A beautiful haunting landscape. Amazing to see those old quarry houses. My family are from South Wales and some of them worked in the coal mines. My gran's house use to overlook the pit wheel, such a dramatic landscape, all gone now, houses the lot. Really enjoyed the watch - great filming and beautiful goats 😊!
Thanks! Filming in weather like this with my higher quality camera was a new challenge. Everything took twice as long and the camera got blown over twice. Was worth the effort though, the place has so many amazing views
So stunningly gorgeous..a reminder of how when mother earth takes back what belongs to her..she covers up the scars with explicable beauty! Thank you for sharing videos like this!
Hi, great video. The rain really helps to show off the slate. A hard landscape indifferent to us puny folk. Puts me in mind of the opening sequence of Prometheus (Alien), and a bit Tolkien. The North Wales landscape also makes for some hairy driving conditions. 😨
Visited there quite a few years ago, and this brought back some great memories of exploring. Your filming really shows just how amazing this place is. Many thanks for sharing
Tales of slate told by the cold biting wind . This slippery, grey beauty Raised and shaken By tens of thousands of rains Memory of men! That was to come. Great in their empty hunger These surroundings threw walls to the sky. Inspired by Stephen J Reid and Slate by Edwin Morgan
that quarry is amazing. I understand all too well about working in places that didn't have many safety standards. I'm from West Virginia and every male member of my family has either died in or due to the coal mines . they were miners back in the early 1900s to the 1970s and there were a lot of injured workers and workers killed in mine accidents. I'm very glad I decided to fix cars instead. much safer profession
... no, what's really crazy? Is that even after all those deaths and injuries they just kept doing it and never thought for a second that maybe they should like you know change professions or get an education or maybe move out of the area or you know literally do anything else other than dying and coal mines for menial amounts of money. ...? Just a thought...
@LadyBits2023 well I might agree with you if you had the slightest clue of what it's like in that area. there are generations upon generations of people living there that are part of that land and would never leave it. they love it as I do . there are very few places in America where the people would rather starve than leave but that small area of the Appalachian mountains is one of them where tradition far outweighs the ridiculous liberal thinking that has attempted to destroy this great nation. Dwayne
What an awesome place! Never been there but just think of all the houses that have been built from that mountain! I have been to Parys Mountain in Anglesea which is also an other unworldly place. Excellent points about lives taken through mining. Sadly though it's a bit of an inevitability as we would quite have the modern world we do today without mining.
@@StephenJReid It was brilliant and timely you pointed this slight little fact out. Too many today wish for us to return (or it seems) to a bygone age where everything was carried by horse and cart and so everything was safe and easy again. Far from it!
Hi Stephen, I came across you recently in a video with the big dog Messner and subscribed. I'm glad I did. You are very engaging, and your footage is spectacular and thoughtful. Enjoyed this. Thanks, Paul
A lot of these slate quarries were owned by men who also owned sugar plantations run by slave workforces. The owners were heartless industrialists with little regard for the men, charging them for everything possible like tools etc. We owe these workers a debt of thanks for our safety conscious world won thru their struggles! Thanks for your sensitively done film. North Wales.
@@StephenJReid Driving into acklow, think it was copper mining. I think it was on the same road the prison on, Shelton Abbey. Some big holes and steep bits I found when I had a car over 25 years ago.
Some spot, almost has a very Nordic feel to it. Be some crying done if you were hitting that every Monday 😂 Water colour epic, I’m assuming that’s something to do with the slate either in or connected to it. Hell of a trek out 👌
Yeah it was like being on another planet in places, totally unfamiliar type of place. Did my best to capture what it’s like to be there. Hard to describe the scale of the place. Yeah I wonder about the water colour, must be the slate
Thank you for showing us this desolate place. Imagine cutting into the side of a mountain made up of billions of bricks only held together by gravity and friction.... 🙏🏽
@@StephenJReid yes, I used to belong to a mountain rescue team there (Ogwen) and we used to do rope systems across the water. Great fun trying to get lead ropes across, we tried crossbows and even tennis racquets and tennis balls with lead ropes
@@StephenJReid the bottom used to be full of trees, but where the waterfall is you could redirect the water to miss the pool and it basically emptied it over a week or two, then someone went down and broke all of the trees!
