Thank you all for your thoughtful comments, very much appreciated!
Choosing from the first two shoots of "Wilder Kaiser" I like the first one more, too. It has a foreground, and better light, all in all better atmosphere for my taste. (It was taken some minutes before the second one.) Regarding Dick's suggestion, using only the best part at the left of the first one, I considered that too, and that indeed works very well (and is even a bit above what a single shot would yield).
But after all, just like Russ, I like the 3rd one most. (The structure.) I also understand that for some tastes it might be too dark - it IS quite dark, after all. I can't however brighten it much more because I had to use quite high ISO.
And yes Bill, this is indeed a balloon in #1, very good The area is just wonderful. For the week I was there we had wildly mixed weather, some days foggy and with snow, but also three sunny days, one of them totally cloudless.
Christian