articles/Landscape/Tryfan-Skylight-page2

Tryfan Skylight - part 2 of 1 2 3 4

by Mike McNamee Published 01/06/2015

As the event was nearly upon us, food was organised and a team were charged with cooking a stew for over 100. It was decided that a final decision would be made on the Wednesday prior to the event, based on weather forecasts for the area. The original date was a goer and texts were sent out to all participants to arrive at 'Oggie Base' at 5:30pm for a briefing at six before the teams were despatched onto the mountain at their allotted time interval.

When we arrived it was overcast and cold with a promise of clearing skies around dusk. There was an intense excitement around as people began to arrive. Everyone was keen to make Jim's vision happen and to be involved in something that would be very special. At the briefing, Jim was quite emotional as it had taken months of organising and now it was about to happen.

Petzl, the well-known head-torch company, provided torches for anyone who wanted a more powerful one. The first groups began to leave and the skies began to clear; they averaged 45 mintues to climb into position. We made our way to our selected shooting point, nervous but excited. The plan was to shoot in three phases at 8:30pm, 8:45pm and 9:00pm. All participants were asked to stand (at 10-15 metre intervals) pointing their head torches to a Land Rover's headlights after the first flare went off and to make sure they could see clear sky behind them.

Reports began to filter in that they were experiencing a fantastic sunset to the west and all were in good spirits. Then, problems; as Jim set the flare off and all the lights lit up the mountain, the smoke from the flare engulfed us, ruining our shots. Radio contact was made to the team leaders asking people to continue to point their head torches at us and we were blown away by the sight in front of us. A frenzy of activity then took place as we captured what would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As promised the rescue helicopter then came into view and hovered just above 'Adam and Eve', the prominent feature of two upright plinths that mark the top of the mountain. Groups radioed in that although cold they were happy enough to give us another 10 minutes before beginning their decent. Reports came in that the light show could be seen for miles around and people were stopping their cars on the A5 and getting out to take pictures.

• Tryfan Skylight page 1
  
• Tryfan Skylight page 2
  
• Tryfan Skylight page 3
  
• Tryfan Skylight page 4
  

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