Cwm Idwal – A Special Place
Cwm Idwal in the Ogwen Valley in Snowdonia is a special place. It is a mountain Cwm filled with the crystal clear waters of Llyn Idwal and has long been a favourite place of mine to visit, both as a climber and as a parent, keen to show the mountains to my kids.
In 2015 we made a film for the newly refurbished Visitor Centre (see below) and in 2020 when the visitor centre was undergoing a facelift we were given the opportunity to produce a new film. This time round I wanted to showcase the environment itself whilst connecting with the things that make it special for me and the many thousands of people that visit every year. The Cwm is incredibly accessible and so ideal for parents wanting to show the mountains to their kids as I have done. In the film we follow my good friends Huw & Jo as they take Tom & Martha up North West Face Route to the side of the Idwal Slabs. We also meet Matt as he runs up Y Garn as the Cwm is also a starting point for bigger adventures. Of course the Cwm has to be carefully managed to cope with all of these people and we get a brief meeting with the Ranger and the Path Maintenance Team on our journey.
The focus of the film needed to be the environment itself and so the characters we meet are not the main role, that privilege falls to Cwm Idwal itself. Our filming window was from November to January and snow often makes an appearance, topped up with some shots from our library of the spring flowers and summer colours.
The film is designed to be shown in the visitor centre and to also work online and in social media.
Time-lapse: Kris Williams
All other filming: Rob Johnson
Clients: Snowdonia National Park Authority, National Trust & Natural Resources Wales