Snowdonia Ogwen & Idwal Snow storm Feb 2nd 2015

Looking at the Ogwen web cam at just after 10 am the valley has had a big dumping of snow  yay     i must get down there . the forecast is for a bright dry afternoon so i am soon on my way with Mollster , it takes about 1 hour 20 mins to get to the Ogwen cottages to walk up to Cym Idwal in the mountains .

As i drive through Bethesda the snow is quite deep , covering everything and the roads are a bit tricky!     after coming through the wooded section of Ogwen bank ,which looks superb i pull into the laybye and take a short walk .

                                                the view up Nant Ffrancon valley.

                                          This is taken from the bridge over the river :)

Leaving the magical woodland behind , i have made my way up to Llyn Ogwen and parked by the cottages, the snow is deep and flurries are still falling.  i decide to cross the over the river to shoot the falls with Tryfan in the background.

Having taken a few frames i turn around and shoot the Pont Pen-y-benlog bridge , i have never shot facing this direction.  

The cloud is building fast and i can see snow billowing in the distance now, another shot with Tryfan disappearing under the cloud!

                  I have walked a little further along towards the lake but now it has started snowing quite heavy, the mountains are now shrouded in snow clouds.

                                                Blizzard white out conditions!     arghhhhh

cant see Pen-yr-ole-wen  now ,   think i will go back to the car and wait for it to stop, cant shoot in these conditions.

The snow has stopped and time to get out again, i walk up the road and cross over to the Ogwen weir, shooting from low down to get this image.

                                                        Tryfan reflected in Llyn Ogwen :)

Now its time to get Mollster out of the car and start walking up higher,  stopping at the Bridge to shoot the waterfall :)

                                Looking down Nant Ffranocon valley towards Anglesey.

              Mol is rolling in the snow    so funny :D    Llyn Ogwen stretching out in the distance.

                                            Mid air leap !     caught on my phone cam    lol

We are heading towards Cym Idwal now, thick cloud shrouding the top of Y-Garn and the Glyderau.

                                                                           Posing time :)

   
         The Devils Kitchen is straight ahead in the snow cloud, looks like its still snowing up there!
                                           Mol is running in the snow, she loves it   lol

          I can see the top of Tryfan now , blue sky trying to break through but it will not succeed :(

       Cym Idwal , partly frozen and the edges are full of soft slush!  as Mol finds out as she goes in.

The brightening sky didn't last long, Tryfan is covered again,  its definitely not good conditions for photography, but great for a good walk .

                                                                           "Simplicity"

We are now walking around the lake ,  Glyder Faw is just visible in the distance and  snow is falling again now .

Mol stops as she must have heard something , and promptly stuck her head under snow covered heather!   lol   she has a startled look on her face now  , more like  "whats on my nose dad? "

                           The path climbs up before i take the lower route around the lake.
                       Mol must be thinking " come on Hurry up   my paws are cold!     haha

Having negotiated the stream without falling in , its an easy walk around the top end of the lake as the low setting sun is illuminating the side of Pen -yr-ole -wen in the distance, but no colour!

   
        More snow coming this way possibly , as i take this image Mol rushes foreward and................

       
      Pounces in to the heather and stops still , listening    before sticking her head under the snow :D

Anyhow, she didnt catch anything so back to walking , i use long lens to take this shot of the more interesting area of the view i am looking at   lol

A new gate has been fitted , cant remember if there was one before  lol   creates a nice foreground interest for the image.  Pen -yr is now covered in cloud.  the weather is changing rapidly all the time.

               Heading down to the main road, but looking back to dramatic clouds over Y-Garn

Back to the car i put Mollster in and walk back around to where i was this morning, taking this long exposure image before heading back over to the high point above the old boat house on Ogwen.

                             How lucky!  a bit of blue sky for this classic view down to Tryfan

A long drive  home now after a very enjoyable day , but as i go past the end of the lake  the setting sun is turning a few clouds red , so a quick dash along the track opposite Tryfan to take this single image , not much colour but i quite like it :)