Ogwen Valley Cym Idwal in snow pt2 march 29th 2013

After photographing the snow and ice on Llyn Ogwen  HERE I have just collected Mollster out of the car to climb up the Idwal path

                                                         this way she is thinking!   haha

the Idwal waterfall near the bottom of the path is frozen over and covered in snow, it has been a few years since its been like this with the winters being a little warmer for last 2 years.

We are heading up the main path , Mollster is posing again , it does appear to be turning into a lovely day with loads blue sky and sun!  perfect for snowy mountains.

there are some significant snow drifts the higher up we are getting, a strong wind must have driven the snow here!

                                              whats in here then???????????????     haha

This snow bank must be at least 6-8 ft , Pen -yr -ole-wen in the background, not much snow up there!

   Panorama with Pen -yr-ole -wen on the left and Tryfan over to the right.         View larger HERE

The Glyders with the Devils Kitchen curving around Cym Idwal with the outfall , which flows all the way down the waterfalls towards Ogwen  and then down Nant Francon valley.

 A Superb view across the partly frozen lake , Mol is looking puzzled why I'm shouting at her to move!   always getting in the way aren't you Mollster?

                                                   That's better , she got out of the way

                                                           a simply  Stunning view

heading around the right hand side of Cym Idwal there are great snowdrifts with flowing patterns where the wind has blown the snow

                    Molly is enjoying digging  haha , must be something down there that smells nice

                                                           Yes the snow is Deep Mol!   

          as we come to the lakes frozen edge , there are strange ice sculptures rising out of the snow!

looks like 2 parallel lines of ice sculptures here , with the curved lines on the frozen lakes surface to mirror them :)

continuing around the lake to start climbing a bit higher, the views will open out but not sure how high we will be able to climb today.

               the ice sculptures make a good wavy lead in to this image looking at Pen-yr -ole-wen

                     yip!   shes at it again, bless her :D     She must know that her picture is being taken.

                                                              the trip continues in part 3

Ogwen valley in snow march 29th 2013

After yet more heavy snow mid week in Snowdonia i had to get up there, the web cam in Ogwen valley showed a good covering, but i really didn't expect the amount i found when i got there!   the snow was over 2 ft deep on the road side pavements which meant parking was a slight problem as this is where everyone normally parks, luckily i managed to squeeze into the last spot in a lay bye that had been snow ploughed!

My first view from the roadside approaching from Nant -Ffracon valley

Llyn Ogwen is only partially frozen as it has not been really cold, but with part covered in snow i am walking down the road, actually on top of a 3 ft snow drift  to photograph the view back towards Y Garn and the Devils Kitchen where i will be walking towards later . this is the view from the cottages end of Llyn Ogwen.

 looking back to Y Garn (centre image)  i am walking down onto the lake side to get some images , the snow is fairly deep, as you can see it is level with the top of the wall !

i think i will try and get out onto the lake , there will be some interesting compositions from further out at water level hopefully, the snow has a frozen crust after overnight low temperatures so i am managing to walk on top without sinking deep into it making walking easier.

that's a much better view now , its about 8 am and the low sun is producing some nice shadows/textures in the snow.

i love the way the light shows up all the textures and undulations in the snow , and out of the corner of my eye have just spotted a really interesting composition over to the right that might just make a superb image.

Yes i was correct, i really like the shadows from the tree branches across the snow , i am shooting it from a few different places to see which composition works best.    i think i like this one best .

                                                                         a full wide shot

                                                                     More ice patterns

        I am heading back to the car now to get Molly , she is waiting to go for a play in the snow .the mountains in the centre of image is where we will be climbing up to, will just have to see how high we can get .

this has been a great start to the day , now its time to climb up to Cym Idwal and see what its like up higher.

to be continued ............ 

Fun in the snow with Mollster march 23/4 th 2013

With heavy snow fall overnight friday , i could not get the car out to go to work, so it was a good time to spend in the snow with Molly. looking out the kitchen door it looked very deep in drifts.
Molly went out to investigate  lol

Walking down to the woods , Roydon park which is only a few minutes down the road the trees look wonderful covered in snow.

Pity there is no sun, but never mind lets find a suitable place to throw snowballs for Mollster , coming out into a small clearing the snow is quite deep and there is plenty of space. having not tried throwing even a ball for her to catch mid air , this might take a while for her to learn!  shes having fun running in it first, then rolling and burrowing  hehe

                                                               This is one happy dog :)

Now after throwing a few snowballs she is already catching them , i manage to shoot a series of her catching mid air using a fast shutter speed to freeze the movement.


                                                                            "SPLAT"

                                                                        "GOT IT"

                                           am i good enough for England goalie?

Well that was a great half hour, so much fun and she really enjoyed it ., off now to go up to thurstaston hill for a few portraits in the snow .

i am shooting a few videos while walking , here is one of her running in the snow

We are now up on the hill overlooking north wales coast , its great up here, big drifts from the overnight snow .  she is posing nicely for me

               Still cant believe this is near the end of march!   gorse in flower and deep snow !

                                 the strengthening wind has blown one ear up!   haha

                                   one final image , a happy Mollster,but she doesn't look it  lol

                                  

What a great morning its been , we don't get this much snow very often so making the most of it:)