Snow Report Saturday 4th December

The Weardale Ski Club Ltd

Oh dear it seems that not much christmas shopping is getting done this year and if the snow continues like it is then there may be a few disappointed faces on the 25th December. About 100 or so members shunned the crowds at the Metro Centre and enjoyed an excellent days skiing today. The weather was good and the snow excellent and the tows ran with only occasional interuptions. We are planning to open again tomorrow (Sunday) from 10am - again it will be members only and non members will be turned away.

Please note that we tend to close the lifts soon after 3pm as the light goes pretty quickly after that. The road is still tricky with yet more 4X4 vehicles in ditches today and is likely to be the same tomorrow. 4WD cars if fitted with decent tyres or chains should be ok and 2WD with chains may be ok with care. James has sent a photo of the road (http://tinyurl.com/33rs3c7) for you to see for yourselves what the road is like. Please can I reiterate that if you do use chains these should be put on in the layby at the bottom before turning up the road to the slopes. Most chains need to be retensioned after a few hundred yards. If you are new to chains can I suggest trying them out at home rather than trying them on the road up to the slopes for the first time as seemed to happen today! Please also watch out for the ditches at the roadside. The road is very narrow and most ditch incidents tend to occur when a (usually) 4WD car pulls over to let someone coming the other way past. When in a ditch 4WD is not much help and they are not always easy to see! There are a few passing places and generally speaking the car coming dowhill should give way to the upcoming car.

On a happy note the car parking appeared good today, the queues ran smoothly and the skiing was great. The new route (M1) was a lot better today but there are still a few stones exposed at the bottom so be careful especially if you have decent skis/boards. The new route to the west has been pisted (bottom half only) and is a great new addition to our other routes.

I have a set of house keys that were found in the layby at the bottom of the the road today. If anyone has lost some please contact me.


Steve