When we stopped on Mueller Saddle the weather was clear and bright. However after a while a small cloud developed in the updraft from the top of Mt Cook. At the same time the mountains on the left started to show cloud tails streaming off the tops.
This means weather is building, so over the next 2 hours I took a series of photos of the cloud formations appearing above the summit. The shapes show up the turbulence at the summit in the moist air being blown in from an approaching front across the west coast, pushed up the mountain range into the cold air of the retreating high. As you can see the clouds get thicker as time goes on.
A most unusual set of circumstances I’d say – a calm sunny day, a front approaching and the time to sit and watch the cloudscapes against a clear blue sky. All these photos were taken in HDR which allows me to emphasise the beautiful shapes of the clouds.
But what struck me was the ethereal beauty of the forming clouds – they were gossamer thin, forming different shapes and patterns every few minutes.
By the time we got to the bottom the clouds around the top were thick, and that evening it started to rain as the cloud came down the mountains.
Extraordinary images Chris…next time I must climb up to Muellers saddle, thanks for the inspiration..Rob
Yes, an extraordinary opportunity. And a most unusual combination of circumstances I reckon: we were up at Muellers Saddle on a warm day with little wind at around midday, when the front started to come over the mountains from the west. The clouds started streaming off the tops on the left hand mountains, then I noticed a small lenticular cloud forming downwind of the Mt Cook peak. I knew this meant a developing cloud mass and so decided to photograph the lenticular clouds forming. What I didn’t know was that they would form such beautiful shapes. We stayed for about an hour, and every few seconds a new cloud shape would form – thickening all the while – and I took a picture (in HDR). It’s hard to imagine that set of circumstanes occurring too often.