Beast from the east

The Weardale Ski Club Ltd

The beast has truly arrived and has brought carnage to the roads including the single track road up to the ski club. 2 of us went up today and the road was completely blocked with drifted snow 6 foot deep in places. We got up there on skis after a hard 2 hour struggle (getting to the South Pole would have been easier) and took the pistebasher up to the lodge and were a bit disappointed as the high winds have scoured a lot of the snow although the snow fencing has caught some of it. The main run down F1 looks good and the run down the west of F1 also looks excellent but the runs further out west were a bit bare. We didn't go up F2 but it looks like there is some good snow and in particular the gullies looked in pretty good condition and I suspect Black Scar will be well covered.

We now have to wait until the road is ploughed and not sure when that will be as it is a massive job. Hopefully it will be clear for Saturday but we will update as soon as we know. On Saturday there are moderate winds forecast so even if the road is clear it may quickly fill in with blown snow so 4wd and snow tyres likely to be a necessity. Today you wouldn't have even got up in a Chieftan tank!

Steve