View allAll Photos Tagged Cold-Weather
Posting this shot is worth the story alone. This was taken in Oneonta Gorge last month during a particularly chilly bout of cold weather which froze many of the area's waterfalls. For those not familiar with this gorge, it is a popular spot during the hot summer months. The gorge itself is an extremely narrow canyon that is only about 1/4 of a mile long but requires wading, sometimes up to one's chest through pools of water to reach. It is quite impossible to hike up this canyon without wading.
During the summer this is great, the canyon is shaded and always about 15 degrees cooler and the cold water is quite refreshing. Crowds of people churn up this canyon on weekends, making photography frustrating but cooling off quite enjoyable.
About once a year we get a cold snap that is cold enough and long enough to turn the many waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge into winter wonderlands. It is one of my favorite times of year. It is hard to imagine enjoying as much discomfort as this weather brings. Painfully chilled faces and hands, pants and fleeces coated in ice to the point that you crack when you walk. Spray from the waterfalls coating your cameras and freezing solid. Hurried trips back to the car to regain feeling in your extremities before venturing out for "just a few more pictures".
In other words, bliss.
I make a point of getting out here every year. So I have spent a fair amount of time at most of the main waterfalls over the past few winters. But this one had always seemed a little to crazy to attempt. Afterall, it requires wading, and during this time of year, getting wet for that long would result in frostbite at the least and even hypothermia. Probably hypothermia. I will go through a lot in pursuit of amazing scenes like this, but I think I draw the line at hypothermia. Just sounds overrated if you ask me.
The idea of making it up this gorge somehow to see this falls was awfully tempting still. A few of us talked about it and brainstormed ideas. The most popular was to buy an inflatable raft and pump it up and use it to cross the pools. The big problem with this is that there is a giant logjam at the mouth of this gorge that one has to climb over in order to enter the gorge itself. So any raft would have to be inflated on site, and it ruled out bringing in a canoe or kayak.
Then a stroke of inspiration was lent to me on a comment to a photo I posted some time ago, to rent a drysuit. A ha. Even more fortunate, I did not have to rent one, a friend likes to surf and scuba dive and owns a drysuit. Even better, we are almost the same size. So the cold snap hit, I got a day off work, naturally I called him right away and got my hands on a drysuit. All that stood before me then was a giant frozen logjam and a quarter mile of ice cold water.
The fun begins.
My first task was wading across the shallow stream to reach the logjam, which required me donning the drysuit. I had to repeatedly take it on and off as needed because I did not want to trip, or snag it on a log and tear it. But as an additional wrinkle I did not have waterproof boots to put over the feet of the drysuit. Even though the entire suit is waterproof, I did not want to walk across rocks in just the suit and risk damaging the feet. So I pulled on an old pair of my hiking boots to protect the feet. They worked well to that extent but of course got soaked the moment I stepped in the water. Which basically made them like little freezers on my feet.
The suit kept out the water, not the cold.
By the time I got across the first stream, which only took 2-3 minutes, and was never deeper than mid-calf, I could not feel my toes. So I had to sit down, take off the suit, pack it up, and hold my toes until I was certain they were still going to talk to me. Then on to the logjam. Unfortunately I hit another unexpected snag here too. Right before the logjam are two giant boulders that sit right in the middle of the stream. There are two basic choices, you can go left around them, in the tight space between them and the cliff walls. You just wedge yourself in, back to the wall and hands and feet on the nearest boulder and crab walk along, suspended over a deep little pool of water. Or you go right, which requires wading through a fairly deep pool of water and pulling yourself up on a chest-high shelf of rock onto the second boulder. Well a small waterfall had turned the left hand cliff into a sheet of ice, there was no way I would get any traction on it, even with Yaktrax on my feet. The pool on the right was doable with the drysuit, but I did not want to have to climb the jagged shelf of rock in it, again afraid I would puncture or damage the suit. So I had to climb the first boulder and jump the four foot gap down to the second boulder, with all my gear attached. I did not think too much on how I was going to get out on my return trip...
This mini-adventure brought me to the logjam, which really was the easiest part of the whole ordeal. The logs were all dry, and lacked any ice. The water level under them was high, so all I had to do was be careful not to fall. It was a slightly eerie experience to hear all the water gurgling and splashing inches away but not be able to see any of it. I am not used to the water being so high.
And then I realized that I would never have been able to do this with a raft. Normally during the summer, the water level is low enough that the majority of this short hike is dry, with the exception of two or three stomach to chest deep pools which require wading. But the rest can usually be done on the dry edges of the stream bed.
Not so this time of year. The stream came right up to the log jam and I could see no dry patches of note the whole rest of the way. So balancing on a log, I pulled on the drysuit yet again and taking a bit of a deep breath, gently slid myself into the water, which at that point was only about hip deep and began wading.
Pretty quickly the cold suffocated the protestations of my toes.
But by this point pretty much nothing was going to deter me from seeing this falls. I reached the first pool, which is the shallower of the two that has to be crossed, it came up to about my waist. It was again, an eerie experience to feel the extremely cold weight of the water pressing in on my legs, a bit like being squeezed by an extremely cold giant fist.
The second pool was a bit more nerve-wracking. For one, the stream had a good current to it, which I was wading against. The current made the surface choppy enough that I could not see where I was putting my feet, I had to go a step at a time by feel. Plus the pool came up to my chest, so I had to remove my backpack with my tripod attached and balance it all on my head to keep it dry, meaning I had to hold it up there with one hand, giving me just one other for balance. A slow and painstaking little stretch that was. I was very aware of the cantaloupe sized icebergs floating by me in the water.
