Snow in The Peak District
With snow around the corner again for The Peak District, let’s recap the locations and photographs that I took on the previous snow fall. One thing to be very aware of, is the roads. Some of these rural places have very narrow lanes which gritters can’t get down. Please be very very careful if you choose to travel in your car.
A couple of weeks ago, we received a decent amount of snow that lasted 3-4 days up on the peaks. I took full advantage of these conditions and went out every single day.
Chrome Hill, Parkhouse Hill and Hitter Hill:
This place is the bane of my photography life! I’ve lost count how many times I have been here and came home disappointed with the conditions. Although I must say, I am very pleased with these photographs. Snow in the Peak District can create some beautiful scenes, it changes the landscape completely. You’ve a choice between taking a minimalistic approach, or searching for intricate ice patterns for some awesome foregrounds! I began at Chrome Hill for sunrise, the thick snow clouds were simply too much for the sun to pierce through, leading to flat light and no detail in the sky. After sitting around for a couple of hours, unsuccessfully waiting for the clouds to shift, I made my way over to Hitter Hill.
Taken from Chrome Hill, looking towards Parkhouse Hill in snow.
Hollins Hill provides an incredible viewpoint of the Dragon’s back ridge and is becoming quite an infamous photo. It’s hard work getting up there in the snow, in some areas I was getting up to my waist! To get here, you can park in the village Earl Sterndale and take to public footpath crossing over farmland, up to the top of the hill. You can follow that down to Parkhouse Hill and Chrome Hill too.
Standing on Hitter Hill looking towards Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill in snow.
While I was here, I documented the whole process and uploaded it to youtube, which might help you more as a location guide because I explain where I am going. I also talk through some different foregrounds.
On the second day, I photographed a sunrise on Grindslow Knoll. A fairly straight forwards hike, starting in Edale and beginning on the Pennine Way path, then taking a right turn to begin the ascent. It’s one path straight to the top from there, uneven ground and a little bit steep in some areas, but overall not too difficult. This was my first time hiking on this side of Kinder Scout, it only took 1 hour 30 minutes (roughly) to get to the top, including time to photograph and film in some parts which I was very impressed with. There was a few photo opportunities on the way up, the main one for me was the gate that you cross about half way up. It reminded me of the image most people get on Mam Tor, except there was nobody here! I think that’s one of the best things about getting up early, and hiking in less common areas, it gives you more time and space to focus on your photography. Particularly in The Peak District because it is getting more popular.
Gate on Grindslow Knoll in the snow.
At the top, I believe it was minus six degrees, and high winds, which was pretty nippy! Because the snow was so soft and fine, it was all blowing down the sides and leaving behind loads of frost on the rocks which just looked amazing. In fact, one of my favourite images was of a frosted rock, next to a frozen puddle. At this point, we were inside a temperature inversion, or just getting out the top of it. Every now and then we would get a break in the clouds and get the most incredible view of the the great ridge, Mam Tor. The sun rising above the clouds gave us a moment of warmth on our face, then the clouds come back, darkness and harsh wind chapping our lips. As the best light is within that first hour of the sun lifting, there was only a few times where the light would fall onto the scene. Which made each one of those moment even more precious. Grindslow Knoll is a beautiful place that I will definitely be returning to.
Grindslow Knoll frosty sunrise.
Grindslow Knoll sunrise towards Hope Valley and Mam Tor.
I documented this for YouTube too.
Stanage Edge Millstones: High Neb, Stanage Pole and White Path Moss.
The best conditions of the three days. We stayed out all day, sunrise until sunset to make the most of it. This is a brilliant location with car parks on either side which makes it really accessible. There are stiles to climb and some up hills as well as uneven ground, but overall, a simple walk with nothing technical.
Stanage Edge millstones winter red sky.
Stanage Edge millstones winter sunrise.
We parked at the Dennis Knoll Car Park, and headed towards High Neb. On the way up, you will find plenty of millstones, scattered around in various places. Some are directly next to the footpaths and some will take a bit of exploring. This is where I did the majority of my photography on the morning because the sky was unbelievable! Millstones are great focal points in your images of the Peak District because they are such iconic monuments. It’s one of the things that we are famous for. After capturing the stunning, red sky, we continued my walk up to High Neb. By this point the sun had risen up above its best lighting conditions, the golden hour was over. However, when photographing snow, you can get really interesting light through the full day so it’s always worth having a walk even if you can’t make sunrise/set.
High Neb trig point Stanage Edge in snow.
After High Neb, we carried on to Stanage Pole, a first for me. The views towards Hope Valley from here are amazing! Finally, we went to White Path Moss trig point and got a few photos there. This trig point was where I did one of my first photography workshops, capturing the heather in late summer.
View from Stanage Pole towards Hope Valley.
White Path Moss looking over Derwent Edge in snow.
The days are a lot shorter in Winter, by now it was around 2pm, and sunset was due to be at around 4pm. A quick stop at the Millstone Country Inn for some food and drink, a game of chess on the side, then back on the road. On the way home, I could see the potential for a sunset but wasn’t too sure where to go. Naturally, passing by Ladybower, I wanted to re-take an image that I had got earlier in the season, potentially with some Highland Cows.
Crook Hill:
Taking the road towards Derwent Dams, there are multiple car park spots on side of the road. Any of these are great places to park when beginning this walks. From where I was, it’s about thirty minutes through some farmland and up to the top. The gritstone rocks are very interesting here, and is becoming one of my favourite little locations. I do have an official top 10 list which has its older brother in the number one spot, Derwent Edge.
Crook Hill looking towards Derwent Edge.
Back on topic, the snow here was pretty much untouched, it’s fantastic for photography if you want a quiet morning by yourself. Still to this day I have never seen anybody up there. I know this area quite well now and had a few compositions already in mind. It was just a waiting game for the clouds to move around and reveal the colour in the sky.
Untouched snow on Crook Hill.
Unfortunately, that marked the last image in this flurry of snow in the Peak District. The next day the temperature arose to thirteen degrees and brought lots of rainfall with it, wiping almost all of it away. The next snow fall I will be doing the same thing, it’s not often we get snow and I don’t have much experience photographing in it. I still haven’t planned exact locations yet but I would love to get a woodland scene so Lawrence Field is definitely on the list. Then I will be looking further south to scout some new locations.
Gritstone rocks on Crook Hill, Peak District.