn geology in "All About Glaciers." Cirques are rounded hollows or bowl shapes after a glacier has melted away. Aretes are jagged narrow rides created when two glaciers meet eroding on both sides. And horns are created when several cirque glaciers erode until all that is left is a steep, pointed peak with sharp ridge-like Arêtes leading to the top.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024113.jpg
  • Some skiers are challenged by the slopes of the Yin Qi Xing Indoor Skiing Site. A young boy has wet trousers from all of his falls in the snow.
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  • Some skiers are challenged by the slopes of the Yin Qi Xing Indoor Skiing Site while others take photos with a camera while standing on the snow.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7493_1176383-1.jpg
  • A crisp early morning after a freshly fallen snow in the Mendenhall Valley at an inn near Juneau.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075150.jpg
  • Ice-covered peaks of South Chilkat Mountains appear to have frosting on their tops from melting snow. Aerial photos is made when winds lay near sunset.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7258_1075067.TIF
  • A blanket is rolled onto the Pitztal Glacier to prevent snow from melting. It is a method workers use to combat the effects of climate change and global warming.  Integral to the local economy, ski resorts need protection from higher temperatures that melt the ice.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024108.TIF
  • Aerial view of the Dolomites dusted with snow under a setting full moon at sunrise. The mountain range in the northern Italian Alps numbers 18 peaks that rise above 3,000 meters. The striking landscape features vertical walls, sheer cliffs and a high density of narrow, deep and long valleys. The geology is marked by steeples, pinnacles and rock walls, the site also contains glacial landforms and karst systems.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024102.TIF
  • Skiers negotiate rocks on the ski runs at Passo Di Sella in the Dolomites where the snow pack melts and annually declines because of warming temperatures. Climate change is warming mountain regions at the lower elevation.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024101.TIF
  • A nun walks through the garden dusted with snow before the planting season begins at Val Mustair, a world-famous Benedictine Convent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Swiss Alps.  Founded in the 8th century, it has been home to Benedictine nuns since the 12th Century.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024093.jpg
  • View of the iconic Matterhorn and surrounding mountains in the Alps is made from a morning helicopter flight.  First ascent of the 14,692-foot mountain was in 1865 although four climbers died on the descent. <br />
The National Snow and Ice Data Center describes Matterhorn geology in "All About Glaciers." Cirques are rounded hollows or bowl shapes after a glacier has melted away. Aretes are jagged narrow rides created when two glaciers meet eroding on both sides. And horns are created when several cirque glaciers erode until all that is left is a steep, pointed peak with sharp ridge-like Arêtes leading to the top.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024079.TIF
  • Skiers race down the slopes of Sestriere, site of Olympic skiing events near Turin in 2006. Snow flies up as they cut back and forth gliding down the snowy downhill path. The resort was first built in the 1930s by the Agnelli family founders of FIAT, and today is one of the largest ski resorts in Italy.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_986278.jpg
  • Aerial view of snow covered mountain top removal mining site. After blasting the top of a mountain, trucks remove debris dumping dirt and rock into valleys and streams destroying watersheds. Over 1,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been buried and 300,000 acres of diverse temperate hardwood forests obliterated with valley hills like the white V in the foreground. Pollution from toxic chemicals fill sludge ponds and in flooding, contaminate drinking water. A moonscape of unusable land is left.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6773_996789.jpg
  • Shrouded in a light, misty snow, Chapin Parkway is one of seven tree-lined boulevards planned for the Buffalo, New York park system. Although other cities have implemented this kind of plan, it was in 1868 that Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux tried to integrate a system of parks and parkways for the first time.<br />
<br />
Olmsted designed the parkways so that within steps of each resident’s door was the entrance to a park-like setting. The parkways in Olmsted’s day were smoothly paved and intended solely for use of private carriages. Featuring 200-foot rights of way and flanked by several rows of trees, they were designed to provide open space for the neighborhoods through which they passed.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_956194.jpg
  • A rustic gazebo shelter perched on a frozen lake after a winter's snow in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The 585 acre public green space that opened in 1867 was designed by the influential landscape architecture team of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux.  Prospect Park Alliance was formed in 1987 to help maintain and preserve Olmsted and Vaux’s work. They have rebuilt the designers’ rustic shelters with the original methods—no nails, only pegs and dowels to keep the wooden lakeside structures together.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_956191.jpg
  • A Ladin farmer drives a horse-drawn sled on steep hills with small patches of melting snow outside the Dolomites. The community of LaVal remains isolated by geography and the people retained their own ethnic language although they also speak German and Italian.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024128.TIF
  • Skiers assemble high atop Aguille du Midi in the French Alps near Mont Blanc. A cable car lift takes tourists one way or round trip from Chamonix for a view of the snow-covered mountain scenery at 3,842 meters. Some skiers ready themselves  for the challenge of a steep, downhill slope.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024037.jpg
  • An evening view of the snow-covered resort town of Sestriere, Italy. Olympic alpine skiing competition was held on the slopes in the Alps during the 2006 competition and now draws tourists to the quiet mountain region.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024034.jpg
  • Twilight falls on the snow-covered village of Castelrotto which is also known as Kastelruth in German. The tower of a cathedral lights up the northern Italian resort town that serves as a winter destination in the Dolomites. Large distinctive mountains loom over the communities attracting tourists in all seasons.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024132.JPG
  • Mont Blanc rises in the distance behind craggy peaks and ridges seen in an aerial image. Drifting morning fog lifts revealing the snow-covered White Mountain, the highest in the Alps measuring nearly 16,000 feet. Located in the watershed between valleys in Italy and France, ownership of the summit has been a subject of historical dispute. <br />
The mountain is famous for the emergence of modern alpine mountaineering  after the first ascent in 1786.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024116.jpg
  • A stately oak tree stands in the snow-covered grand meadow of Delaware Park in Buffalo, New York.  A symbol of strength and endurance, the oak can live 500 to 600 years and grow up to 100 feet if left undisturbed.<br />
<br />
Frederick Law Olmsted, America’s first and greatest landscape architect, planned the city’s system of six major parks and connecting parkways representing one of his largest bodies of work. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the system comprises seventy five percent of the city’s parkland. 
