Ozzys First Mountain 30 th July 2020

 Today,  now Ozzy is almost a year old  I am going to take him up his first mountain summit,  as with Molly it will be fitting that it is the same that she did  Y-Garn in the Ogwen valley in  Snowdonia. HERE

Having Parked along Llyn Ogwen and walked along to the white cottages , the start of the walk up to Llyn Idwal.     The mountain path goes through this rock gorge behind the visitor centre .

                                                       Ozzy jumped the style no problem .

I will keep him on the lead up here , there are sheep and Mountain Goats,  and he may jump of a sheer drop also.

                             Looking down Ogwen valley, Cym Idwal is on the right

                                                The Glyders looking very atmospheric.

Onwards and upwards , its a fairly easy path most of the way until the steeper scree section which is always very slippery underfoot.

                                                                    Treat time for Ozzy 

                                       Pen-y-ole-wen on the left with Llyn Ogwen on the right.

                                               Haha     wonder what he is thinking right now!

Looking down from the scree section at Llyn Ogwen on the left ,  Cym Idwal in the middle , Tryfan over to the right ,  it is easier going up than down.  All the rock slides under your feet.  its actually easiest in the snow :)

                  Cairn on the final slope to the summit , the Snowdon range in the background.

                                                                          Made it!    

Great view from up here ,   its quite busy up here with 5 others at the summit.    I guess Snowdon will be absolutely rammed with people today!

                                         Posing on his first Summit , Well done Ozzy 

                                                      

                                              Tryfan and the Glyders over to the right corner 

                              Panorama Pen-yr-ole-wen , Tryfan and Glyder Fach

                                             Cairn stones with Snowdon range behind

                                                    The path towards Glyder Fawr 

                              Time to head back down now past a cairn near to top of the scree

                                                                    A last look Ozzy 

After descending the scree , which was extremely slippery , i look back to where we have just come from  , it will be covered in snow the next time we come up here hopefully.

                                                                          Final image 

A great day in Snowdonia  , hopefully wont be too long before another adventure here...........  Covid dependant 

Ogwen Valley Waterfalls January 14 th 2019

Today I am heading to the Ogwen Valley in Snowdonia to shoot a couple of the waterfalls,  It has been quite a while since I have been here.
Parking on the corner lay by I have crossed over the road and taken the path that follows the base of Pen-y-ole- wen around towards the weir.  The weather is very overcast and drizzling a bit, but I will get a few images.

Having reached the weir I have set up the tripod to do some long exposure images with the canon 5dsr and 17-40L lens. using a combination of 0.6 soft nd grad filter to prevent the sky blowing out and either a Lee 10 stop Big or 6 stop Little stopper to give the long exposure.  I will experiment with both, but think the little stopper will give best results with a slightly shorter exposure compared to the 10 stop and therefor I will get a bit of movement detail in the water instead of just a white blur with a very long exposure.


                                                                   10 seconds  f14

                                                                        13 seconds f14

                                                    Full wide view   15 seconds f14

Its raining a bit now so I will head back over the road and go up to the Ogwen falls next to the wooden footbridge which is at the start of the Cym Idwal path.   I stop to take a phone shot of the old bridge under the main road with Y-Garn in the background.

                              Looking down the Nant Ffrancon Valley towards Anglesey.

                                                      Tryfan and the gateway to Idwal.

I have set up the tripod just right of the bridge, clambering around the side of the waterfall for a slightly different perspective than is normally shot here. low cloud is moving quite quickly across the top of Tryfan over to the left.

                                                        13 seconds with  little stopper

                                                    15 seconds with little stopper

Now its time to go back to the car and drive to the opposite end of the Lake below Tryfan to go up the water fall path opposite.  This is a very boggy wet area and the paths are not very clear after the first section.  its a case of picking a dryish route following the Afon y fron river upwards to get enough height to view the valley.

I have climbed up to the first main waterfall section which gives a lovely view across to Tryfan and the Glyders over Llyn Ogwen.  The cloud is changing fast with the stiff breeze, I have managed to get this image with the light raking across the Glyders ridge , The Devils Kitchen and across to Y-Garn.

                          A short 1/4 second exposure was enough with the very fast flowing water.

