Wild camping at the top of Churfirsten, Switzerland. Below are several 200m routes, which unfortunately I have not yet climbed. The camping alone is worth it though, 1500m above Walensee with just Steinbock, wild flowers and of course the stars for company.

Great shot Mike, could I ask what camera,lens and exposure?

Thanks sbc. It is a Nikon D700 with a 10-24mm wide angle. ISO 5000, 30 secs, f3.5, and most importantly, a crystal clear night.

Photo's like that remind us why it's called the Milky Way.

Possibly dumb question: what are the 3 lines that look like strings of beads?

It is a good question Chris. They could be planes, but then they are very high, in another photo there was a plane and it was really obvious and had red dots from the flashing light. Maybe they are satellites, but don't know if visible and if they flash or not.

Could be satellites- some tumble and produce a dash effect. If you know the time and date, you could get a list of satellites from a site such as Heavens-Above.

They could be part of the Perseids meteor show as that occurs in August every year. I might be wrong though and they could be satellites. It will be one of those 2 though. Great picture btw.

In my experience aeroplanes give flashing lights (like these) and satellites leave a solid streak. Meteors aren't constant from start to finish, here is an example:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=181252