During the 1901 Pan American Exposition, Buffalo was celebrated not only as the City of Light, but the City of Trees.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM6560_956193.jpg
  • Twilight falls on the Ladin village of LaVal in the snow-covered Dolomites. Perched on the lush green, mountain hillside is 15th century Gothic style Christian Church of Santa Barbara.
    RANDY OLSON_MM7139_1024130.JPG
  • Evening bright lights illuminate the town of Martigny, winter home of  St. Bernard dogs of Alps fame. Nestled between the snow-capped mountains in the Alps, it is a junction of roads that join Switzerland with Italy and France.
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  • Mont Blanc as seen from Aiguille du Midi.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114510.jpg
  • The Austrian Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114568.jpg
  • Glaciers of Aiguille du Midi near Mont Blanc.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114514.jpg
  • Mont Blanc as seen from Aiguille du Midi.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114507.jpg
  • A religious Ladin man reads a newspaper while watching a Catholic funeral on television in the kitchen of his farm house in the Dolomites. The community is close-knit and have a language unique to their region in LaVal in the Italian Alps.
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  • Snowfall on evergreen trees.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114691.jpg
  • Car lights blur on a switchback road above San Gotthard tunnel.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114594.jpg
  • Glacier Express train in the Swiss Alps between Sedrun and Andermatt.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114593.jpg
  • Bossons Glacier near Mont Blanc Tunnel.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114570.jpg
  • A couple with a dog walk near a hilltop chuch.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114498.jpg
  • Zugspitz, Germany's tallest peak in the Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114488.jpg
  • Zugspitz is Germany's tallest peak in the Alps.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114486.jpg
  • An overlook of Telfs which is located west of Innsbruck.
    MELISSA FARLOW_RF4115_1114484.jpg
  • Japanese tourists view the Matterhorn and pose for photos with the iconic St. Bernard dogs in the Alps. Around two million tourists visit annually to Switzerland's most popular destination nearby Zermatt.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024117.jpg
  • Morning fog rises over a summit cross on Zinalrothorn and other mountain peaks in the Alps surrounding the Matterhorn. Image is made from an early morning helicopter flight.
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  • Morning fog rises from craggy mountain peaks in the Alps surrounding the Matterhorn. The Alps range formed when two tectonic plates of Africa dn Eurasia slowly collided millions of years ago creating some of highest peaks in Europe.<br />
Rugged Zinalrothorn and Weisshorn in the background.
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  • Monday is laundry day at Val Mustair as nuns fold a flowered sheet in the convent courtyard. The world-famous Benedictine Convent and a UNESCO World Heritage Site is in the Swiss Alps. Founded in the 8th century, the Christian convent is home to Benedictine nuns since the 12th Century. Eleven make their home behind closed walls, living a life of commitment to poverty and celibacy. Each nun has her work and they come together for meals and prayer.
    MELISSA FARLOW_MM7139_1024095.jpg
  • A man boards an icy lift up to Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak in the Wetterstein Mountains. Three glaciers flank the mountain that is just over 9,700 feet high. The first ascent was in 1820, but today cable cars transport skiers and sightseers to the top for a view that is obstructed on snowy white-out on this day.
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  • "Wild men" in suits of tree lichen celebrate Schleicherlaufen. It is a similar cultural tradition to Carnival but it is held once every five years in early spring when light wins over darkness of winter. Men collect moss in the woods for weeks before and women in Telfs sew it onto clothing to make the costumes for the parade.
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  • Colorful buildings line the banks of the Inn River with its source located in the Engadine region of the Swiss Alps. Flowing through Innsbruck, seen here, it eventually enters the Danube  River.
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  • Mount Olympus and its sister peaks.
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  • Aerial view of some of the 16,000 participants in the Ski Marathon as Nordic skiers trek across frozen upper Engadine valley. The winter event has been hosted since 1969 drawing athletes and tourists to mountain communities around Saint Moritz in the Alps.
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  • A Ladin man collects a pail of water from a cattle trough and traverses carefully across a sheet of ice. Life is hard in rural, isolated villages like LaVal in the Italian Alps.
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  • Some skiers are challenged by the flat but snowy slopes of the Yin Qi Xing Indoor Skiing Site.
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  • A cross country skier traverses a snowy trail near the train that passes through spectacular Alps scenery negotiating 55 tunnels and 196 bridges.
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  • A man and his dog ride to check on the farm.
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  • Mendenhall River surrounded by McGinnis Mountain and other peaks.
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  • Ice on branches of trees near Mendenhall Glacier.
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  • A luxury spa and overnight inn in the Mendenhall Valley.
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  • Cross country skiing with a dog on Mendenhall Lake.
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  • Aerials of the Dolomite Mountain near Austria.
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