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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/13, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Scarred
— the only color, if you look closely, is the wound from a recently snapped limb —
In the mountains of Toyama Prefecture, Japan

The day we arrived up north in Toyama Prefecture at the start of a short New Year trip, it was clear and sunny, but that was pretty much the last sun we saw until on the we came home. We woke up the next morning to find that it had apparently just started snowing hard... there was only a bit of new accumulation, but no let up in sight.

So we headed off to our planned destination for the day, which entailed a drive through the mountains. It would have taken about 45 minutes in clear weather, but since we were getting some snow, we took it slow.

Much of the way early on turned out to be in open-sided tunnels, built just to protect against snow, so not only could we go normal speeds, we could stop to take pictures out the side of the tunnel, from the un-snowy confines just inside. That was the occasion when I took the photo above, along with the tighter zoom seen in an earlier post as our theme for the trip.

One thing I like about these is that the background is not clear... there's something back there. Pulling back for a wider shot makes it apparent...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 38 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/13, ISO 2000 — map & image data — nearby photos
Valley

Perhaps it's not really that apparent... the tree in the foreground is fairly near, but the entire background is the far face of a valley, with a big river out of view in between. Anyway, I thought it was pretty.

The snow was coming down relentlessly, so the breaks between the tunnels were filling out fast. I stepped out from where I took those photos to take this one:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Omaki Tunnel
1,330 meters long

It looks dark inside (and compared to the field of white outside, it was), but the outside-facing wall of the tunnel was open the entire way, so it was quite pleasant to drive on a snowy day.

The next tunnel started pretty much right away.... looking the other way from the same spot:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/200 sec, f/3.5, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
That's Where We're Heading

Eventually the snow-shield tunnels stopped, and the roads got steeper, and driving became substantially less pleasant. 10km and 45 minutes later, conditions were worse... here's another backward/forward pair:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 34 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Where We'd Been
looking downhill

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Where We Think We're Going
looking uphill

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 48 mm — ¹/250 sec, f/9, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking To The Right
in short order the road dives down to cut through that little town

It was a relief to get to the little town because all the roads were snow-free... because they were continuously sprayed with water (!), just like the roads in Kinosaki we saw last year. I suddenly had much appreciation for the method.

The snow continued to come down hard, but eventually we made it to our destination, which offered quite a bit to enjoy, though it looks totally bleak in this particular photo:

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Parking Lot

While parking, I heard a snowplow....

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/9, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Enter the Cavalry

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — ¹/100 sec, f/6.3, ISO 250 — map & image data — nearby photos

I could certainly have used him later in the day.

Continued here...