After moving a bit higher up to the next set of falls ,  I have been waiting ages for a bit of light when the sun breaks through the thick cloud and illuminates the foreground just long enough for me to get this image.   I was going to wait around for sunset but after half an hour the cloud is just getting thicker so I will head back down now.

                                                                  1/4 second  f14

                            On the way down I got photobombed by a sheep in front of Tryfan .

                                                 The end of a good day in North Wales .

Cym Idwal in the Snow 19 March 2018

A morning visit to the Devils Kitchen and Cym Idwal in Snowdonias Ogwen Valley  , after having the flu for the last three weeks i need to get out !     The Ogwen web cam is still showing some snow left but appears to be melting fast compared to yesterday.
After a traffic free journey i have arrived at the Ogwen cottages at 10.05 am and park up , a quick walk over the main road and over the gate to check out the stream and the view towards Tryfan, But the rocks are covered in glass ice, so there is no way i can get along to the spot i would need to get the composition required. So a quick shot across the bridge towards the snow covered mountains.

Time to head up to Cym Idwal now , first stop is the famous Ogwen bridge, the new wood has blended into the surroundings now after being re built a couple of years ago.


                                                                    5dsr , 17-40 L
                                 3.2 seconds at f14    Lee little stopper and 0.6 soft nd grad

And now i must shoot the Ogwen Falls from the bridge ,  a classic view that everyone shoots but it has to be done, AGAIN!
The rocks are still covered in ice , which adds interest and we have a bit of blue sky appearing .
Setting up my tripod on the wooden bridge and using a infrared shutter release i take a series of frames , each with a different shutter speed to give different movement in the water which i can then pick the best to show the best water movement later on the pc .  I have to take the frames in between people walking over the bridge as i don't want any vibrations ruining the sharpness of the long exposures!

                                                       3.2 seconds, f14   and a bit of sun

Now i am going to walk up the path just over the bridge to the right following the stream up towards Cym Idwal,   the snow is in drifts up to about 8 inch or so so its not too bad, and the water is frozen under it so no worries about going into a bog.

This is the only shot i took on the way up the stream that i like , so now up to the lake quickly as the sun is coming out now .

Cym Idwal with the Devils Kitchen and the Glyders behind , with  Y-Garn to the right just out of view.   The sun is periodically lighting up the snow on the far side , i just need to catch part of in a frame.   a short 2.5 second exposure for this image , to blur the water slightly and catch some of the sun illuminating the snow in the background.

Time to get up high for a view towards Pen-yr-ole-wen across the lake now, the paths are covered in ice so time to put micro studs on my shoes so i can walk safely up the icy rocks.   Walking around the lakes shore , there is still a bit of ice on the edge along with snow on the beach.   The path goes around the lake then upwards to below the Devils Kitchen , you can go right around the lake or take the path up high around the Amphitheatre, but i think that will be difficult in the icy conditions with all my camera gear. I just need to get up high enough for the view across to the mountain opposite.
After 35 minutes walking i have arrived at my chosen location , i cant actually get any higher as the rocks are completely covered in ice and i don't want to risk slipping with my equipment!     but i have managed to get the height i require for this image.
     Setting up the tripod i have put the Lee Big stopper on along with a 0.6 soft nd grad , i want a longish exposure to get some movement showing in the fast moving clouds.   The light is constantly changing with areas of dark shadow and bright sunlit snow, very tricky to get the exposure correct with a long exposure as the bright snow areas are over exposing in different areas of the image frame.


                                    This is my favourite image , 20 seconds at f14.
 Nice cloud movement showing above Pen-yr-ole-wen  but i have a couple with more shadow areas that look almost as good .

Time to go back down the steep path and find the way through to the back of the lake where i know a stream enters and will make a great lead in for an image.
Eventually i am at lake level and have found the stream inlet , its quite warm in the sun now and the snow is melting fast giving the stream quite a fast flow, i am standing in the stream to get this next image and will shoot multiple exposures to get a good balance of the shadows and highlights and merge together in photoshop later.

                         I'm not entirely happy with this one , might have to re do it sometime.  

 I have just found a great lead-in ,   in the form of a small feeder streamlet a little further around the lake which really makes the image with Pen-yr-ole-wen in the background.     a long 47 second exposure has produced good cloud movement here , along with the lead in makes a great image.

