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Lough Shannagh and the Annalong Valley

Since winter still refuses to release her grip, I decided after the unexpected heavy snowfall we had in parts of the province last week to see if I could get into the mountains and make the trek up to Lough Shannagh. This is a small, enclosed lake, which lies at the base of Carn Mountain, Slieve Loughshannagh and Doan. The snow on this occasion effected the north and western regions with little or no coverage on the south side. Access via Annalong was relatively straightforward, but from Crocknafola Wood onward was a different story. Snowfall here was heavy; I almost managed to park my jeep properly in the small parking area, but the snow depth even for four-wheel drive vehicles made it challenging enough. The cloud formations looked menacing, and the ice-cold wind was relentless at times.  Within a few minutes, I had the first of many heavy snow showers that would sandblast me throughout the day.

Some of heavy banks of cloud that were a frequent occurrence throughout the course of the day.

This image is a composite of 13 images stitched together using Adobe’s Photomerge. The wind in this particular area was cruel blowing relentlessly in my face.

The track up to Lough Shannagh in normal conditions is a relatively straightforward process, however, when you can’t see the track at all for snow it becomes a more difficult procedure. Conditions throughout the day were at times arduous, which made photography  challenging. I was hoping to shoot panoramic images, but this proved tricky in some areas due to the depth of snow. The biggest problem was being able to stabilize and level the tripod with the panoramic head in the snow. I managed to get within ½ mile of the lough, but the drifts were so deep in places that it was impossible to see where you were walking. Also, the snow had collapsed in areas leaving large drops of several feet to navigate around.

 There were a number of these crevasses that exposed the Miners Hole River, which was totally frozen and covered in snow. The problem here is knowing where they are, this one was around 6-7 ft deep?

It became difficult to know what was solid and what wasn’t. Despite the weather, it was an interesting day photographically and worth the effort as these sorts of conditions are seldom encountered in most years.

The Annalong Valley

In mid afternoon, I headed up the Annalong Valley on the southern side, which had less ground snow but the mountains themselves had reasonable coverage. I was also able to get some shots of icicles in the Annalong River, which had partially frozen up.

An eleven image composite of the valley in the early evening  from Slieve Lamagan round to Rocky Mountain.

What made this pretty average image interesting was the threatening cloud formation behind the mountain.

 There were ample opportunities for images like these if you were prepared to get your boots wet.