The Heart of Lech
In the week before Valentine’s Day, my cousin sent me a message asking if I could send her a photo showing two tracks in deep snow, or perhaps a photo of last year’s flower…?
When I leave the office shortly after 5.00 pm, everything is freshly covered in snow; I see the clear sky, feel the bitterly cold air on my face and am already looking forward to the approaching blue hour.
On my way home, I have a brainwave
We could also send a Valentine’s greeting from Lech Zürs. Once I got home, I rang my colleague Markus and asked him if he had a romantic streak. I could just picture him turning up his nose, but then saying “yes, yes” anyway. So I told him about my idea. He then says, “OK, I’m in – see if a few more colleagues will help us out.” They agreed straight away. What’s more, my nephew Pirmin spontaneously offered to take photos and videos with the drone.
The next day, full of enthusiasm, I jotted down my idea on a sheet of paper and drew a little sketch to go with it. I then sent everything to my colleagues so that we were all on the same page.
That day was crucial. Because for our project and our photo and video shoots, we needed a proper picture-perfect day with sunshine and a clear, cold night. The forecast for the coming Friday was exactly that sort of sunny day.
And then, before we knew it, the time had come!
On Friday, 12 February, Katrin and I met up after our lunch break and took a look at the freshly snow-covered field together.
When Markus finally joined us after his ski trip, we set about roughly treading out the shape of the heart. My biggest concern was the heart shape itself. How were we going to create a nice, even heart?
With the help of the drone images, we were able to give the heart a wide border. So we treaded the whole area a few times with our snowshoes.
Let there be light!
Now the torches are being stuck into the snow after every step. The sun is slowly setting and it’s getting quite chilly… our timing’s spot on; we’ve even got a bit of time to warm up briefly.
As we look at our project, Markus blurts out: “Now I think this is really cool – it always takes me a while to get into these sort of ‘art projects’.
Shortly after 5.00 pm, we set off again for the Heart to light the nearly 170 torches in time for the blue hour.
What a day!
Just a quick check to see if all the torches are burning. We’re in luck – it’s a windless evening, so all the torches are burning evenly. It’s getting colder by the minute. So we take a ‘brisk walk’ towards Bernhard’s stable to warm ourselves up. From here, we have a brilliant view of the Herz, the village and the Omeshorn. Whilst we’re happily enjoying the view, Pirmin takes a few more photos and videos with the drone.
And then, just like that, it’s here – the blue hour we’ve all been longing for, though it lasts only briefly. We savour the moment, take one last photo and set off for home.
Valentine’s Day greeting 2021 from Lech Zürs am Arlberg
The Heart of Lech 2021
