Cym Idwal and Llyn Bochlywd Waterfalls 12 feb 2012

Another trip into the mountains of Snowdonia, and quite an eventful day it turned out to be!!!!!!!!

The weather forecast was for mixed conditions, so i did expect all that was thrown at me!  lol
The starting point today was the bottom of Ogwen valley to firstly climb the Cym Idwal waterfalls up to the lake , then cross over and go up to Llyn Bochlywd which is below the Glyders range of peaks.

                                          But first a shot looking down a misty Lyn Ogwen

And a shot from the road looking up to the waterfalls where i will eventually climb past over in the top left hand corner in this  image!

The first view is about 5 minutes from the car park, taken from a wooden bridge that spans the stream. as you can see the fog was getting quite thick at this point .

and from a little higher up :)

Climbing a bit further i eventually get a great view looking down to Lyn Ogwen. the light is still awful though!!!!!!!

The waterfalls lead all the way up to Cym Idwal which is surrounded by the Devils Kitchen!  there is still plenty of ice around and the fog has closed in over the Kitchen now!

Turning around to view Pen-yr-ole-wen

and back up to the Devils Kitchen in the fog!!!!!

Climbing up to the lake i get my first glimpse of the day of the Devils Kitchen, still misty :)

But just a few minutes later the mist started clearing and i could see blue sky appearing from my right!   looking  good now.

Turning around to view Pen-yr-ole-wen, amazing how fast the weather turns around up here:)

It was now time to cross over the other waterfall section, a much smaller series of falls that i haven't really photographed much before.  here is a view looking back towards the devils Kitchen over to the left hand side. with the Nant Francon valley over to the right of image.

After negotiating a really boggy area i eventually reached the falls section, here are a few of the shots .

and looking down to Pen-yr-ole-wen

Looking up to the bigger falls , and shots of the valley below now!

looking down the Nant Francon valley

climbing up the steep section towards the top where there is a large boulder field that has to be crossed to get to the lake  Llyn Bochlywd, which is at about 2000ft .

The boulder field and bochlywd

Here is the lake, already getting fogged in!!

after a steep climb i was looking down on the lake, but as you can see the fog was getting thicker and very soon i would not be able to see much! , i was going to start going up Tryfan but the weather started closing in fast!

So i decided to make my way back down , as the light was now very poor !

Back down at the lake

just after i shot this, while traversing the boulder field, my foot slipped between 2 large boulders and my leg slid between them, grazed all way up to knee , and then took a few minites to actually prise it out again !!!!!!!!!!!  Blood,pain and swollen, i limped all way back down the mountain!!!!!!!!!!  Argggg

Boulder field!!!!!!!!!! 

On the way down it was really getting darker!

Eventually i made my way back down to where the easy Cym Idwal path turns to go towards idwal, it is a really good path!  lol

The end of a eventful day!

All shots taken with canon 5d2,17-40L

Loughrigg Terrace,Rydal,Grasmere and Launchy Gill jan 29th

A Last minute trip up to the lakes to meet up with Oliver , the weather was not as the forecast sunny spells!  Nothing  new there then!  lol     i met  Oli & his dog Eersil at Rydal water carpark.  we decided to walk around Rydal water on the higher path and then climb up to the trig point on the top of Loughrigg terrace.
Taking a look at Rydal first, it was flat calm, so reflection shots were the order of the day, even in poor overcast conditions the reflections were amazing.but first a view down the lake! note the ice , but it didn't feel that cold!

and a view across to the islands shot with 70-300 is

Now for the reflection shot , taken again with 70-300 is , always good to have a long lens in the bag! 

Walking up to the top path , a couple of quick shots across the lake!

A little bit of frost on the fields!

 

Walking up the high path now taking in views across the lake and down towards Grasmere.

And  Rydal water from Loughrigg Terrace.

Looking down on Grasmere as we climbed higher the weather was not looking like it was going to get any better!!  Bummer!!!!!!!!!

                                                                   A lone fisherman !

Up a little higher!

Here we are !   lol

As you can see in this image of the Langdales , the weather was just no good!!!!!!!!!!!

So we decided to turn around and try to shoot Launchy Gill waterfall at thirlmere, one of my favourite falls :)      But first we went down to Grasmere weir !

Along came a swan!  and a young signet from last year !

Here is another weir shot lol

We made our way back to the carpark, total walk time was 5 hours 40 minutes !

Now off to Thirlmere for a look at the falls :)

The first thing i noticed was the water level has dramatically gone up since i was last at this waterfall, about 10 ft higher in fact,  the best spot to shoot the falls from is now underwater!!!!! but i got the 70-300 out and managed this close up of the top falls shooting under the bridge!  lol

My best image of the day!