That sounds like a lot of fun! Shame someone smashed the trees, can’t leave anything alone 🙁 What do you feel about people visiting the places off the trails in the quarry? I’ve heard of a few rescues. But I suppose the same risk applies to mountains and other outdoor spaces.
@@StephenJReid absolutely Stephen, I climbed the area extensively for 20 years before I joined Ogwen(2003-2010), most of the teams if not all understand the residual risk of adventure. The only thing I ever found objectionable was parents putting their young children at risk. Some of the hardest rock routes in the country are on the slate and I have had to attend fatalities there when the llanberis team have been busy on Snowdon. But there is a difference between misadventure and incompetence. That walk you did is one I use to introduce people to the area. If you had gone straight on instead of turning off for Dalis hole and through to California/Australia. If you had gone straight on you would have passed the Serengeti area, stay on the path through a gap in the quarry and a slate pillar on your right that is the ‘Watford gap’ and down to the left is the big hole ‘Twl Mawr’ some insane long hard routes in there, extremely hard and extremely exposed! 600ft+
It would if I flew when it was raining. The drone footage was shot the next morning when it wasn’t raining. And I colour graded the footage to match and added a very subtle rain overlay in places to match the shots.
Not only are the quarries spectacular, they are a reminder of the role of the landscape in the heritage, culture and politics of the area, as well as being a result of the hard graft of the forebears of many locals today. Great video and suitably atmospheric weather, cheers!
Wow - looks like Mordor is in Wales not in Middle Earth. Visited the quarry about 6 years ago , as was watching Clash of the Titans movie and there a scene filmed there. So checked on line and decided to make a visit. 👌👌
Oooh! I really liked this one :) For a film maker you have to try and film in a way that imparts what are are seeing, feeling, smelling, and hearing, so that your audience is there with you. I really felt it, I felt like I was there - felt you awe, excitement, interspersed with danger and caution. It was brilliant :)
7:35 It's a short sequence but this is probably one of the best you've done. Takes advantage of scenery, music, editing skills, location, emotion. Fantastic.
Thanks Thomas 🙂 was very pleased with that bit. In my head the fading versions of me reflect the history and the lives that have come and gone in this place. Also I thought it would just look cool 😁
The quarrymen had names for each section - most were women's names - Matilda, etc but a couple of the higher ones were called Garrett and Australia. Climbers generally had different names - the flooded pit is Dali's Hole after the surreal trees poking out of the water. The quarry through the tunnels to the start of Snakes and Ladders is California. There's also Lost World and Mordor. Snakes and Ladders was something first done by the kids of Llanberis rather than climbers - it used to start with a toilet chain hanging off a small chain hanging off the existing big chain! The hoops have replaced those. I used to live a few miles away, one of the old guys in the village used to work in Penrhyn Quarry on the other side of the hill. A lot of tales.
I climbed through the tunnels in Dinorwic in the autumn of 1984 in exactly the same weather. It was like Moria inside, and a really tough, slippery climb in the dark. I was 16. I finally came out at the bottom of a cone shaped open cast mine that I had to scale, back up to the ridges of the mountains, to find a path back to civilization.
Was that an intentional pun at 4:30, miner injuries😂 Crackin video as usual Stephen, it was like watching Journey to the centre of the earth! Seriously though, some amazing scenery, thanks for sharing.
😂 I didn’t notice that until Louise pointed it out. Not planned. Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. Ended up shooting it over 2 days as I couldn’t fly the drone on the first day.
Thanks for the video. It brought back wonderful memories of my trip inside the mountain 30+years ago. I’m now aged 78 and although still very fit may find it more of a challenge.
