A Colourful Winter

As winters past have gone this last one here in the southern part of the UK has proved to a bit quiet on the snow front. However even though much of nature has been lying dormant there was still plenty to see and do here over the last few months.

The following ‘grouped’ pictures are some of the favourites I have taken (apart from one taken by my wife Alison) since last December. I have spent as much time as I could outdoors with my family however I feel that it could have been more (work has kept me away from home a lot recently). We are definitely a digital family however we try and balance all that screen time out with some quality dirt time.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 30 (1)
Family Fun

I use a Nikon D3200 Digital camera and shoot in RAW format so that I can use Adobe Lightroom to its fullest. I like Lightroom as it allows me to extract from the images (I am still learning about all the settings on my camera) I take something closer to what I saw originally or in some cases something slightly enhanced.

The sunset below was certainly not as dark as that originally however Lightroom allowed me to produce this moodier shot. The blue skies in the bottom picture were like this on the day however the shot I took the blues were all washed out. With a few tweaks though it was looking good again.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 30
Dramatic skies

The snowdrop and the forlorn looking hazelnut were both taken in mid winter but the wood anemone was shot just a few days ago. I included the wood anemone as it is one of the first woodland spring flowers to pop up and to say that winter is now over.

All beautiful in their own ways and all photographed in different weather conditions.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 31
Beauty in the detail

I took both these pictures with my Sony Z3 mobile phone as the weather conditions were to bad to bring out my Nikon. The top picture was a bit of an experiment with the guys lighting up the inside of our group parachute with their torches making it look like a downed UFO.

The bottom picture was taken inside a group parachute while we were huddled around the fire on a cold evening awaiting in anticipation for the feast to come being cooked by Dave.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 32 (1)
Parachute time

Mountain time this winter was limited to only one weekend however it was one to remember. The wind and the rain was incessant however this did not dampen the spirits of any of the guys I was walking with – in fact they seemed to revel in all that rain (might be due to the fact we are all either Sea or Royal Marines Cadets instructors).

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 32
Mountain madness

My daughter Catherine is a keen photographer and she really does think about what she wants to shoot and how to approach each shot.

The top picture was taken by my wife Alison and I like how it contrasts with the one I took of Catherine lining up for her shot.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 33
Photographing the photographers

I have been experimenting with low light level photography so I do not have to rely on using the flash all the time.

I have found that a great time for that is when there is a fire going. These two photographs were taken on cold winter nights however I have fond memories of both evenings. The young boys had a great time learning to light a fire and the slightly older boys had fun putting the world to right around their fire.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 34
Friends

Still on the fire theme I have to mention ‘Fire Faces’. I have been photographing flames for years now looking for faces or figures in the flames. Two of my favourites this year were of the Roadrunner (top left) and a Dove (on the right).

My friend Fraser gets his face included as he always seems drawn to the fire when the camera comes out – kinda like a moth I suppose 😉

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 35 (1)
Fire, fire and more fire

My last two pictures were taken just at the end of winter at the Vyne National Trust property in Hampshire. As many of the trees and flowers were dormant they set up a ‘Wild Wicker Trail’ in the grounds. There were plenty of wicker figures to spot including a heron, flowers and a fish however these two stood out for me – the Hawk and Mr Fox. Both beautifully crafted and positioned in the woodlands.

Photo 29-03-2016, 17 21 35
Woodland wonders

This last few days (been resting up with a torn calf muscle) I was thinking that I hadn’t gotten out as much as I would have liked this winter however after looking through my albums I must admit that when I did get out and about – they were good times.

Cheers

George

Stormy Snowdon – ‘Earning Mountain Wings’

My last trip out into the mountains proved a bit draftier and damp than I was expecting. Last January I headed off with some other instructors from the Sea and Royal Marines Cadets into the mountains of Snowdonia in Wales.

We run this every year as a weekend for experienced instructors to expand on their mountain navigation and as an introduction to mountain skills for the less experienced. Twenty two of us set off and thankfully the same returned – the weather though, was something to behold that weekend.

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 49
Stormy Snowdon (bottom picture courtesy of Perry Symes)

The winds were particularly strong that weekend and my friend Perry Symes (he is an International Mountain Leader) said that the winds were some of the strongest he had ever experienced. You can see the white tops on the surface of Llyn Idwal (picture above) and when you see the surface like that it is not advisable except for the most experienced to climb further.

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 49 (1)
Batten down the hatches (top two pictures courtesy of Perry Symes)

We decided to have one group stay low around Idwal and one to climb up on the rather more sheltered side of Tryfan up to an area called Heather Terrace. Perry and John took the lower route and Graham and myself took the higher route.

When I spoke with Perry and John later that day they said that at one stage they could not stay standing and had to hold onto the rocks to prevent them selves from being blown away.

We thankfully were not affected by the wind as we were in the lee of it on the other side of Tryfan. Our group was made up of instructors with different skill levels and fitness levels. We took the day at a slow pace introducing the newer members to scrambling. Even though the wind was not a problem eventually everyone was soaked through from the persistent rain.

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 55 (1)
Scrambling

The higher we got though the tougher the going got. We could hear the wind cracking like a whip in the crags above us once we got to about 650m’s. We took one last look at the towering crags of Tryfan and decided that the mountain could wait another day for us.

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 52
Tryfan – Wind ‘Cracking’ above

It was not all doom and gloom (though a few of us did want to top out) as we had fun slithering down again, doing a spot of bouldering, spotting some local mountain goats or like Dave did, partaking in some mountain paddling :-).

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 53
Fun for everyone

It was an extremley hard day on the mountains that day and I was particularly impressed with everyone’s patience and resilience. To some of the instructors this was nothing new but to some it was their first experience on the mountains. We had a couple of students develop some slight aches and pains however they persevered and completed the day safely.

Everyone was soon back in one of the Moel Siabod Cafe in Capel Curig drying off and drinking coffee.

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 53 (1)
Homeward bound

To finish off the Saturday we had a de-brief on the day back at Capel Curig Training Camp before heading off down to the Swallow Falls hotel for an enjoyable evening.

As the wind was just as strong the next day we decided to stay low down in the hills and concentrate on micro navigation. We headed off from Snowdonia up into the hills just above Conway.

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 54
Re-cap and start of day 2

We split up into smaller groups and I was joined by Mandy, Tara and Sian. They all had different levels of map reading skills however they were all keen to get on and have some fun along the way.

I gave each of them different locations to find, sometimes with the map, sometimes with just a compass and sometimes by dead reckoning alone.

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 54 (1)
Micro nav with a smile

We had fun along the way and met some of the other groups on our travels. The wind got so strong at times we had to stay away from the cliff edges and were able to lean right into the wind without toppling over.

Photo 27-03-2016, 14 57 55
Taking it in there stride (top left picture courtesy of Sarah Diss)

Even though we did not top out mother nature tested us all out in her own way. For me it was to make sure everyone learnt, had fun along the way and came back safely.

Those that earned their mountain wings (you could say that after the winds we had) were Mandy Blackmore, Tara Green, Sian Avenell, Thomas Conway, Jasmine Turner, Sarah Diss, Lee Diss, Maria Griffiths, Amy Pizarro-Griffiths, Alan Lewis, Dave Lewis,  Ben MacDonald, Rob Hina, Carol O’Brien, Jess Edwards, Jennifer Burdett, Rachel Selby, and Chris Cooke. The instructors were John Kelly, Perry Symes, Graham Brockwell and myself.

Cheers, George