Passo Pramollo/Nassfeld Spruce Trees, at the Foot of Mount Auernig, in the Central-Eastern Carnic Alps; FVG, Udine, Italy/Austria State Border
18-March-2025
This is the flat and relatively wide area of the pass, which, under the snow, hides the Pramollo lake/Stausee, which is a shallow artificial basin where the water, coming out of the soaked peat bog that characterizes the surrounding land, converges.
Peat is a deep and water-rich soil, with these characteristics it has helped the Spruce (Picea abies or Picea excelsea) to stay quite healthy despite the many dry and extremely hot summers (even at high altitudes).
Elsewhere this tree, a prevalent component of the Siberian taiga and widespread in the inner Alpine valleys, is suffering from parasites and lichens that attack this tree weakened by a soil that has become progressively poorer and too hot in summer.
A high percentage of this species has already died, especially in the sloping areas where water is scarcer, the land more exposed to the sun and generally to the wind that on October 29, 2018 (Vaia/Scirocco Storm) caused a domino effect of these weakened trees, especially between Carnia, Comelico and Cadore.
The account at the time seen from the sea:
www.flickr.com/photos/22873479@N08/31014649097/in/album-7...
It is precisely on the slopes that the Spruce/red Fir/Norway Spruce would be most useful, as an anti-landslide, thanks to its ability to root widely and deeply, but the moist and fresh soil it needs is now only found in the valleys with marked thermal inversion or in these high mountain areas where the snow is still abundant and resilient, while peat, as mentioned, is very useful in this case.
Spruce/Picea Abies characteristics:
www.flickr.com/photos/22873479@N08/5822107675/in/album-72...
To facilitate the arrival of Italian skiers, the Austrian resort helps clear the snow from the small, winding road, that leads to Nassfeld from Pontebba and with its snowcats spreads fresh snow on a cross-country ski run, which is also a pedestrian path, (despite the disagreements...), which makes an 8 in this area, all in Italian territory, and thanks to them, it must be said, this pass is almost always reachable, even in the middle of winter, effectively cleared after a snowstorm and easily walkable and skiable thanks to the compressed snow.
Passo Pramollo/Nassfeld Spruce Trees, at the Foot of Mount Auernig, in the Central-Eastern Carnic Alps; FVG, Udine, Italy/Austria State Border
18-March-2025
This is the flat and relatively wide area of the pass, which, under the snow, hides the Pramollo lake/Stausee, which is a shallow artificial basin where the water, coming out of the soaked peat bog that characterizes the surrounding land, converges.
Peat is a deep and water-rich soil, with these characteristics it has helped the Spruce (Picea abies or Picea excelsea) to stay quite healthy despite the many dry and extremely hot summers (even at high altitudes).
Elsewhere this tree, a prevalent component of the Siberian taiga and widespread in the inner Alpine valleys, is suffering from parasites and lichens that attack this tree weakened by a soil that has become progressively poorer and too hot in summer.
A high percentage of this species has already died, especially in the sloping areas where water is scarcer, the land more exposed to the sun and generally to the wind that on October 29, 2018 (Vaia/Scirocco Storm) caused a domino effect of these weakened trees, especially between Carnia, Comelico and Cadore.
The account at the time seen from the sea:
www.flickr.com/photos/22873479@N08/31014649097/in/album-7...
It is precisely on the slopes that the Spruce/red Fir/Norway Spruce would be most useful, as an anti-landslide, thanks to its ability to root widely and deeply, but the moist and fresh soil it needs is now only found in the valleys with marked thermal inversion or in these high mountain areas where the snow is still abundant and resilient, while peat, as mentioned, is very useful in this case.
Spruce/Picea Abies characteristics:
www.flickr.com/photos/22873479@N08/5822107675/in/album-72...
To facilitate the arrival of Italian skiers, the Austrian resort helps clear the snow from the small, winding road, that leads to Nassfeld from Pontebba and with its snowcats spreads fresh snow on a cross-country ski run, which is also a pedestrian path, (despite the disagreements...), which makes an 8 in this area, all in Italian territory, and thanks to them, it must be said, this pass is almost always reachable, even in the middle of winter, effectively cleared after a snowstorm and easily walkable and skiable thanks to the compressed snow.