27th January ...Olympus 9mm fisheye test

The new (to me) 9mm Olympus fisheye is a fun piece of kit, giving 140 degree field of view its the widest lens I have ever used.  Its definitely not made of top quality glass (plastic) and is only sold as a body cap, so expectations from Olympus are kept deliberately low.  As a novelty it's great,  and hopefully will produce some interesting images and the more I get used to the output the more versatile I'm sure to find it.
It won't be in the bag when I'm out doing any of my pro stuff, but when I'm out climbing and  I have my compact with me it'll definitely be coming along for the ride.

I'll put more images up here  as I explore its possibilities.

Langstrothdale

24th January...Red Screes

A quick dash up the lovely Kilnshaw Chimney today, soft snow all the way and its not looking like it'll survive the coming thaw.  I will do this route again when its back in condition though.

The Kirkstone Pass from the chimney

Looking a bit thin at the start

Getting better with height

Near the top 

22nd January..Brown Cove Crags

It was great to be back climbing in the Lakes again, shorter 'walk ins" and some nice conditions.  BCC were in fine fettle with many teams out enjoying themselves.  We zipped up Central Gully for our warm up then moved onto Left Branch,  some nice neve and small ice pitches made for a very enjoyable ascent but with gear placements hard to find some longish run outs were necessary.

Brown Cove Crags 22-01-2015

Brown Cove Crags, Central Gully

Brown Cove Crags, Central Gully

Taken from Central Gully 22.1.2015

A climber had fallen into Broad Gully about 30mins before we arrived at the crag. Mountain Rescue were in the area at the time so were on the scene very quickly, the climber was airlifted out as we ascended Central Gully and taken to hospital.

The top of Left Buttress

From Central Gully

13th January.......Scotland, Aonach Mor and the Western rib

Whenever I go for a winter climb in Scotland I seem to pick the most extreme weather of the winter and this year was no different.  The highlands were experiencing some of the highest wind speeds on record with over 115mph being recorded on Ben Nevis.
I was climbing with guide and mountaineer Ken Applegate whose knowledge of the mountain was priceless.
And so we ventured out on Tues into the white to climb Western Rib on Aonach Mor.  After an hour or so we arrived at the foot of the rib and set off up the 400m climb, it was in great winter condition with plenty of neve, ice and frozen turf to keep us moving quickly up the towards the summit.

A rubbish image but shows the condition (Tues), Western Rib just left of centre 

After 3 hours we topped out onto the plateau in the full force of the storm and battled our way back to the top ski station to catch the gondola back down.

Ken on the second (?) pitch

PH on belay duty

Ken Applegate mountaineering

The usual mountain from the usual viewpoint

4th January 2015....The Moon....

The snow has disappeared from the mountains for the time being but the clear cold nights have given me the chance to start a bit of night photography, not having taken any moon or star trail shots befoer its going to be a steep learning curve........so here goes....

 From the  back garden...well you've got to start somewhere.!!
Canon 6d  :  200mm plus 2x convertor 

ISO 100  :  f6.3  :  1/320

ISO 100  :  f5.6  :  1/250

Lessons learned tonight ....

1.    The moon moves very fast, so make sure you check the view finder before pressing the shutter.
2.    Use spot metering, it's very bright compared to the rest of the sky....doh...
3.    Use the biggest lens you've got and then some..