Alpine Ogwen - Up Above the Clouds

I'll let the photos do the talking today. It's been an utterly life-affirming journey over the mountains for us today. Starting out on a murky morning, we climbed up into the mist, with little hope of any summit views, but nearing the top of the northeast ridge of Mynydd Perfedd, we sensed the arrival of some blue sky above us. And then suddenly, within about a minute, the clouds all dropped into the valley and we were blinded by the bright light of the sun and the blisteringly blue sky above us. Magic!

The monochrome start to the ascent...

Following hare tracks.

To suddenly appearing above the clouds near the top of the ridge.

Tryfan summit, an island in the sea of clouds.

The cloud was flowing over and around the peaks. We just stood and watched, mesmerized.

On the summit of Mynydd Perfedd, we soaked up the heat of the sun and lapped up the views, with no rush whatsoever.

Elidir Fawr appeared out of the mist.

And then, after about and hour and a half, the clouds lifted back up and the show was over.

The temperature difference was staggering as we made our way down into a cold Cwm Perfedd.

Then, just like before, the mists lifted and our route home lay out in front of us.

In winter, you get to notice so much more than summer as the animals can hide themselves, but not their tracks. Little mouse print went off in all directions and we followed these fox prints right off the summit and down the ridge into the Cwm. (oh, and we also saw a Green Woodpecker in the valley just before we started the climb!)

Eventually, we returned back into summer but the alpine vista remained...