Mary Sanseverino
msanseve.bsky.social
Mary Sanseverino
@msanseve.bsky.social
If you’re lucky enough to be in the mountains, you’re lucky enough!

Mountains studies researcher; Alpine Club of Canada member; Vice-President, UIAA’s Mountain Protection Commission; UIAA Climate Change Taskforce member; photographer; cyclist.
Native #wildflowers are popping in the hills of #VancouverIsland. These two beauties were found in the #SookeHills over the weekend.

Magenta petals of Satinflower - Olsynium douglasii. We are at the northern end of their range.

Rustyhair Saxifrage - Micranthes rufidula. Our early saxifrage.
🌿
March 5, 2025 at 2:06 AM
Red Crossbills - southern #VancouverIsland. The bills can cross left over right or vice versa. It seems to be random. The bills start to form when they are nestlings. It initially looks "normal", but starts to cross a few weeks after hatching. An adaptation for opening pine cones. 🌿 #birds #nature
January 29, 2025 at 12:30 AM
"Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light."
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Mornings from the #SalishSea at the bottom of my road.
#landscapephotography #VanIsle
January 28, 2025 at 1:20 AM
An eruption of Red Crossbills today on my walk in #ThetisLakePark on south #VancouverIsland. Years since I've seen so many. I think they "follow the money" (where "money" is their preferred food - conifer seeds). Maybe we've had good cone growth. The xed-bills help them pry open pine cones. 🌿
January 26, 2025 at 12:55 AM
#MtAssiniboine: a fav area for me in the Canadian #RockyMtns. B&W images: 1913 & 16. I repeated them 100+ yrs later in 2017. Some things the same, but glacial retreat and forest infill require adaptation ( #forestfire, #water, #mountaineering safety). #ClimateChange #geography #geology #landscape
January 24, 2025 at 12:39 AM
#RobertMacfarlane poses 2 questions we should ask of strong landscapes: "firstly, what do I know when I am in this place that I can know nowhere else? And then, vainly, what does this place know of me that I cannot know of myself?” (The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot)
#landscape #photography #SalishSea
January 19, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Sunrise on the #SalishSea between #VancouverIsland, BC, Canada, and the #Olympics in #WashingtonState, USA.

"You only get one sunrise and one sunset a day, and you only get so many days on the planet. A good photographer does the math and doesn't waste either." #GalenRowell
#Landscape #photography
January 18, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Jan 15: wildflowers already blooming in the #SookeHills, #VancouverIsland😍! Spring Gold, Tall Oregon Grape & Rusty-haired saxifrage. The saxifrage is an indicator species here, signalling moist, shaded habitats on rocky slopes & cliffs. Its presence tells us about soil quality & moisture. #ecology
January 16, 2025 at 1:25 AM
The first of the spring #wildflowers are starting to pop up in the hills here on southern #VancouverIsland. Spring Gold - Lomatium utriculatum. This member of the carrot family is always early. The dark green leaves of Calypso Orchid - Calypso bulbosa are out too. #hiking #nature #botany
January 10, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Wishing everyone a wonderful solstice - Fiat Lux - Let There be Light!
December 21, 2024 at 6:55 PM
Retired from #UVic's Mountain Legacy Project (mountainlegacy.ca). I do repeat mountain photography to deepen my own understanding of mtn environments. Huge change here. Ice will be gone by 2100.
Photos: flic.kr/s/aHBqjBKy35
Location: tinyurl.com/y4rwfmpx
#landscape #climatechange #geosky #glacier
December 21, 2024 at 12:14 AM
A lovely hike in the Peak District: Derbyshire's Dragon's Back. The limestone reef knolls of Parkhouse & Chrome Hill can be slimy, but the route has great views. Amazing to think when on the Dragon's Back you are really on the sea floor 350m years ago! #landscape #geology #PeakDistrict #geography
December 12, 2024 at 9:24 PM
"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds." Edward Abbey(1927-89)

Sunset from #AlpineClubofCanada's Hišimy̓awiƛ mtn hut below 5040 Peak #VancouverIsland BC Canada #landscape #mountains #photography
December 9, 2024 at 3:21 PM
"There are two kinds of climbers: those who climb because their heart sings when they're in the mountains, and all the rest." Alex Lowe - American mountaineer (1958 - 1999).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Lowe
Sunset from Hišimy̓awiƛ below 5040 Peak #VanIsle BC Canada
#landscape #mountains #photography
December 8, 2024 at 1:04 AM
Alpine #environment in this part of the Canadian Rocky Mtns. A good view of the debris cone below where the big slab let go from Thunder Mtn (right) in Jan 2022. Looks like this mtn has been geologically "active" for a loooong time! Location: tinyurl.com/ye4tva7c
#geography #geology #landscapes
December 3, 2024 at 8:36 PM
Hi Dan - the meltwater off this glacier (the Mummery) was so sooty you could taste it in the water. Kind of like a cross between retsina and a peaty single malt - but maybe middle schoolers don't need to know that part 😁
December 2, 2024 at 7:52 PM
A small rockfall (top right corner of the big slab area) during our stay. You can see the track in the photos. Lots of noise and dust. Glad we weren't in that valley just then! #Mountains #LandscapePhotography #geology
December 2, 2024 at 5:45 PM
This huge slab on Thunder Mtn (apt name!) came down Jan 2022. The #Campbell_Icefield_Chalet is across the valley (B&W photo). No one was there but I expect that slab falling generated a pressure wave. We caught a small rockfall - and it was loud and dusty! #geosky #landscapes #geology #Rockies
December 2, 2024 at 5:38 PM
Sub-alpine wetlands here (southern Cdn Rocky Mts) are rare - maybe 3 - 4% of land base. They punch above their weight for biodiversity. This #wetland is just below 2000m. It drains into Bluewater Creek and then into the mighty #ColumbiaRiver just west of #GoldenBC. #geosky #biodiversity
November 30, 2024 at 11:51 PM
A few comparison photos from this area - #Banff National Park, #Alberta, #Canada.
November 25, 2024 at 5:10 PM
Good morning from #Victoria-BC-Canada on the shores of the beautiful Salish Sea. Victoria is on the the traditional territories of the Lkwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.
November 23, 2024 at 4:04 PM