Burbage not
Tried to get in one last day on the grit alas to no avail, we headed up to Hathersage with a view to a bit of a bash on Burbage, unfortuntely it was that Thursday 2 weeks before Xmas when a howling gale and a pile of snow slapped onto the west side of the Peak district closing Axe Edge road etc. We had hoped that the East side would be a bit better. So after breakfast at the Outside cafe and some gear perving, we had a go at getting up the road to Burbage North, oooh not lookin good 'Road Closed'.You cant let a little thing like that put you off. Most of the snow had metled so we caried on up the Dale onto Ringinglow Road. Dam, it was just getting worse. Cutting our loses we opted for a few hours indoor at The Foundry instead, hoping it might clear later in the afternoon with the off chance of a bit of bouldering. In the end we had walk down and just mucked about on the wet rock, at least we had 'Touched Grit'.
Got back in time for our AGC (Annual General Curry) followed by a few beers and dancing!!!! what noooo!!! thank god there is no recorded evidence ha ha of the new funk 'crabbing groove' that will surely not sweep the nation.
Winter Walk
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| Somethings happening to Andys Heeed |
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| Hobbit stalks Matt |
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| Where theres a rock theres a Deej |
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| Drama Queen |
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| Crag eats Len |
Our traditional Christmas 'Winter Walk' walk was on for 'Somewhere in Wales' on Thurs 29th. To burn off the xmas excess we needed a fix of SNOW!!!!. The Met Office put out another weather warning on the Wednesday night....80mph winds expected in North Wales....sod it. We opted for somthing a little less loony. Andy M suggested a 10 mile plod over Caradoc, The Lawley etc, everywhere else was crap so it ended up good call. Although lacking the altitude of North Wales, i had forgotten how much the wind can whip up over this northern section of the Shropshire hills and particularly funnel across The Lawley. The rain kept up and was then augmented with a breath sapping gale force wind. During one tricky section 'hem hem', we 'had' to rope up :) OK yes its Bright Pink but dont let this put you off chaps... Haah this wind was mad, i had to crawl along ground coming off the top of Caradoc. Getting back to the cars i had the tiredness you get from constantly trying to keep you balance and stay upright for 5 hours. Pub
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| Winds above 25mph |
New Years Eve
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 Mankala at the Square & Compass |
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| Cant see me beer |
New Years Day
Aggghhh WET!!!!!!!!!!!
New Years Day + 1
I die-ice the windscreen with whatever comes first from the glovebox, this time its a copy of 'Welsh Winter Climbs', the spine has an excellent edge and firmness and its body just the right mount of flexibility, I quickly realise how wrong this is and switch to the cars maintenance manual, thank you Volvo for this multifunctional tool. We head up to North Wales for the first decent sunny weekend in a while. Unfortunately there is no snow. Only a few contoured remnants from the pre Christmas flurries hang from the highest and coldest flanks of the Carneddau. Upon the Siabod ridges it's crisp and clear, stubborn ice is still impacted into crevices of North facing rocks. 
We have started up on mountain 'on time', by 'on time' I probably mean the wrong time as everybody else is setting off as well. This time of years is always good for bit of quietness. Even in winter, most of the main peaks in North Wales can be done in 5 hrs, so if you don't mind descending in bit of dark then you can still set off around midday. This gives you the opportunity of catching a sunset and the long winter shadows. As we head down, the sun disappears, and the cold follows us into the forest, a hoar frost slowly rises from the valley floor.
