On Friday it snowed all day and well in to the night. We checked the forecast for the Saturday, and although the temperatures were rising and rain was on its way, it looked like the snow might stick around for long enough for us to have some fun in Kentmere.
We got up reasonably early, but not too early. Despite the advantage of a 4×4, we knew it would be a difficult drive up Kentmere and we hoped that if we left it long enough the farmers would have come to the aid of the locals. Thankfully they had, but there was still a lot of snow on the road, but we only had to stop once to shovel snow.
We parked close to Hallow Bank so we could start our ski tour along the Garburn Pass. This made a nice and easy start with only a gentle ascent. Soon enough we left the easy pass and made our way up steeper and trickier ground heading towards Kentmere Pike. There was plenty of snow, but long grass was poking through. As we got higher the grass got shorter, or the snow got deeper. How useful, I thought, as we approached a style. With the snow drift I didn’t have to bother to take my skis off.
We continued up, and the wind started picking up, ominous clouds rushed across the sky occasionally causing a white-out, and it got very cold.
After a fair few hours of ascent we eventually got to the point where we thought we could descend down to Kentmere Reservoir without crashing in to rocks. We took off our skins, tightened our boots and enjoyed the virgin powder – which got a bit heavy and not very powdery at all by the the time we got to the bottom. It was just brilliant, but over so quickly.
Just before we got to the reservoir we started traversing down the valley. It all got a bit difficult with the ups and downs so we decided to take the skis off and walk the rest of the way. It wasn’t too far and we got back to the car just in time. As we were taking off our boots the forecasted rain started.
Luckily, with the warmer temperatures the road was a little easier to get down than this morning. Just as well, because all I had on my mind was the yummy chocolate eclairs I’d made yesterday.
Nice mugs! 🙂
Looks like great conditions on the way down; who’d have thought it possible locally 🙂
Looks brilliant. I was wishing we’d taken our skis down to South Wales on Friday, but after all the scratches I had to fill last time I tried that, maybe it was best I didn’t.
I’ve always wanted to try ski- touring, it looks really cool and awesome pic of Laetitia on the style!
Well, if you wanna try it, come out to Cham with us as soon as you like…