It’s been a strange winter, so far, in the Alps. It’s mild, warm, rainy instead of being snowy. So, when an opportunity came to go for a quick hike on the massive slope leading up to the Mucrone mount, a 2,335 mt peak dominating Biella, in Northwestern Italy, I decided not to skip it. I joined Marco Soggetto, photographer and webmaster (here you can find his 500pix account, and here his website, in Italian only). All the photos in this post are his.

These are the so-called prealpi, pre-Alps. A lower range of mountains, the first to be seen from the flatlands. They might be low, but the slopes are still impressive.

Thermal inversion, whereby the lower strata of atmosphere in a valley happen to be warmer than the upper ones.
Courtesy of Marco Soggetto, http://www.varasc.it https://500px.com/Varasc

Snow, as I said, should be starting about 1,200 meters lower than where it is now. This mountain is about 2,400 meters tall and only partially covered by snow. This time last year, the very place from which this picture has been taken was resting under a white blanket half a meter deep.

Courtesy of Marco Soggetto, http://www.varasc.it https://500px.com/Varasc

Hikers are making the most of it, though.

Courtesy of Marco Soggetto, http://www.varasc.it https://500px.com/Varasc

Planes and air balloons, too.

Courtesy of Marco Soggetto, http://www.varasc.it https://500px.com/Varasc

Courtesy of Marco Soggetto, http://www.varasc.it https://500px.com/Varasc

We descend. Lower below, fog still covers everything. High up above, sun shines and temperatures are mild. Snow, hopefully, will come soon.

Courtesy of Marco Soggetto, http://www.varasc.it https://500px.com/Varasc