A reader writes:
Now that’s an awesome view! It certainly looks like it could be in the Alps somewhere, but I am going with the U.S. because I think we have more of a fondness for fences than Europeans, though I could be wrong about that. The mountains look more like the Rockies than the Sierra Nevada, and a couple of my students mentioned Telluride but then said no to that because the town is more self-contained than what we’re seeing. However, I did notice that on the outskirts of Telluride there is an area called Mountain Village, which is more residential and would have this view overlooking Telluride, which would be just off to the northeast. Sunset in beautiful Mountain Village, CO?
Another looks west:
I’m sure someone will be able to pinpoint the exact hotel, room, and, based on the angle, the probable height, weight, and dietary preferences of the photographer, but it looks a lot like Jackson Hole, Wyoming to me. I’ll go ahead and guess the Grand View Lodge.
Another jumps to Europe:
This looks to me very much like the Alps based on the landscape and chalet style houses; the modern square building in front makes Italy and France less likely, leaving Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein. I imagine some readers will spend hours figuring this out – I’ll just guess the western outskirts of Vaduz, Liechtenstein since the mountain range across the valley looks like the one you see from Vaduz.
Another:
Swiss Alps! French Alps! German Alps! Austrian Alps! I have no idea which Alps this view belongs to, but lovely it is. An hour browsing through pictures of the Alps is not an unpleasant hour at all. But I’m reduced to a wild guess: Engelberg, Switzerland. And just for fun, here’s one of the many beautiful Alpine views I came across in my searching. Okay, one more.
Another:
Verbier, Switzerland? I am sure that is not correct. I am not a geolocation wonk but enjoy VFYW for the memories and other connections evoked by the photographs. I spent my 20th birthday in Verbier, over 30 years ago. The view from my window that morning was as peaceful and full of promise as this week’s shot.
Another adds his own view:
Wow, this week’s contest brought back a strong memory of a conference I went to five years ago in the French Alps. Here’s a picture I took at the time, from the Centre Paul Langevin looking into the village of Aussois:
What a gorgeous location. Pretty similar, huh?
But not quite the same. In the contest photo, there’s no church, and the mountain looks different and more distant. So you’re not going to get the level of detail from me that usually wins these contests, as in “the photo was taken at 7:23 pm from the east-facing window of suite 327 in the Smith building, and assuming the photo was taken by someone standing with the camera at eye level, the photographer was 6 ft. 2 in. tall, with a slight limp and probably dark brown hair and moderate acne.” Heck, I may not even be in the right country. But thanks for the excuse to reminisce and go thru some old pix of mine!
Another gets the right country:
Clearly in the alps, and likely Austria, eastern Switzerland, or perhaps even Lichtenstein if I remember my rooflines right. No time for a search – have to go shovel an half-foot of snow off the driveway for the second time today – so I’m going with a town I visited on a high school ski trip and had some fine fondue chinoise: Lech, Austria.
A previous contest winner nails the exact location:
A few months ago you had a great contest, #139, which featured a German schloss that no one actually found. As time ran out, my failed search for it ended just 40 miles to the south in the vineyards of the Rheingau. When I realized this week’s view was nearby, in the Alps, I saw a chance for redemption. But with weak clues, such as the sun’s angle or the ski tips at lower right, and having never skied in Europe, my only option was to start “trekking” through the mountains. And trek I did. Hour after hour, through every snow peaked massif and ski resort the Alps have to offer. Finally, late on Sunday night, pay-dirt:
This week’s view comes from the village of Rohrmoos-Untertal, Austria, in the Schladming ski region. The photo was taken by a Dish fan who rented an apartment in a private ski-haus named for its owner, Christine Milalkovits. The house is located at 104 Untertal Strasse, altitude 2,961 feet above sea level, latitude 47.22.04.91 N, longitude 13.40.44.91 E. The view was taken from the first floor and looks nearly due north along a heading of 353.33 degrees towards the Dachstein massif.
Ironically, I thought the orange plastic tips in the lower right of the photo were skis, so I emphasized ski resorts while searching. Turns out, they’re actually the handrails for a child’s slide/swing. So it goes.
Attached is a bird’s eye view which simulates the lighting on February 28, 2013 at 5:07 PM local time (my best of four estimates for time and date):
Lastly, in recent weeks readers have been sending in some pretty nice visuals, so I created something new to try and keep up. Assuming it can be transcoded and uploaded, it’s a video which might as well be titled “The View From (an F-16 doing 400 mph above) Your Window”:
The only other reader to answer the correct village writes:
This view reminded me of Flachau, Austria, where spent some vacations as a child. So I started looking in the right general area right away. Google maps Austria doesn’t have street view, but I think I found the flat-roofed building in the aerial photograph:
My guess is that the view is from Haus Christine, Untertalstraße 104, 8971 Rohrmoos-Untertal, Austria, looking north over the village of Rohrmoss-Untertal towards the Dachstein mountains from a room in the north-west corner of the house.
Congrats to our reader on the tough win. Details from the submitter:
This picture is taken from one of the first floor bedrooms of the Apartment Christine II in Schladming-Rohrmoos, Austria. The mountains to the north are the Dachstein mountains, a spectacular range covering the Austrian regions of Upper Austria, Styria and Salzburg. There is actually a ski resort at the top (nearly 3000 meters high), accessible only via a Gondola. On our side of the valley you have the ski resorts Fageralm, Reiteralm, Hochwurzen, Planai, and Hauser Kaibling; Rohrmoos is in the valley between Hochwurzen and Planai.
We were here for a week to ski and watch the second half of the FIS World Cup Alpine Championships, held at Planai (Schladming), where the USA did remarkably well despite the early injury of Linsey Vonn. Austrians are bat-shit crazy about skiing; while they were gracious hosts to all racers, they would certainly cheer the 6th place Austrian well above the first place foreigner. We are certainly skiers but not really ski spectators, but it was easy to get caught up in the emotions when you are surrounded by thousands (upwards to 40,000 near the end ofthe week we are told) of fanatical fans.
By the way, you have posted in the past our VFYW shot in Lake Tahoe. At the time I commented that none of the Views ever have children compositions obstructing the otherwise interesting perspectives. In our case it was these same kids (9 and 5-year-old twins, all girls) who brought us to Europe (Salzburg) for a year: my wife is German and our kids were not making as much progress in their command of the German mother tongue as we had hoped, so we have taken the immersion (otherwise known as throwing your kids to the wolves) route. It was in Salzburg that we were introduced to Krampus‘, which I emailed you all about early in December [see photo to the right]. Weird shit.
As with the thousands of others I too am a Dish subscriber and wish you all continued success. I am not gay; not conservative; not Catholic (or religious); and clean shaved, which is why I enjoy the perspectives and am willing to pay them, unreserved.
(Archive)
The Dish 