An ambitious day.
With a winter cheviot mountain race cancelled due to the aftermath of storm Arwen, and watching the weather and slow recovery process, anticipating the race would be cancelled, rebooking accom on the Thursday as the originals accom was without power. James and I travelled in my car and Hannah in hers, only to receive the news as we were half way there on Friday midday, that the race had been cancelled by the council. Still, to soften the blow, we continued north. A plan for an epic day with snow showers later above 500m.
30km in winter is rather ambitious but Hannah was keen to do a long day and navigate into night with the anticipation that we would be back to the car around 19:30/20:00. A slower start, morning faff, detours due to road closures and a slow start as the community was getting its power resupplied. Walking with winter kit. I packed my insulated trousers as a last min thing after umming and aring.
A beautiful morning and ascent, the ground boggy on Scald Hill and on the ascent of Cheviot as at 600m the ground became frozen with a dusting of snow, snow falling as we ascended Cheviot, we reached the summit at 3pm, Hannah was desperate to do Hedgehope on the other side of the valley, however the wind had changed bringing a battering from the north and snowfall with it. With sunset approaching and the conditions changing I suggested first to James then to Hannah that a change of plan to make for the valley and get out of the increasing wind would save us from exposure, given we were kitted more for a winter run than a winter hike. The light wind was anything but and we hunkered down into the shelter near Cairn Hill. Hannah eager to get on but needing more layers, food and sufficient lighting I stressed the importance that this might be the best shelter we had for a while. The unravelling when someone tells you they have winter experience, only to realise this is their first time in full winter condition. I put on my insulated trousers which was a very good decision.
The valley offered shelter from the wind but the snow was falling at an incredible rate, having to explain snow bridges and what streams and rivers etc looked like under snow made for a full on learning environment. The visibility dropped to around 20m which made navigating downstream that more difficult, using Hannah’s beam just behind me I would scout out the route. incredibly slow, demotivating progress with a section of exposed ground but no safer option to avoid, eventually reaching the track, which was ankle deep in snow. Hannah had anticipation on reaching lonely houses but these were in darkness ? As a result of power failures with storm Arwen. storm shelter used to warm up, eat and layer change, 2 man, very cosy with 3. Slush /Snow had fallen to 100m.
Early start would have saved us such a late finish but planned to be out in darkness as race would have been for 24 hrs.
The change in weather that wasn’t forecasted significantly slowed us down.
Big ambitions for the day, maybe too big for the group given the time we were moving at earlier in the day..
Plan B was implemented and the option to continue on higher ground would have put us at significant risk of exposure, we were also rejoining the route we were taking out so the last 6km was familiar and had no river crossings at a foot bridge that may have been washed away and avoided forestry that may have been difficulty to navigate after storm Arwen.
Managing group in difficult terrain and weather conditions was a good learning experience, useful, that everyone understood the need to press on and that stopping would only mean getting colder.
Trying to sort out my shoe with frozen laces was deeply unpleasant.
My lightweight goggles I had for running are not suitable for winter and wish I had my winter goggles but wind wasn’t driving snow into eyes, more swirling.
Food choices were good, running snacks avoided trying to eat anything more fiddly,
I set an off the hill contact with Matt (Penrith MR) but difficulty confirming off the hill safe due to poor signal and delays on the hill. Ended up sending safe message from Hannah’s phone.
