A classic winter's day

 Click on an image for a larger view.  All images copyright Leslie Ashe

A good start to the New Year.  Light snow over the tops and sunshine for most of the day, albeit with a strong north westerly wind.   The approach to the start at Carrick Little  looked promising with snow cover above 450m.  The aim was to do Cove Mountain and Slieve Lamagan.    

Annalong valley just before sunrise.

Slieve Donard as the sun came up

Ice patterns on the path

Starting to get into the snow above Lower Cove with Cove Lough in the background

Cove summit cairn and Slieve Donard

Views from Cove summit

Panorama from the slopes of Cove

Ice on Slieve Lamagan

The climb up Slieve Lamagan was cold as it was mostly in shade but BW managed to get the sun glasses on as he emerged back into the sunlight.

The rocks on the top of Lamagan provided shelter from the biting wind and given that we were in full sunlight it was an ideal place for lunch.  This is the view from a sedentary position.  Standing up would have exposed me to the full strength of the wind over the summit - clearly I've no commitment to photography!

Finally, the view as we began to descend looking towards Ben Crom, Doan, Carn and Muck.

A classic winter day but less wind and more snow would have been good.  Never happy!