One and a half minute in and I just have to say it: What gorgeous camera work. You've made me feel like I need to put on rain/wind gear, cuz hey, I'm *there* ! Except it's 30 degrees here today, and Im melting, so I'll go enjoy the cooling effect of the rest of the video.
Glad you enjoyed it! Initially I was upset that the weather was rubbish, but quickly realised that it made this place look incredible. My microphone nearly didn’t survive though!
A really excellent piece of work, seamlessly incorporating the different media. I've explored Dinorwic on many occasions and the weather was always excellent but the weather on your trip really adds atmosphere. I'm visiting the quarry next month and want to explore the hidden waterfall area which I haven't been to before (hope the hole in the fence is still there! but I think you can get to the cave from the other direction). I'm impressed with your camera & sound equipment and in particular, the 360 camera footage, What camera did you use?
Thanks Brian! 🙂 I make videos for a living so I have good kit. This was shot on a Sony A7siii with a weather sealed 24-105mm lens. Also used a DJI action 4 for most of the walk and talk shots as it’s just easier to work with when it’s raining.
my uncle helped install the turbines in the power station, he used to live just round the corner up on the hill overlooking llanberis and snowdon, one of the best views i have ever seen.
We were there 7 years ago on a misty day and saw about the same number of people you did . Spent an amazing 8 hours hiking around even doing the less sketchy pair of ladders to get up a level . The scale of the site is unreal . Great video brought back a highlight of our Wales trip . Check out the museum next time too . Greetings from Canada
Thank you for this educational and courageous video. Beautiful and sad, stunning, all at once. Cities are both beautiful and hideous. Manmade wonders and disgusting absence of nature in some cities. Keep on making videos ❤
Going back for the fourth time to the Quarry in 9 weeks (plan to go two full days in the 14 day span I'm in Snowdonia)) and even I think I just scratched the surface... Must say your video gave me the lure to go on a rainy stormy day like you had this time around... It's a whole different atmosphere... Tnx for sharing this different look...
An absolutely brilliant video..even though it was wet, gloomy, dark etc your filming told a brilliant story. Even in the depths of darkness colours were evident, the lake and vegetation...A superb video. Many thanks and best wishes.
Hmmmm......... beautiful and hideous.... London? I love ow nature is reclaiming the place and softening the edges. You need to go back in 100 years and take another look and see how much has changed ;-)
That’s a good one! I think most cities are like that always beautiful parts and really ugly or run down areas. I suspect in 100years it’ll not look hugely different. Maybe a few more fences, trees and a few of the buildings might be missing a few bricks. Parts of it are already over 200years old
Amazed i've never heard of this place before - it looks like a Game of Thrones location. Was "minor injuries" intended as a pun? Also - the intro was obviously inspired by Saturday nights out in Belfast City Centre.
Yes Stephen it was TNT they used. There's a small village nearby called Cwm-Y-Glo which was named after a cartload of the stuff went off and caused one of the biggest explosions on record, if what I was told were true. It must have been quite the event if they named a village after it!
Cwm y Glo translates as Coal Valley so unlikely to be true. Didn't hear any tale along those lines from the old quarrymen - I say old, some were still in their forties and fifties at the time.
@@bobwightman1054 Yeah what do I know, I only used to work around the corner, knew several poeple in the village and was told this by a local. Oh well eh.
Excellent video we love Going to dinorwic , I saw that fence hole but never braved it lol ,for every ton of usable slate there was 30 ton of waste ,allegedly,,the goats where at the cottage ruins last year ,,well wiffy,
I hope you have a note on your camera that says when found, where to post your last film to. Don't worry about editing it, we will understand, just make your last words dramatic: "that doesn't look too bad" or something.
Stumbled upon this whilst doing some research on the quarry lakes there, what a brilliant film! Greatly deserves way more views, cheers for taking us on that adventure with you!
That's a lot more rugged than my adventures at "Elephant Rock" granite quarry in eastern Missouri. But it's also a state park area, lots of scenery and if you ever get to the states I recommend it.
