Snow Day

Having seen blips of snow from various parts all around here, I was really hoping to find some myself to play in this weekend. I snapped up an invitation from a good mate to go up to Kettlewell and take a run around Buckden Pike and Great Whernside. As we drove out it became immediately obvious just how much of an oasis of green is Ilkley at the moment. There seems to be snow on the hills in every direction, yet Ilkley Moor has barely a dusting of the magic white stuff. It's very strange and rather disappointing.

Well, we certainly found our snow at Kettlewell. Lots of it. Almost too much of it indeed. Dave has had a great fell running season and has been mixing it with some of the best fell runners in the country. What for him was a gentle jaunt was for me quite an epic! My body feels wrecked. A lot of that is to do with the effort of trying to run walk stumble through what was often almost waist deep snow. It was incredibly soft in a lot of places. Normally, after six inches or so of travel, the snow gets compacted under your foot and you find some solidity. In today's conditions we just kept on sinking deeper!

We crossed the fence shown here a little further downhill from where this was taken. The snow came up to within a few inches of the top. My right foot had sunk quite deep on one side. When I got my other leg across to straddle the fence the left foot sunk even deeper into the snow. And I kept sinking! I won't describe the rather painful position I found myself in. I'll leave that up to your imagination!!

By the time we got to the top of Park Rash I was wasted. I let Dave carry on up to Great Whernside while I took a more direct route back. He still got back before me! We were accompanied all the way by Ralph the dog. He was utterly in his element and seemed to just adore the snow. He must have covered more than double the distance that we did. I'll try to post a link to a few more photos later. Ralph was the star today.

The hills are never more majestic than when they are covered in snow, especially under such dramatic skies. The camera can't really do justice to the full drama of the clouds today. There was all kinds of stuff going on up there in the sky. I think this shot gives some feel for that, as well as the stark beauty of the Dales in winter. My body is aching all over, but my mind is buzzing. I'm on a high. I don't think I'd realised how much I needed that today.

You can see more pictures from the day here. Best click on the slideshow button and take it from there.