A Day In The Glyderau
This trip was supposed to have been three days long, my plan being to drive over to Capel Curig on Tuesday night and to return home on Friday after any evening light. In the end however a house viewing came up for the Thursday morning ( we’re on the move yet again) and having sat in my van beside Llyn Ogwen watching the temperate drop to minus five by 6pm on Wednesday the prospect of a warmer bed and a lie in won me over. The one day I had though was pretty full on with near perfect Winter conditions.
Snowdon Horseshoe
Having met up with Simon near Llynnau Mymbyr at about 10.15pm we worked out that 6.30am the following morning would be the best time to start to gain enough height for the view back to Yr Wyddfa in what we hoped would be a glorious pre dawn glow with colourful light bouncing back and forth between the clouds and snow covered mountain. The forecast had been for snow overnight but when I emerged from my van at 5.50 we had only had a very light dusting at the valley floor. Gearing up and leaving at 6.30 I made exactly the same mistakes as I’d made on two previous visits and neglected to take any liquids, food or my trekking poles. The Miner’s track always catches me by surprise too, it’s very difficult to know when you’re actually on it, even having found one of the stiles over the stone wall, and it’s really tricky staying on it particularly by torchlight on the steep, boulder strewn slopes. On a previous visit I’d broken through the thin ice crust on numerous occasions finding my way up in search of meaningful foreground, on that occasion I had been rushing having set off later that intended and ended up running out of energy and feeling seriously nauseous. This time I wanted to plod which probably didn’t sit comfortably with Simon who has at least thirteen less years wear and tear than me. Being aware of that it was easy to push too hard at times the result being that rather than keeping going I had to stop a few times.
Getting closer to the rim of the plateau we could hear the wind ripping over the edge and with only ten minutes or so until sunrise we opted to stay down out of the wind and began hunting for foreground. My first ascent of this path was in February 2001 and I think I shot two whole rolls of 35mm film on the way up. This time I knew I’d be happy to come away with one decent composition so I was really happy to find this huge tilted blade of rock jutting out through thick heather that without a covering of snow would have drained all the life out of the scene. The pre dawn light we had hoped for was blocked by heavy cloud over Moel Siabod but I think I prefer the cooler, more subdued look. It won’t go down well on social media unless it gets a serious overdose of post processing but that won’t happen because it’s not what I do.
Once the sun emerged from behind cloud there were some lovely details to be picked out in the distant landscape, it’s one of my favourite things to do after making a wider angle image, the 100-400 lens perfect for capturing those fleeting moments and the drama of steep crags with a compressed perspective. In the second shot below you can make out three figures enjoying early morning light on the summit of Yr Wyddfa.
With the light now getting a bit harsh we headed back down to the vehicles and relocated around the mountain range into their shaded northern side at Llyn Ogwen. Another enjoyable three hours spent circumnavigating Llyn Idwal and playing mostly with reflected light but unfortunately slightly marred by a large group of young men who spent much of the time between taking selfies screaming and shouting at the top of their voices. Simon had a deadline to get home for so having captured his own crop of great images he headed away at about 3.30pm and I moved my van back over the border into Conwy to find some free parking and a place to stay for the night.
Sitting in my van with the heating on a wave of exhaustion washed over me. Despite days of preparation around the Shropshire Hills nothing comes close to heading up a proper mountain before my normal wake up time to fully drain my batteries. I ate a few peanut butter sandwiches and had been planning to head back up to Idwal but opted instead to stay near the road, the pavements all the way back were sheet ice after all. A few details in the lake and across to the Carneddau kept me happy until thirty minutes after sunset. Then, back to the van, fire up the engine and blowers on. The ten litre water bottle in the back was already frozen solid so had I have stayed there would have been nothing to drink and my hips were already starting to tighten from the days efforts. Then the text message came in to say that a rental property was available to view the next morning. A much much shorter visit to Wales than I’d planned but I think it was successful anyway.
Tomorrow morning we head north for a week in and around Glen Etive. Winter is looking unlikely but it’s an area I know and love and there will be lots to see no matter what the weather. I hope to bring you plenty of new images to view and more importantly to gather a few more together for my book.
See you soon