Snow Tunnel
Posted: Tuesday, 01 July 2008 |
In my "Tale of Two Lairigs" blog, I had a pic and a close-up of a snow bridge / tunnel, seen from below looking up at the hill.
Several years ago, on a visit to Ben Macdui, I came across an absolute cracker. It was the remains of melting snow, forming a bridge or tunnel over the "March Burn", a stream that runs from Macdui down to the Lairig Ghru. In fact in my other blog, the picture of the highest point of the pass is where this stream comes down.
Here am I, standing at the top of the tunnel looking into it (July 1994)
In the pic you can actually see literally "light at the end of the tunnel"
I reckon that the tunnel probably forms every year - it just so happened that when i was there, it was looking at its best. Never been back to that one, but I do recall seeing another in the Cairngorms, over the Feith Buidhe, above Loch Aan. I cant remember if I took a pic or not.
Bye for now
JW (MM)
PS: By the way, the original picture WAS black and white - Ilford FP4 film. That was in the days before digital when people still had darkrooms. Used to love doing that sort of stuff. Of course we now have the "digital darkroom", but it doesnt compare to the thrill of seeing the image appearing in the developer, under a red light. Happy days!
Several years ago, on a visit to Ben Macdui, I came across an absolute cracker. It was the remains of melting snow, forming a bridge or tunnel over the "March Burn", a stream that runs from Macdui down to the Lairig Ghru. In fact in my other blog, the picture of the highest point of the pass is where this stream comes down.
Here am I, standing at the top of the tunnel looking into it (July 1994)
In the pic you can actually see literally "light at the end of the tunnel"
I reckon that the tunnel probably forms every year - it just so happened that when i was there, it was looking at its best. Never been back to that one, but I do recall seeing another in the Cairngorms, over the Feith Buidhe, above Loch Aan. I cant remember if I took a pic or not.
Bye for now
JW (MM)
PS: By the way, the original picture WAS black and white - Ilford FP4 film. That was in the days before digital when people still had darkrooms. Used to love doing that sort of stuff. Of course we now have the "digital darkroom", but it doesnt compare to the thrill of seeing the image appearing in the developer, under a red light. Happy days!
Comments
What an interesting phenomenon this is, MM, and great to have a close-up shot. That youngster in the photo is surely not you? :-)
Jill from EK
Oh yes, Jill, the whole sartorial horror of it all - breeches (at a time when they were SO uncool.....) and patterned socks that would not have looked out of place on Walter Poucher.... I was on my own at the time so the camera was balanced on a rock and the self timer did the rest.
JW(MM) from Mull
Great photo, reminds me of the day I spent on a glacier in New Zealand. It was fantastic; once I got to grips with the talons - pardon the pun.
Carol from IBHQ
Maybe it's just as well the photo is in b&w, then, MM, your socks might have blown a colour shot away :) Still a great photo, though, I had never heard of these snow tunnels before. I suppose there's a critical point of depth, width, weight etc at which the structure collapses.
Jill from EK
Great image. Get craking in the darkroom - it is STILL great fun
Wiesmier from Lewis
Wiesmier, there are times when I am REALLY tempted to get back into it again. There is just *something" about a good B/W print, properly printed on good paper - its more art than science really. I have always been a fan of the work of Ansle Adams and Walter Poucher - different places, different subjects, but masters of the art of B&W. Ansel's image, "Moonrise over Hernandez" is possibly one of the most evocative landscapes of all time. Pic here: http://www.photokaboom.com/images/tips/Moonrise_over_Hernandez_NM.jpg And as for the Vietnam era B&W classic images of Don McCullin and people like that - the impact is in the starkness that B&W brings to the pic. Right, that's it, the kit is getting dug out this weekend....
MM from Mull
No wait a minute MM, you really can't mean that..."the kit is getting dug out"...honestly, what self-respecting kitty would get a dug out, its beyond the realms of wildest imagination, really it is...
Flying Cat from behind bars
carol:- which glacier did you do? Franz josef?? if i hadn't had a collapsed lung we were going to it early jan this year,still next time i'm over we'll be doing it and others i hope:P:S sent me a pic pleasexx
carol from over here to carol over there
Oh the joys of the darkroom era! Digital is convenient but dull. However, when Ihad to do my own prints from electron microscopes that were not equipped with an exposure meter then the fun started to pall. But now ... why not? Good on you, MM!
Barney from Swithiod not the darkroom
Carol over there / here; oh you know who I mean. I spent a day on the Franz Josef glacier and it was fantastic, one of the highlights of the trip without a doubt. I'll dig out a couple of photos of it to bore you with. There's also Fox glacier which is smaller and we passed on the way. Ah the memories.
Carol from IBHQ
Darkrooms are dangerous places. Girls can find themselves inappropriate husbands in such places...
Flying Cat from darkrooms of yore
EffCee, enlarge on that one, please!
Barney from Swithiod with a challenge
Can't. It's possibly Classified Information and I want to hang onto my Get Out of Jail Free card!
Flying Cat from gazing wistfullythrough the bars
Exploring the hills and coasts of Mull and Iona and occasionally elsewhere, with a close eye on the geology
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