Stunning misty sunrise at Tryfan in the Ogwen Valley Eryri

15 Aug

Tryfan mountain peak in the Ogwen Valley of Eryri (Snowdonia) National Park is definitely my favourite mountain to photograph in North Wales. It seems whatever the weather Tryfan has the potential to look amazing and this morning was no different. Having seen the weather forecast mention the chance of misty Snowdonia valleys I had to set the alarm clock early to make sure I arrived with the best chance of capturing the best conditions.

I reached the Ogwen Valley about 15-20 minutes before sunrise but in all honesty was a bit disappointed, very little mist was around, just a small pocket in Capel Curig..my usual favourite misty photo location of Llyn Gwynant was completely clear with heavy cloud shrouding the mountain summits. I’m not one to give up easily though so I drove back up the Ogwen Valley by which time the sun had started to rise just above the mountains behind Capel Curig and had started to light up the peak of Tryfan so I decided to try a few photos of the east face, looking towards heather terrace.

I gained some height above the valley and as I climbed I could see the small pocket of mist I’d seen earlier at Capel Curig had begun to build and rise up the Ogwen valley towards Tryfan, quite unusual as we normally get westerly airflow in North Wales but the heatwave conditions meant that the currents were coming from inland pushing the mist ever closer to Llyn Ogwen. I all I probably had about 15-20 minutes of photography as the mist ebbed and flowed below Tryfan, finally completely obscuring the view and that lasted a good hour or so afterwards. Here are my favourite two Tryfan photos, taken just a few minutes apart as the mist began to build heavily around Llyn Ogwen.

Browse more Tryfan photos in the Snowdonia photography gallery