January 2015

Mountain Flying Training Area (MFTA), Snowdonia. Llugwy and the A5 pass.

After an early start to get to the Moel Siabod Cafe on the A5 for 7am for a quick coffee and a bacon roll (well, some of us had other ideas!), a long walk to the lake/bowl awaited.  

Reports from earlier in the week said the road to the top was covered in snow and ice. So, with the coffee and bacon sandwich dispatched, it was a quick dash to the van to try and get up as far as I could and still be able to park. The road was passable to the second gate, but with the snow getting thicker and more frozen, the front wheel drive van could go no further! After a 57-point turn, I parked up in a pull in and got ready for a long walk. The walk was shortened somewhat, as a fellow photographer, (Phil from Target Aviation, I promised a plug) and on the promise of a hot coffee at the top, gave me a lift a bit further in his 4x4, but even that struggled the closer we got to the top, so we all had to walk from there. Visibility was really poor, and as we walked to the top, I could only think "this isn’t going to clear".

After setting up the stove for the coffee (camera still in the bag), the discussion, as is usually the case, turned to the weather, and the likelihood of it clearing up and the sun breaking through in time for the helo crews to get in to have their photograph taken. After an hour, and with the sound of Apache's in the distance, a decision was made to move down to the Snowdonia Visitor's Centre, and at least try and salvage some images from the day. On arriving, and still in cloud, some opted for the North side, and some the South side. I opted for the northern side, and after a short climb, waited for the action to start. Already beginning to question my decision on the location. Was it high enough? What if the sun breaks through the cloud? It wasn’t long before all my fears were confirmed. The fog started to lift, the sun broke through and was staring me in the face, which meant backlit shots and silhouettes would be all I would manage from here.

My bad decisions would continue with wrong lens choices for the Lynx and Apache passes, so decided to do a bit of video instead. After the crews headed back to RAF Valley for lunch, I knew I had to be on the other side for the afternoon passes. So, down again, and back up the other side to join the masses. I even got the accent of the other side wrong, trying the "Hero" route, rather than the easy footpath! When the Lynx and Apache's arrived in the afternoon, the light played ball too, so it all came good in the end...Even if it was a little overcrowded!

As we waited for a final pass by an Apache, a few Welsh mountain goats entertained some of the photographers for an hour, and the photographers "worrying" the goats entertained the rest of us!

With the light now fading, and the temerature dropping fast, the Apache made it's last pass of the day, in the shadow of the mountain and off back to RAF Valley.

This image taken by Gareth Jones (@gwjphantom on twitter) from further up the valley capture's the day well.

Here are my pick of the stills from the day...