Snow, Sledging and Skiing

What an absolutely cracking wander up onto Bleaklow. Today was guaranteed to be blue skies, low wind and stunning views with the blanket of snow that is laying over the hills, all the way down to Glossop town. Utterly irresistible to get out there, yet for the majority of our walk/ski/sledge on Bleaklow we had the hillsides to ourselves. Bliss.

Myself, Tim and Dave wandered over to Mossy Lea together, then they put on skis+skins and headed over to James Thorn via Doctors Gate. Me and my walking boots (sledge in bag for the downhills) headed up to the pond at the back of Shelf Benches. None of us found the going easy with snow drifts ankle, knee and even thigh deep in places. The guys on their skis had to contend with tufty grass and uneven surfaces - it looked easier on the way up than down! Massive fun though, well worth the effort. I took lots of photos, this is just a small selection (possibly not in order), though still numerous....enjoy!

Buzzing about on Bleaklow

Sunday was our annual Glossopdale Harriers Christmas run, which this year also coincided with the winter solstice. We do try to do the solstice run at the appropriate time, but this year it was at around 11pm so our run was 12 hours early. A group of about 30 of us gathered in Old Glossop...with a good selection of fancy dress costumes! The weather was bracing on top, strong wind meant any stops had us hunkering down behind peat groughs or rocks.

Group shot, I'm the yellow-armed bee!!

The afternoon was full of GDH merriment and maybe a keg of beer....well, it is Christmas afterall and we did earn beer tokens on our run :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Sense-loss in the Snow

I had a super run out onto Bleaklow today, totally missed what was probably an amazing inversion but I did experience total loss of feeling in both feet, muffled hearing loss due to windproof beanie, lips chilled so much I needed to avoid any moisture getting on them, and vision reduced so much it was quite funny. The visual thing was due to fog, watery eyes in the freezing wind, and then a snow storm that blew in as I descended. Enjoy the photos, they really don't do the experience justice but they're good reminders for me.

Tim was also out doing his own run...he's just disappearing
down James Thorn here.

Rocks in the mirk

Testing navigational conditions so a good job I know the way

Target acquired....Higher Shelf Stones trig point,
about 450m higher than my start point

More amazing ice crystals

Rocks at Higher Shelf Stones

A little drift of snow

The way home...

In a snow shower descending from James Thorn

With the exception of having really really cold toes I was toasty warm in my ultratherm jacket, beanie, buff, gloves and waterproof mitts. It was a little eerie being out alone in the foggy mirk, especially when it went quite dark just before the snow started. Great fun though, hope we get more snow so I can use the plastic bag I carried but didn't use - they make the best sledges ever :)