Spot of trivia, parts of the 2016 Tarzan movie were filmed in Dinorwig quarry, only reason I watched that film, there was some significant local interest in the dozens of supremely buff guys running around in loincloths 😂 Watching it was a rather odd experience, I’ve lived nearby for most of my life and the slate mined landscape is very familiar and homely despite its often imposing and brutal appearance and history, so to see it used to depict a mysterious exotic place was hilarious and weird 😁 Dorothea quarry is another interesting one, there was a decent sized village of miners cottages and some industrial building, machinery and tunnels that are being reclaimed by nature. They are in an interesting sorta inbetween state at the moment, lots of things to poke about and some stunning little pit pools like dalis hole and tunnels with a bit of a rabbit warren of trails around the buildings. Also a fairly popular if off the beaten track place that local marathon runners use to train.
It was a totally alien landscape to me, there are a few very small quarries in the mountains I go to at home. But nothing remotely close to this scale. Definitely going to have to explore a few more!
I find that quarry fascinating because my work has it's origins in the little clinic they had onsite to sew miners back together, or at least tidy the pieces into a bucket. As you say worth reflecting on our good fortune to have safe jobs, and remember the people who still work in appalling, dangerous conditions. Places that are beautiful and ugly? Well anywhere I can turn my back on the town and head into the landscape.
There is an abandoned open gold mine you can visit like this in New Zealand, complete with an unreal-colored blue lake at the bottom. It's a sadly beautiful landscape for the same reasons as this mine. It's called Blue Lake in St. Bathans, NZ.
Go and sit awhile up on the level with the long building with the benches, You almost expect a quarryman to come in for a tea break. The stillness and silence is out of this world. then you hear it the low thrum from the power station buried inside the mountain. A stunning place and a lasting reminder of what the quarrymen had to face. And if your lucky you might see the wild mountain goats too.
Loved this, Stephen! It absolutely is a juxtaposition of beauty and ugliness. I can’t think of any places I’ve been that are like this in that way but maybe one day I’ll find one. Lovely photography as usual! I love how the quarry seems like it’s slowly being reclaimed by the wild. (On a side note, I really appreciate that you take the time to properly edit and grade your footage! As someone who works in the film industry myself it’s these little details that keep me coming back to your videos! Stay wild!)
Thanks Leigh! Glad the work was appreciated. It was one of my toughest shoots with the wind and rain. Lens constantly needing wiped, had to be careful with the mic and the wind blew everything over twice🙈 I had a hard time matching the drone footage as it was shot the next day. The conditions on the day were too wet and windy to fly. Did my best to match the footage and added a subtle rain mist over some of the drone shots. 🙂
Amazing video stephen thanks for sharing that i have been on top of the mountain above elider fwar a few times and the contrast in scenery over the ogwen valley to this side is unreal this is one i will look to do next visit best wishes steve 👌🏻👍🏻
I first discovered Dinorwic in 1963 riding down the pass on a motorbike, obviously it was still being worked at the time. Ever since I've been fascinated by slate so I've watched many RU-vid videos about this quarry none of them come close to the quality and presentation of this one. Brilliant stuff. Top of the pile mate.
I'm so enjoying playing catch up, and my mum and comes from Anglesey, so I've got lots of family there, that place is amazing and it really puts things into perspective. Thanks again Steven.take care of yourself and yours, Alan 💯👍
Brilliant footage and I did a recent video with the drone flying around the quarry. One of many parts to come as it's an amazing place. Thanks for sharing. Definite sub from me.
Hi, I like your vlog. The place looks amazing and I wish to visit it. What's the correct pist code for the upper car park please? Also, how to get to that lake and "gate" from that car park? ✌️
Incredible video...the weather added to the atmosphere. You're in a very special place. Manufactured, and still being utilised in ways that I can only guess at 🤐🤔
I have been there before and done some climbing, also camped up at the top section theres a suitable flat area there. absolutely epic place! There's also a hut somewhere near the top section which still has shoes of the miners in it.
