Lightfall in golden deeps

It had been mostly overcast when a spot of light began to travel down the valley a thousand metres below, revealing the old stone houses of Cabiói, the last village at the upper end of Val Verzasca. To avoid facing the light I had hoped to be further down the path when that would happen. However, the backlight gave a dramatic dimension to the glacial valley in a way I had not anticipated.

About twenty thousand years ago, the Alps were almost entirely covered by ice. In Val Verzasca, where today's relatively mild climate allows for deciduous trees to meet with the more alpine larch, glacial erosion was most efficient at the valley head, carving steep walls and a wide floor through the gneiss. Downstream, the valley becomes progressively narrower and the walls less steep.