Snowboarding in the Lake District

I had a full on outdoor weekend this weekend. On Friday I managed to get up to the Lakes on a Snowboarding trip and then on Sat/Sun I was in Wales on a whitewater safety and rescue course. It was possibly a bit cold for the whitewater course but I managed to bag a drysuit so I was toasty warm…the cold however was ideal for the snow in the lakes.

I set off about 9am from Manchester and got to Glenridding, via Kirkstone Pass (1500 ft.)at about 10.45am. The weather was very cold but also very sunny so pretty much ideal.

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The hike  up to the ski tow up on Raise is a steep 600m climb which takes about 1 hour.

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The first part of the hike takes you up about 5 switchbacks gaining you height very quickly.

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The latter parts of the hike require a traverse across a very icy section of trail.  This ski tourer decided to take the high traverse option which, by all accounts, was a crampon only affair…I took the lower option but still got into a bit of trouble on an icy section…eventually I made it to the ski hut though.

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The ski hut sits at about 800 metres and is a great refuge for skiers and snowboarders.  It has heaters, lighting and an electric kettle all powered from the ski tow engine hut.

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The snow conditions outside were packed snow whith pockets of powder here and there.   Unusually I spent the first part  of the day on Skis and then the remainder on my snowboard.  I hadn’t skied for about 9 years  but fancied a go for some reason.  My first few runs down were a disaster and thought I was pretty lucky not to break my legs.  Luckily on my 4th run though the parallel turns came back to me and so kept on going until my feet and knees couldn’t take any more.  Putting my snowboard boots back on after the ski boots felt like I was putting on a pair of comfy trainers…it was at that point I remembered one of the best things about snowboarding - comfort!

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At about 3.45pm, after a great day skiing/boarding, I got the last button tow up the hill and headed over the ridge for the long run back down to the valley bottom.

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The run down takes about 10 minutes but as I did a bit of exploring it took a little longer.  I managed to find a gully that I hear everyone talking about and also a nice rock drop that I just came across by accident.  The snow was a combination of frozen snow and nice powder pockets so there was a lot of fun to be had so long as you kept your eyes peeled.  Keeping your eyes peeled was also the nature of the game on the journey home over Kirkstone Pass which had become quite slippy during the evening freeze…

kirkstone-pass-at-night

If you would like more information about skiing on Raise you can check out the club’s website at www.ldscsnowski.co.uk