Time to head back to the car now, i was planning to go up to another set of waterfalls further up the valley but i am feeling quite tired so will just head back home i think, the flu has taken all my energy!

Stopping off at the bridge i have decided to get another image, now the light has changed i think the ice on the rocks will stand out more and the blue sky is deeper in colour now which should look better in the final image in comparison with the first one i shot earlier this morning.

                  3.2 second exposure again , seems to be the best to show water movement today.

                  The end of a short morning in the magnificent Snowdonia mountains .........

Temperature Inversions in Snowdonia 9th Feb 2015 pt1

It is Monday morning , a week after my walk in the heavy snow fall in the Ogwen valley Snowdonia , but keeping a look on the web cams i have noticed most of the snow has gone , only the high areas still have a good covering.   The weather over the last four days has been very good for Temperature inversions ,so i am hoping to see one today, if i can climb high enough!      the Snowdon web cam is looking great, a good inversion with just the summit above the clouds :)  But the Ogwen cam is in thick cloud :(

So after driving down to Snowdonia and parking up near the Ogwen cottages in thick fog/cloud, i start my walk towards Y-Garn.  There is quite alot of ice on the path through the rock cutting but as i walk towards Cym Idwal patches of snow increase making easier going.

I am now at  the start of the Y-Garn track , its looking very gloomy and i just hope i can break through this cloud to see some views.

Full of anticipation i am climbing up into even thicker cloud ,  the snow cover is increasing now as i gain height and cant see anything around me now!

Time to put my micro spikes on now as the snow is quite thick here , but it is quite soft mostly making heavy going up the steps section.  its actually looking a bit brighter above me now with glimpses of the sun trying to break through the cloud.
another 15 mins of climbing and suddenly...............................

                        OMG!!!   Yay :D         WHAT A FIRST VIEW OF THE INVERSION!

                          Pen-yr-ole-wen rising majestically above the cloud in front of me.
                                                                view larger HERE

I am level with the top of the inversion  , i shoot 7 portrait frames to stitch together to make this panorama of Pen-yr and Tryfan over to the right.    view larger HERE

                                        Climbing above the Inversion now ,its a glorious sight :)

          Sitting in the sun watching the clouds move around in front of me  , its quite warm up here :)

 

                                             Heading up higher now towards the summit.

Stopping frequently for photographic breaks  , the views are amazing,  Cym Idwal and the Devils Kitchen are down there in the cloud , Tryfan over to the left and the Glyders around to the right.

   Y-Garn summit is in view ,  left of the sharp point on the right of this image, that's the steepest section to negotiate.

      Another photo break just above Llym Clyd which is a small lake down below the summit . the Inversion is starting to break up now as i can almost see down to Llyn Ogwen to the right of Pen-yr.

                                                   Onwards and upwards as they say :)    
                      steep off the path but not too bad in the deep snow on the main path.

The path follows this ridge straight up to the top plateau where i will be able to see the  Snowdon Massif  hopefully surrounded by the Inversion.

        Looking down to Tryfan , the cloud base is dropping now as it disperses with the suns warmth .

                                                The final long climb to the Plateau.........

                                                         Love this image with the rocks :)

                                                            almost a Batman shadow :D

  The summit is in sight , up this steep scramble and then a short walk along the plateau to the small stone shelter on the summit.

A view down Ogwen valley as the cloud clears , can see miles now :)  Llyn Idwal and  Ogwen are now visible with Llyn Clyd covered in ice/snow directly below me to the right.

                         Almost to the top now , the deep snow is giving good footholds here .

I have reached the top plateau ,The first view i get of Snowdon massif surrounded by cloud,what an amazing view :D

Looking towards Anglesey, only the Menai straits are visible where the inversion has dropped into the warmer channel.  wow!    i will take a better image with long lens later .

                    Sitting in the sun just watching the cloud swirling around between the peaks :)
                            It doesn't get much better than this up in the mountains, what a day.

                                   Just a short walk up to the summit now at 3107ft altitude .

                                                                  View from the summit :)
                                                 Tryfan and the Glyderau clear of the cloud now.

                                                                   View Large HERE

                                                                      Continued in pt2