5 Most Breathtaking Things You Could Meet in The Mountains

Aaah, the great outdoors!.. Rivers, hills, mountains and a scattered group of people. What more can a person want? Just you, a backpack filled with goods, a bottle of water and the spirit to conquer it all. But mountains can offer you something more than just the regular hiking and bouldering experience…

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Something so rare, you’ll remember it the rest of your lives. The wondrous nights, shimmering stars, streaming waterfalls, thick forests and marvelous landscape is what makes a good climbing expedition divine. What is good for the eye is good for the mind also. And as scientists say, people should invest in journeys, not inanimate objects. Journeys throughout the world offer happiness that inexpressible in words.

A good trip can offer you happiness for years and years. I remember my first trip in the mountains, it was a small peak only 1480 meters tall, and it was hard as hell, and eventually just 40 minutes before reaching the summit I gave up. This was my first and last time giving up. Neither mud, nor snow, nor rain can stop me now. So let’s get going and learn about these five marvelous and stunning things you could stumble upon in the mountains.

1. Aurora Borealis (the Northern Lights)

These lights appear above the magnetic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres of the Earth, also known as Polar Regions. For example, you can see this marvelous apparition in Alaska Mountains, Polar Ural and Kamchatka in Russia; in Finland, Sweden, in a number of other highlands and also in Antarctica Mountain Range.

The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) and Aurora Australis (Southern Lights) are what you can see in the pictures. These bright dancing lights of the Aurora are actually collisions between electrically charged particles from the Sun that enter Earth’s atmosphere. These collisions vary in color due to the type of gas particles that are colliding. The most common Aurora color is a pale yellowish-green and is produced by Oxygen molecules located about 80 km above the Earth.

Rare, all-red Auroras are produced by high altitude Oxygen, at heights of up to 500 km above the Earth. Nitrogen produces blue or purplish-red Aurora. Scientists have learned that in most instances Northern and Southern Auroras are mirror-like images that occur at the same time, with similar shapes, sizes and colors. Because the phenomena occur near the magnetic poles, Northern Lights have been seen as far South as New Orleans in the Western Hemisphere, while similar locations in the East never experience the mysterious lights. However, the best places to watch the lights are in north-western parts of Canada and Alaska in North America, Greenland, Iceland and the north coast of Norway in Europe, and even some places of Ural and Siberia in Russia. Southern Auroras are not often seen as they are concentrated in a ring around Antarctica and the Indian Ocean.

2. Lenticular Clouds

Lenticular Clouds can be found anywhere on Earth, when the conditions are right for its formation — which includes the mountains.

Lenticular clouds commonly have been mistaken for UFOs (or “visual cover” for UFOs) because these clouds have a specific lens appearance and smooth “saucer-like” shape.

In recent years there were a number of cases, when illiterate media people took lenticular clouds photos in the mountains for alien ships and amused the audience by publishing pictures with corresponding captures. Not a single alien was hurt. 

Lenticular clouds, technically known as “altocumulus standing lenticularis”, are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form at high altitudes, normally aligned at right-angles to the wind direction. Where stable moist air flows over a mountain or a range of mountains, a series of large-scale standing waves may form on the downwind side. Under certain conditions, long strings of lenticular clouds can form, creating a formation known as a wave cloud.  

3. Colored Mountains 

Imagine climbing this gem... I wouldn’t have enough battery, time and memory to take photos. This landscape is just breathtaking!

These marvelous mountains in the pictures can be found in Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park in China and several other places in China.

Yes, believe it or not, this insane Technicolor mountain formation does exist… FOR REAL! Layers of different colored sandstone and minerals were pressed together over 24 million years and then buckled up by tectonic plates. Danxia landform is formed from red-colored sandstones and conglomerates of largely Cretaceous age.

Also inquisitive traveler can find similar marvelous landscapes in Peru, Mauritius Island and USA. If you have seen some of this wonder ща the world in your region – please, share the information, don’t hide it from other mountain lovers!

4. Penitentes

Photo: 7vershin.ru

Imagine you stumble upon these little critters, and you go inside this nature made labyrinth, oh endless fun. Who doesn’t like snow? I know I adore it.

These structures, known as penitentes, can be found on very high-altitude glaciers, such as those in Andes Mountain, where the air is dry.

These marvelous structures are tall thin blades of hardened snow or ice closely spaced with the blades oriented towards the general direction of the sun. They usually formed in clusters and range from a few centimeters to 2 meters but penitentes as high as 5 meters has been recorded. These pinnacles of snow or ice grow over all glaciated and snow covered areas in the Dry Andes above 4,000 meters. Penitentes are common sight in the regions between Argentina and Chile. They form when the sun’s rays turn snow directly into water vapor without melting it first, a process called sublimation. An initially smooth snow surface first develops depressions as some regions randomly sublimate faster than others. The curved surfaces then concentrate sunlight and speed up sublimation in the depressions, leaving the higher points behind as forests of towering spikes. It’s like a small city with towers high that can touch the sky.

5. Saint Elmo's Fire

Sailors of the past did not know electricity, therefore they called to St Elmo, naming the lights that appeared on the tops of the masts in his honor. 

St. Elmo's Fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formia; by the legend, he died on the ship’s deck, promising the sailors to pray for them and send signs from heaven (for which mariners mistook observed lights, generated by strong electric field in the atmosphere).

Today, praying when seeing the appearance of Lights is not necessary, and the phenomenon can be found not only in sea, but also in the mountains, on the flying plane skin and even... саn be created at home. Generally, St. Elmo's Fire is a corona effect, which happens on pointed object’s tops — and even on the trees.

But beware, ever a thunderstorm catch you in the mountains. In which case you may have the opportunity to observe St. Elmo's Fire, and this means trouble. Because during mountain rainstorm everybody should stay indoors in order not to catch a thunderbolt.

Benjamin Franklin was the first scientist, who connected the Lights with electricity. Broadly the appearance of luminescence is associated with the large number of ionized fractions in the air. Usually their presence is extremely low, however, during a thunderstorm the number increases sharply.

In order to create St. Elmo's Fire by yourself, take off your synthetic clothes and adjust a needle to the direction. An electric flashover will be formed, which can be seen in the dark.

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But the most breathtaking thing in the mountains are certainly… the people. They reach the inaccessible peaks, explore the new corners of the world and encounters the most grasping relationships: with the friends and the outdoors. And this stays forever, like clouds, like Aurora Borealis, like breathtaking landscape.

And back to the great outdoors: Mountainplanet.com is a global geo-informational social network which wants to help mountain guides and clients communicate and locate each other better.

Register on Mountainplanet.com as a guide, outdoor enthusiast or athlete, share your experience and emotions and let’s make the the mountains safer and accessible together — to the people who are looking for memorable outdoor experiences.