 

                                                        A Great image to finish off the day :)  

                                       all images shot with canon 5d2,17-40 L & 70-300 is

Snowdon trip pt 2 , Tryfan & the Glyders

After getting back to car after the climb up to  Glaslyn on Snowdon, i had a couple of hours daylight to go and have a look at the Ogwen valley waterfalls , the area opposite Tryfan has the best views down the valley :)
By the time i got to Ogwen  the lovely blue sky had all disappeared, being replaced by thick cloud !   Bummer!        but at least it gives a more dramatic feel to the images :)      the snow was not as deep as over in the Snowdon area but was down to ground level.. this walk up the Afon Lugwy is always tricky as there are no real paths , you just have to make your own way across the extremely wet rocky ground following the waterfalls.  luckily this time another person had recently walked up so i could follow in the footsteps in the snow!  haha.

  Here is the first image, as you can see quite dark already !  Tryfan on the left with the "Glyders" in centre  and "Devils Kitchen" in the right hand corner!

All these 6 images where taken over a half hour period , and only about 200 meters apart. Very similar, Yes! but just enough to give slightly different compositions. Ill let you make your own mind up which composition works best!
 the light was changing fast and in fact i only had half an hour before the light had gone!

                                              this one taken about 50 meters from above image!

                                                                    A portrait shot of Tryfan

                                                This is my fav composition of the 6 images :)

 I suddenly  noticed the sky was changing a nice pinky colour!!!

i only managed to shot 2 frames , before it was gone !

a nice reddish tinge to Lyn Ogwen :)   Weird!

That was the end of an awsome day in the mountains!  loved every minute :)

all images shot with canon 5d2, 17-40L & 70-300IS F5.6

Snowdon, Llyn Llydaw & Glaslyn in the snow 30th Jan 2012

On Monday morning i received a txt message saying fresh snow fallen overnight on mt Snowdon and clear blue skys!  i just could not miss this opportunity  as we very rarely get snow especially with blue Sky's :) 

            Here is my first view of Snowdon this morning, with Llynnau Mymbyr  in the foreground.

 I pulled into the Pen-y-Pass car park which is at the top of Llanberis pass , the plan was to walk down the "MINERS PATH" & climb up to the top lake Glaslyn which would give plenty of good photographic opportunities :)
and yes there was plenty of fresh snow and blue sky! Ya !
many of these shots were taken hand held, the light was so good i was getting 1/160th at f18 ,iso 200 which was plenty fast enough with the 17-40L lens!

         First shot after leaving the car park ( £5 for 4 Hours!!!!!!!!  )   is a shot looking across the valley.

    After a short walk along the fairly level wide path, the views start to open out and here is a view looking over towards Moel Siabod in the distance.

What an amazing day to be out in the mountains :)    

As the path winds its way around the mountain side you first come to a small lake on the left called Llyn Teyrn , with Y Lliwedd behind over on the left! 

and a slightly closer view :)

I was quite warm in the sun walking, as i made my way around the path you can see on the right hand side in the above image , i came to a point where the outflow pipe from Llyn Llydaw travels down to the lower valley. this image was shot from where the path disappears near the centre in the above image.   Great view!!!!!!!!!

Very soon i got my first view of Llyn Llydaw !  looking great in the fresh snow!

this is a two frame panorama shot. love the light in this image :)   View Large

 

Luckily part of the lakes surface was almost calm giving good reflections :)  here is a shot with Snowdon in the background on the right covered in cloud!

 

Near the centre of the above image at lake level are the ruins of one of the mill workings, i shot this with my 70-300 is lens.

and another wide view :)

 

Walking around the lake there is a causeway that crosses the lake, where i shot this image, i really like the way lake edge curves around leading into the lake :)

The path runs around the lake shore before starting  to climb steeply up to Glaslyn,  a big climb ahead in increasingly deep snow! but first  i came to the old mill ruins.

After taking this shot the path which has been fairly easy to walk on, really starts to get more difficult in the icy conditions, snow depth starting to increase as the path winds its way up towards Glasyln.

This was my view looking up towards the large waterfall that falls down the mountainside , Yes its steep!!!!!   Lol

 

a wider view :)  starting to cloud over now and wind picking up!   can feel temperature dropping fast as i climb!  Time to put scarf & gloves back on as i was quite warm earlier!  even unzipped both fleeces!  Haha

When i got level to the main waterfall, the 70-300 is came out of the bag, always good to have a longer lens for shots like this!   2 frames merged  pano style

When i got near the top of the waterfall i turned around to take in the magnificent view back down the valley towards Llyn Llydaw!  Awesome!  really lovin this walk/climb today!

       And a great sky also!!!!!!!!!

Nearing the top of the path , another view back down to the lake, snow was now about 8 -10 inch deep on the steep path making it slow going and drifts of over 2 ft either side of the path, had to take care now!!!!!

                      Finally i reached the top of the path where the stream comes out of Glaslyn!
                                                                this was shot with 70-300 is

Turning around i go over the top to see Glaslyn ,  i just had a few minutes before the breeze rippled the surface , i was glad i managed to get this image before hand!

The light had gone by now, so i turned around and made my way down the mountain!  i had a wonderful time, but the day wasn't finished yet!   off to the waterfalls in the Ogwen valley opposite Tryfan :)

All images shot with Canon 5d2, 17-40L & 70-300 IS F5.6