Y-Garn and Snowdon Temperature Inversions pt 2

Continuing the Superb day up in the welsh mountains, with the Inversion having almost dispersed on the Ogwen valley side of Y-Garn , my attentions have turned around towards Snowdon , The mountains all the way to Cadair Idris in mid wales are surrounded by the Inversions . Using long lens has the effect of compressing the view making them all look much closer together than they actually are.   what an amazing sight to see :)

                                                             A Panorama of Snowdon    

                                                   A closer view of the Snowdon Massif .

                                                             And Tryfan and Glyder Fach.

It is now looking like the cloud Inversion is filling Ogwen valley again , it is sweeping in up Nant Ffrancon valley from Anglesey and filling the valley floor as i sit watching.   Amazing!

                                   A long panorama of Snowdon with a lone figure watching :)   
                                                                     View large HERE

                                               A shorter panorama of the clouds swirling.
                                                                   view large HERE

                                                       A long lens image of the clouds :D

                A nice wide panorama with Snowdon on the left across to Elidir Fawr on the right.
                           Llanberis and Llyn Padarn are somewhere down there in the middle .

                                                          Looking out towards Anglesey

                                    Ogwen has now filled up again, fascinating to watch :)

                            Now turning attention to the Menai straits  , time for a long lens shot ..

    With my 400mm on now and i manage to get a group of walkers in the shot for scale, bottom left   and the  Dropped Inversion over the Menai straits :)     Its like a disaster movie Lol.

             Time to head down now , and a Brocken Spectre (cloud rainbow)  below me .

                                             Great view of Tryfan with good foreground rocks .

                                                       Yet another Brocken Spectre  Yay

The low sun is illuminating the Glyderau and the Inversion , which is looking darker than it did this morning. presumably due to lower sun angle. i will sit here a while just watching the cloud moving around in the sun while its still quite warm .

                                                       Descending into the cloud!!!!!!

Cant believe how much movement there is in this cloud, one minute it is thick and cant see anything, then its clear again!!!!!!!    weird.

                                                                     Suns out again  lol

                   I have now climbed almost down to the  Cym Idwal level , its cold down here :(

                           Llyn Idwal is now in view through the cloud , which has lifted a bit again.

 

   Pen-yr-ole-wen just visible through the cloud , amazing!

The end of one of my best ever mountain days  ,  definitely the best cloud Inversions i have ever seen .
The difference in temperature between the warm mountain tops in the sun and the almost freezing cold down at ground level is hard to believe.

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