Tom - Ever tried skiing this?

[bad_roo]

http://www.mountain-images.co.uk/gal...onia/mw007.jpg
Snowdon in winter

I imagine the window when the snow pack is skiable would probably be very small but I was wondering if you'd tried it or had heard of anybody else skiing from the summit (sure beats a spoil heap). Does the cog railway run in snowy conditions?

[ulty_guy]

i've heard that this is the new location in the super sick msp flick next year. seth throws a lincoln 1800 and stick it...snowdonia, where it's at.

[Idris]

Er no....never had enough snow when I've been at home...tried, need quite a bit to make it skiable...I've skied some of the other hills around that only need a few inches to make them skiable....been tempted to try gras skiing the hiking trail, they do work on dirt and rock just not too well. About 20 years ago it was regularily skiable, but haven't had the snowpack since

[bad_roo]

Shame really, because under snow that looks a pretty mountain.

[iceman]

Quite Alpine-looking for the UK.

[bad_roo]

Catch a few locations in the UK in the right conditions and they can do a reasonable facsimile of Alpine scenery...


Ben Nevis
http://www.tenchy.btinternet.co.uk/pics/theben5.jpg

http://www28.brinkster.com/cmtcmount.../ben_nevis.jpg

http://www.john.macpherson.btinterne...ronnieben.jpeg

Tryfan
http://www.royal-victoria-hotel.co.u...dow/tryfan.jpg

Snowdon
http://www.royal-victoria-hotel.co.u...w/snowdon2.jpg

Glen Shiels
http://www.john.macpherson.btinterne...shielsnow.jpeg

Aonach Mor
http://www.john.macpherson.btinterne...es/aonach.jpeg

http://www.john.macpherson.btinterne...s/cornice.jpeg

Maybe we'll see some TRs next winter...

[iceman]

Wow, those are some nice pics. That bowl on Ben Nevis looks sweet, and that overhanging cornice in the last pic is nuts!

[edg]

Well, here's a mini TR of Pen-Y-Fan.

Date : Feb 28th 2003
Location : Pen-Y-Fan, Brecon Beacons, Wales
Reason : It snowed and the news footage looked fun.

Early start - as we had to get from London to Cardiff, get up, get down and be home in time for tea. Not too bad a drive across England, and the further West we got, the heavier the frost. Finally, about 50 or so miles from the Bridge, we saw the first snow (), and the coverage - for how low it was - wasn't too bad.

Got to the Bridge pretty sharpish and so decided to treat ourselves to breakfast. Nothing beats a bacon butty from a road side van, so the first one we see (about 30 mins drive from Pen-Y-Fan) we make our stop. It was a cold, frigid morning - but nice and sunny.

http://hosting.the-edg.net/edg/PICT0001.jpg

Got to the car park - which was quite busy with walkers - put skis and ice axes (which were a bit mellow-dramatic, I suppose) and started to trudge up the hill. We passed a couple of snow boarders on the way up who were walking back down - didn't want to scratch their boards, perhaps? Anywho - we had old skis and didn't care so much. When we got to the shoulder of the 'false summit', as it were, we strapped on skis and skied around the first summit to the backside of the main summit. The snow here was badly wind scoured, so the approach was a bit hairy on skis. Before the final summit we popped onto the shoulder between the two summits, and found a handy iglu.

http://hosting.the-edg.net/edg/PICT0007.jpg

On to the summit for obligatory photos.

http://hosting.the-edg.net/edg/PICT0009.jpg

http://hosting.the-edg.net/edg/PICT0011.jpg

The ski back down wasn't as bad as I was expecting. There were quite a ditches where the snow collected that ran for 20-50m, in which would could make turns, and then begin traversing to find the next one. This way I managed to get quite a few good turns - and got a shocking experience of how sloppy my telemarking was, as these 'X-Aventure Snow Blade' things, and my relatively weightless back leg decided to sneak round my other leg - a very difficult position. Once I had that sorted out (which took a few turns ) I was shooting away, having a surprising amount of fun I think it would be fair for me to say that it was the first time I've hit rushes (as in streams) whilst skiing, but it was fun all the same.

On the bottom of the path (for those who have been up Pen-Y-Fan from the car park, I'm talking about the area by the large stream that you ford) I bumped into this old bloke (must have been mid-60s) who was strolling up the hill, Pocket Rockets slung over one shoulder with quite a healthy swagger. He said he was hoping to find some deep powder bowls, and I said good luck (I thought 'You must have lost your marbles' would be a bit rude, though I couldn't detect any sarcasm in his voice). All in all a good day.

If we get some good snow next year, I can't wait to try out some more Welsh skiing. Snowdon might be a hard trudge, though, but my ProThermics need some winter walking somewhere!

edg

DISCLAIMER : Didn't have time to read this through, hope it makes sense.

[Innominatus]

I love the peak names in Wales - the names seem to automatically enshroud themselves in swirling mists.

Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)
Carned Dafydd
Pen Yr Helgi Du
Moel Syabod
Trum y Ddysgl

etc.

Are there any pronounciation rules? Or does one just sort of say it in the way it sort of looks like?

(I just accidently tried to say "Cloggwyn d'ur Arddu" out loud while on a conference call, and was instantly suspected of gargling peanut butter instead of the discussing the finer points of marketing plans like I was supposed to).

[iceman]

Originally posted by Innominatus
(I just accidently tried to say "Cloggwyn d'ur Arddu" out loud while on a conference call, and was instantly suspected of gargling peanut butter instead of the discussing the finer points of marketing plans like I was supposed to).

heh, funny shit.

[zion zig zag]

We've got a Ben Lomond here in Utah. Supposedly named after a peak that it looks like in the UK.

[Mulletizer]

Originally posted by bad_roo
Maybe we'll see some TRs next winter...

You'd have seen some recently if I hadn't been a useless, fat, broke, injured sack of shit this winter just gone.

edit: for scotland ski "stoke" check out www.winterhighland.com and the forum there.

[CaddyDaddy77]

What Innominatus said was funny as hell, thanks for the water down the front of my shirt.

Snowden is a peak here, off of Molas pass between Durango and Silverton. That holds a coulier that I would love to bag one of these days, access isn't very good for the vertical but would be fun all the same. You can see the shot, just above the treeline in the middle of the pic.

[IMG]http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=Snowden+Peak,+CO/v=2/l=IVS/*-http://www.doerzmanphoto.com/images/SW%20Colo%203-02/Snowden-Peak.jpg[/IMG]

Borrowed this pic form a guy who should be a mag if he isn't already, cool little TR in here.
http://www.doerzmanphoto.com/new_recent_trips.html