15 February...Window Gully, Great End

It was without any great expectations after the warmer temperatures of the past few days that we headed up towards Great End with the intention of climbing Central Gully and doing the Left Branch finish.  As we entered the gully the snow was soft and deep making progress difficult, so we decided to retreat and take a look further round the crag for some ice to play on for the day.

There was plenty of small pitches to climb and as we progressed up, we entered the bottom of Window Gully which looked very climbable and joined Will and Simon who had just started the first pitch.

The ice and neve  improved with height, still thick enough to take a 16mm screw in a lot of places.  The snow and turf was pretty solid and very avoidable when it wasn't.

I'm not sure how long it'll hold on in these temperatures but yesterday was a great day to be in Window Gully.

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..

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 !!