I've had an image I wanted to capture of Ben Lui on my mind for about five years ever since I first climbed it. My friends and I had walked up the long approach of Glen Cononish in winter with a good covering of snow on the ground and in the hills. Ben Lui lies at the head of this glen and you tantalisingly get glimpses of it as the track winds along the river until it comes into full view. It dominates the view and in my mind an almost perfect example of how a mountain should look, bulky, pointy and enviting to climb. I knew I had to capture this view and waited a long time for the right conditions to come together. The forecast was not too good for this morning and I feared low cloud but on waking I realised that it was going to be a cloudless and still but frozen morning, I was even more delighted when I realised that it had snowed overnight leaving an inch of pristine dry and powdery snow.
My intended viewpoint was 2 or 3 miles up the glen so I decided to bike there and not spend time walking in the dark, a very pleasant ride it was in the subdued dawn light without a breath of wind or sound.
Once I reached the bend in the river that I knew would give me the best view I had around 10 minutes to work before the sun rose, I made a few images before sunrise but the optimum time was just on sunrise when the first rays of light glanced across the upper snow clad slopes of the northern ridges.

  Ben Lui over the Cononish river.



Please click on an image for large or visit the Crianlarich area Gallery.