But then I was through, and that was the hardest part of the whole little trek. I reached this spot and found a small stretch of dry rocks to peel off the drysuit and massage my frozen toes back to some semblance of life. (Note to self, next time take thermal socks, at least two pairs). I saw another very small stretch of dry rocks just barely poking above the surface of the stream just 15 feet upriver. So laying out the drysuit I pulled on my bag, and climbed along the cliff wall to reach that little outcropping of rock, where I was able to balance myself and everything else on a couple of rocks just above the surface of the stream and take this shot. Phew.
Yeah it was crazy I know. But fun too. And that was my adventure up Oneonta Gorge ... almost. The trip back was pretty much a repeat of the trip up, except when I reached the boulders, which I was unable to climb back up, so I had to slip the drysuit back on and navigate the pool I mentioned earlier to the right of the boulders to finally escape the gorge.
I came stumbling back up to the historic highway about three hours after initially left, still dripping water, with my wet boots starting to encase themselves in a shell of ice and probably the craziest grin I have had in a long time.
I am not sure if this means photography is my passion or my madness. I guess there is not always that big a difference between the two.
If you are interested in pricing for my images, or just plain curious, more info can be found at my website: www.zebandrews.com
We have a lot of these little cold weather loving sparrows here this winter..more than I've seen in our yard in other winters...and so far this has been one cold, snowy, icy winter lol...I guess they came to the right place to spend the winter!! Hope you all have a great day/night..thanks so much for your visits! Our power went out for 3 hours last night...was so thankful it wasn't for 3 days again...still lots of outages around us...another bad storm coming in Thursday night into Friday!
managed to get out before the cold spell hope to brave the snow this week for a few more outdoor shots any ideas?
I spent half an hour choosing the perfect purse for each outfit, & you can't even see them in the picture. I need to pull back on the details LOL
The sky looks quite icy and the suns rays don't feel or look warm, but ooohh... it is still spectacular.
View large.......... farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3092236870_73657f6ff3_b.jpg
With all this warm weather here in New England. This Tufted Titmouse seems to be thinking the cold weather will never get here. Our backyard.
Brief snow covering a park nearby the city university, after the flurries last evening.
Date: January 15, 2019 08:43
Temperature: 1°C (33°F)
These photos were taken last midnight with long time exposure. (Feb. 13, 2014)
The only light source is a public street light.
"He said I wanna see you again
But I'm stuck in colder weather
Maybe tomorrow will be better
Can I call you then?"
Back form a trek through the Himalays, specifically the unexplored Garhwal Range. We were on our way to the mysterious Roopund Lake when we were hit by a snow storm. It was relentless and lasted for almost a couple of days. "Colder Weather" by Zac Brown was the only song that kept playing in my head over and over again!
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Afrer whining on about the brutally long and cold winter, I hereby apologize. It has been *30C-35C in Ontario for the past 6 weeks. Enough already, give us some snow!
I love the colour of this gorgeous jumper. Another stunning piece chosen by my stylist. Honestly, you have to give a personal stylist appointment at John Lewis a go.
CameraCanon EOS 5D Mark II
Exposure 1.3
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 17 mm
ISO Speed 200
Lens 17-40L
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Photographer Nawaf Alkhashab
As usual, my Hellebores are blooming away like mad. They don't mind the cold weather at all though so far we haven't gotten down below 33F yet.
This one is Helleborus 'Love Bug' and is very prolific!
Snoopy! You look so cold! What are you doing??
"Wawawa WAWA waWA!"
Waiting to get in for the game?? Snoopy! The Saints didn't make the playoffs! There's no game! But you sure are a loyal fan, even in the cold weather!
"Wa!? WAWAWA wawa!"
Well, I think the Cowboys are in the playoffs. And the-
"Wawawa!"
You're going to grab your Cowboys gear and head to Dallas?? Snoopy! You really are a 'cold weather fan'!
"Eeehehehe!"
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A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Forever Collectibles
Snoopy Bobblehead
New Orleans Saints
2022, China
Cold weather advisory today. Glad I drove home from the UP yesterday. Going to NM’s for sewing. She said she’ll keep the fireplace a’blazing. 48:365
There is just a single Redwing in this photo taken from the house window. However, the bird was part of a huge cold weather movement that took place on Sunday. Although Redwings are fairly common during Britain's winter months, they are actually quite unusual right down on the Dorset coast, being much more common further north. So it was a huge surprise when several hundred arrived outside the house, mid-morning, looking for food. A few Fieldfare were also mixed in with the flock.
I checked a Dorset bird internet site and Redwings weren't reported on the Saturday or indeed on the Monday. However, on Sunday, the day of this photo, there were reports of large Redwing flocks from numerous county locations e.g. 600 from Ferrybridge between Weymouth and Portland. That is about 5 miles from here.
What was being witnessed was a classic cold weather movement, just like the flocks of Lapwing and Golden Plover during the big freeze a fortnight previously.
Chanced upon this book in the stacks at the UAF Library.
Cold Weather Photography. Published by Direction of the Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. U. S. Naval Photographic Center Anacostia 25 D. C. 1 December 1955.
iPhone6 with reversed peeled distressed frame of IP instant photo protective film cover.