27th December ......Fairfield round

With a  dusting of fresh snow and a reasonable forecast our objective of the day was the classic Lakeland walk "The Fairfield Round".  At 10 miles in length and over 2800' of ascent its no push over for a winter walk, and while its hard to get lost on the way up the ridge towards the summit of Fairfield, once on the summit plateau good navigation skills are needed when the cloud and mist is shrouding the tops.

Photographic conditions on the day were superb, the cloud stayed off the tops for most of the time and  shafts of light dappled the fell sides, making some lovely images.

Unnamed tarn nr Heron Pike

South to Windermere 

Seat Sandal, Grisedale Tarn, and teh Helvellyn Range

Black Buttress, Fairfield

15 December...........No 2 Gully , Helvellyn

As I drove across the A66 this morning the prospect of all the snow being stripped off teh Fells was becoming more and more of a possibility, but as I got further along the side of Ullswater towards Glenriding I could see that the summits were holding onto some large ares.

I followed some steps up No: 2 gully, which improved with height as the snow became a lot firmer.

Red Tarn Cove, Helvellyn

Brown Cove

Catstycam 

V Corner, No:2 Gully, No:1 gully

No: 2 Gully

V Corner

12th December.. Ingleborouh

Snow has come to the Dales just in time for a white Christmas, the wind chill stopped me going all the way to the summit of Ingleborough but still managed to knock off a few shots on the way.
As I returned to the car the sun was dipping down towards the horizon and the light shot across the snow with that lovely golden evening glow photographers love.

December Lakes

Buttermere:  A great view point looking North West from the summit of High Stile above Buttermere, but not great lighting this time.

6th December 2014, Pavey Ark .Jacks Rake...Stickle Tarn

With the forecast looking good for the morning, but turning wet and wintery in the afternoon we set off early to climb the classic grade 1 scramble of Jakes Rake on Pavey Ark.  Climbing the path to Stickle Tarn alongside Stickle Gyll from the Old Dungeon Gyll pub is always a treat with the spectacular water falls giving a big mountain feel to the ascent.
The view back across to Side Pike is always worth turning round for, and today it came and went as the cloud and mist rolled in and out.
As we arrived at the Tarn the mist swirled round the flat calm water and gave a eerie feel with the brooding mass of the cliffs of Pavey Ark standing over the scene.

Stickle Tarn reflections and mist
Lumix GF1 with 14mm  and processed in Lightroom

After a quick stop for some refreshment we set off to climb the rake, .......

wet and slippery all the way, ........lunch on the summit and back down in the valley all too quickly, but avoided the rain !!

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19th October...Autumnn in the Washburn Valley

With autumn now in full bloom the colours are ripe for anyone with a camera to get out and record nature in all its end of season glory.
The Washburn Valley is a wonderful place,  lined with golden beach trees and conifers and perfect for a quick fix on a Sunday afternoon.
A polarizing filter will enhance the colours, and a tripod will ensure the shot is pin sharp.

May 25th.....Dales waterfalls

A brief respite in rains of Yorkshire Dales monsoon season (spring) gave an opportunity to get out and grab some images of the waterfalls and rivers that can be quite dry at this time of year.
The River Skirefaire that runs through Arncliffe and joins the Wharfe near Kilnsey quite often dries up once the winter has passed, but is currently running full over the limestone and giving some very nice image making opportunities.
Scalebar Force quite often has too much or too little water in it, but currently is just about right.

Scalebar Force, Settle

The Skirfare at "New Bridge"

Polarized image of the Skirefare

non polarized image of the Skirefare

May 18th .....Buttermere

In search of some calendar images, I took a walk over High Stile, High Crag and Haystacks, the light wasn't particularly good but well worth a it for future view points.

May 14th........Borrowdale climb with Paddy Cave, Corvus (Diff)

Paddy and I had been trying to arrange a days climbing for quite a while and had been thwarted most times by poor weather, so to finally get out on the rock was a real treat.
The weather was great, the rock was dry and there was no-one else on the climb....perfect.
Paddy took the lead  to the last pitch which I lead the last one, learnt loads of stuff about rope work and climbing and refreshed some forgotten techniques.

Corvus, graded at Diff, is a great climb and justifiably one of the Lakes most popular, the pitches are just hard enough to be exciting without pushing the grade too far, with the famous "hand traverse" as its show piece crux, which is not as daunting as it looks, great fun.

Pitch 4, "The Hand Traverse"

Thanks to Paddy for a top day out on the hill.

April in the Dales

Back to the Dales now for some serious photography walks, and a couple of very productive trips to the limestone above Malham and the gritstone of Simons Seat.
The landscape is influenced completely by the bedrock underneath, with the limestone draining into underground cave systems and the nonporous gritstone holding the surface water in the peat and heather moorlands.

Simons Seat 1

Simons Seat  2

Simons Seat 3

Above Malham 1

Above Malham 2

April 6th ..............The last winter walk

A cold walk over Bowfell, Esk Pike and then back down past Angle Tarn through the last snows of the winter.

Great Moss in Upper Eskdale from Esk Pike 

12 March............Red Tarn Cove climb

We've gone through several days of freeze and thaw cycles so a closer inspection of the climbs in Red Tarn Cove were my objective of the day.

After a clear night with temperatures well below freezing and an Alpine start (6.45am) I was confident the snow on the face would be solid enough to climb, some evidence of previous slides down the gullies had actually compacted the surface and made for an easy ascent.  Some good neve was to be found in the places that the sun doesn't get to.

As the sun warmed the surface it became soft very quickly and I was glad to summit before the full force of the suns started to make a very noticeable difference.

The large double fracture line around the summit was evidence of the previous warm days, and were the cornice has overhangs it's only a matter of time and before they go for a big slide.

 Catsty Cam.....The main gully line is full all the way,

 Red Tarn Cove........
No:1 Gully is not complete in the middle
No:2 Gully is almost most complete with just a short section of turf (frozen at 8am) in the middle

 No 1 and No 2 gullies

  No 1 and No 2 gullies

No 2 gully (left finish looking thin in places)

 No 2 gully slay in the shade for the best snow

 Looking down No 2

 Nethermost and Dollywagon

 Summit fractures

  Summit fractures Brown Cove

  Summit fractures Brown cove

 Brown Cove Crags (left and right parallel gullies looked complete)

 Crevasse near the ski tow