Lech, the young river and the church of St. Nikolaus

Lech is the softer half of the Arlberg and, on paper, the Vorarlberg half: the state border runs over the Flexen Pass, so St. Anton is Tyrol and Lech and Zürs are Vorarlberg, even though the ski area, the bus and every search treat them as one place. The village sits in a wide, open basin at about 1,450 metres, which is why the light here is so much kinder than in St. Anton's narrow valley — the sun reaches the floor for most of the day, even in January.

The centre of the picture is the parish church of St. Nikolaus, a fourteenth-century foundation with a slim shingled tower, standing right above the river. From the footbridge downstream you get the tower, the water and the mountains behind in one frame; from the bank opposite, the whole village stacks up under the Omeshorn.

The Lech itself changes the shot with the season. In June it is loud, milky with snowmelt and filling its bed; by September it is low, green and clear over pale stones. In winter it runs black between white banks, which is the strongest version of the frame.

Above the village, Oberlech is a car-free hamlet on the slope, reached by a tunnel lift from the valley or on foot in about forty minutes; its terraces look straight down on Lech and take the afternoon sun. Lift and shuttle times are seasonal — check them, and note that much of Lech's hotel infrastructure closes outside the winter and high-summer seasons.