It’s been a few years since I made the journey to the summit of this hill standing at 841 metres high which is a shame because the views are extensive and, well, as hills go it’s not too hard on the legs and since my last visit the path has been upgraded.
Starting out in the dark as usual for a sunrise shoot, head torch fired up it was thankfully not too hard to find the route unlike some hills in the dark and before long I was making good time on the gentle incline, the path only really steep for the last short pull. At the bottom of the steep section I paused for a breath and a battery change in the head torch though I didn’t need it for much longer.
On making it to the summit one thing was the same as last time, it was pretty windy, gusting to 35mph/56kph and with a temperature of -4ºC that translated into a windchill of around -12ºC, chilly. Getting the down jacket on and gloves to operate the camera were the first order of business.
Clothing sorted constructing compositions was straight forward having been here before I new what I was looking for though as always being open to anything new on the ground as it arises. My primary object was a panorama of Beinn A’ Ghlo, a superb view at this time of the year being side lit from the south east at sunrise in the winter months. This panorama 7 shots in total stitched to form the final image in Adobe Lightroom.
A beam of warm sunlight launches itself underneath a moody Beinn A’ Ghlo.
Shiehallion standing proud
The windy conditions made the tripod I dragged up here unusable, most images were handheld using a combination of iso values and aperture settings to get sufficient shutter speeds. Oh and a little luck together with something to lean against or sit on was a boon. Using such techniques even at longer focal lengths often saves the day, ranges from 24mm right up to 400mm are possible with some practice; dodging gusts of wind helps in this regard. Ahh the wind always present when you don’t want it, never there when you do.
The River Tummel slowly winds its way under a pre dawn golden sky
With the sun rising high in the sky it was time to go check on a second camera set up to film a timelapse, (viewable on Instagram) resting on a glove nestled in a rock, it was still there and not blown half way down the mountain, a relief; I’d almost forgotten it was there. I baulked at the thought of carrying 2 tripods up the hill and this probably worked out better anyway.
It had been a couple of hours since I arrived here but it only seemed like minutes, my stomach reminded me it wanted feeding, 2nd breakfast, hot coffee together with tasty ham and cheese croissants.
Ben Vrackie
The beauty of ascending in the dark is that on the descent you get to see what you missed on the way up, the golden grasses which are green in the summer made for a great foreground content in this view back up the hill.
It was a great outing but most of all it was good to see an old friend again with more to revisit, I can’t wait…