In winter, starting from an altitude of 1700m Mt Etna is covered with snow. It's a beautiful and surreal landscape of black lava mixed with streaks and patches of snow, in a variety of patterns. The photos shown here have been taken at an altitude between 2000 and 2600m above sea level. Rifugio Sapienza is close to the bottom station of the Mt Etna cablecar. In winter Mt Etna is a skiing area.