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oldagedpredator


Posts: 635
Joined: Mar 2006
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19th Feb 2021
North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 20.57hrs on Sat 9 Nov 13
Been snowy shots on the Weardale F1 webcam and snow covered Yad Moss on facebook so I guess its that time again.

Update on last night - seems turns were had at Weardale on saturday. Apparently someone happened to bring skis to a work party. Yad Moss summit webcam was showing tracks today, made at 9pm on Saturday evening. Again all lifted from Facebook.



Edited 3 times. Last edit at 17.58hrs Sun 10 Nov 13 by oldagedpredator.
oldagedpredator


Posts: 635
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19th Feb 2021
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 21.10hrs on Wed 13 Nov 13
There's a promotional video! Short film but shows a bit more of what this part of the North Pennines looks like summer and winter.

Yad Moss in all its sunny glory, officially a ski resort:
[youtu.be]

Obscure ski fact of the day, there was skiing at Hartside for a while. The rope tows are still there - just - on the slope just in front of the cyclist / view point shown in the film.



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 21.23hrs Wed 13 Nov 13 by oldagedpredator.
jabuzzard


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16th Apr 2021
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 22.55hrs on Wed 13 Nov 13
The tone at Hartside has been gone for years now.
oldagedpredator


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19th Feb 2021
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 08.31hrs on Thu 14 Nov 13
Couple of years back there was still some very rusty remains and lichen covered ropes in place. I've got some pictures on flickr, posted a couple of years back. Would love to see some pictures of skiing there. I think PeterS knows a little more about who ran it. I didn't do the Cumbrian side of Pennine skiing until about 9years ago.

There's also what seems to have been retractable micro snow fence. Made out of that heavy duty plastic webbing you use to keep people out of holes but only about 50cm high and on reels.

The flickr set:
[www.flickr.com]
tom


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14th Nov 2013
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 10.12hrs on Thu 14 Nov 13
Sad news on the Harwood web site that they intend to close at the end of December when their current insurance cover ceases
oldagedpredator


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19th Feb 2021
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 13.02hrs on Thu 14 Nov 13
End of an era, really sad news. I learnt to ski at the now defunct Teesdale ski club site above Langdon Beck. There's definately been skiing in Teesdale since WW2, think Teesdale ski club tow itself was up sometime in the 1950s. Groups used to come up and stay at the Heather Bray guest house nr Middleton and ski there before Langdon Beck was developed.

Apparently my farther made his first skis in a woodwork class at school after seeing the local quarry manager on some time in the late 1940s. Think the manager was from Norway. Local blacksmith made 'our' first and only tow which got moved around the Middleton area late 60's early 70's. Unfortunately I never got to try it. Apparently they even had night skiing with car laps and batteries on the 'pylons'. Quite pioneering, not sure how they fitted 'day' trips to Glencoe around milking given the roads at the time. Trip up was probably as epic as the skiing.
PeterS


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13th Mar 2021
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Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 13.41hrs on Thu 14 Nov 13
Yes sad news about Harwood. After new year England will be down to 4 real ski areas. In 1981 there were at least 9.

Ultimately a societal shift in attitudes away from volunteering time towards an expectation of comfort and paying someone else to do the hard work, has led to a decline in these sort of clubs generally. It’s a pity because their gulley is probably a more reliable place to ski than nearby Yad Moss which is only slightly higher. It didn't help last year that the Raby estate would not allow skiing there after 31st March.

You will of course still be able to ski there, courtesy of the right of access legislation, just not take the lift back up to the top.

The tows at Hartside were developed in association with Kendal ski club around about the early 80s I think, probably alongside the reopening of Hartside cafe. I don't think it has ever been a reliable snow holding site but was convenient for parking and the cafe! I assume people now sledge there occasionally ?

alan


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27th Mar 2024
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Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 14.39hrs on Thu 14 Nov 13
Is this down to lack of active members to keep the club going, doing maintenance, pre season prep and running the tow etc or because the club was facing a massive hike in insurance?

oldagedpredator


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19th Feb 2021
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 15.11hrs on Thu 14 Nov 13
I think it's been a combination. There was talk of the 'club' )it's actually a site run by a federation of 3 clubs) closing a few years back. The return of proper winters saved it. One of the clubs was Glaxo sports and social club so there was a lot of people coming up from the factory site in Barnard Castle in the 1970s and 80s. Much less people work there now.

They did take one of the tows down and sell it's drive - apparently a classic tractor worth a penny or two. That kept things going for a while. As I understand it work can only be done on the tow site in season or after grouse shooting. Oct / Nov really. Rope tows will have gone out of fashion a bit and I think we can safely say it was the last of the in situ long rope tows. So it's also really the end of an era for British skiing as well. People to run the tow during the winter were also at a premium - even with the recent run of better skiing winters it wasn't open every time there was snow.

I wonder if wider issues with cuts to council funding and decisions by Durham not to plough to the boundary as much are also a factor. It's a few miles past the last house to the tow.

There was a plan to build a button lift a while back, the estate was supportive but English Nature was not. That would have made a difference.



Edited 3 times. Last edit at 15.15hrs Thu 14 Nov 13 by oldagedpredator.
Imsoboardwiththeewesa


Posts: 22
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3rd Dec 2020
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 23.03hrs on Sat 16 Nov 13
Great shame if it is the end for Harwood. Lovely slope for beginners, interesting sport to be had all around the gully and I have always met super nice people keeping it running. Would 6 feet of snow constantly topped up by the snow gods over the next 6 weeks help keep it going?

Here is a link to a poor video of great times on the Common.

[vimeo.com]

Long Live the Federation!
PeterS


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13th Mar 2021
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Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 07.22hrs on Fri 22 Nov 13
Had moss hoping to run today. It will be thin but at least no rocks ![www.yadmoss.co.uk]
crouch_potato


Posts: 172
Joined: Dec 2009
Last Visited: 21:27
22nd Feb 2019
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 15.22hrs on Mon 25 Nov 13
Yad Moss opened Saturday by all accounts. Still a thin cover but looks like more snow will be needed to get the tows running again. Not enough at Weardale yet. A good (superficial?) cover on the Cheviots over the weekend as well - anyone out up there yet?

Sad news about Harwood, though I haven't been many times it always seemed to have such a great relaxed atmosphere, and a really peaceful setting with beautiful gentle gullies that caught the snow well (and the sun on the right day). For my shame the last time I was through was several years back when touring all the pennine clubs in one day. Harwood wasn't running when I got there (midweek, March) but I skinned back up a couple of times on to enjoy the sunny spring snow in perfect isolation before heading on. Probably the highlight of one of my most memorable days on ski - I hope that I'll get a chance to get there at least once more before the tows close.
alan


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27th Mar 2024
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Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 23.08hrs on Fri 13 Dec 13
Peter, sent you a Private Message.
oldagedpredator


Posts: 635
Joined: Mar 2006
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19th Feb 2021
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 14.40hrs on Mon 3 Feb 14
Weardale ran the tows on Saturday for a few hours, both tows ran until high winds prevented F2 (the upper tow) from operating. About 20 people turned up. Looking at the photos on the club's face book page cover looked skiable on F1's runs. The lack of rocks and summer mowing regime mean most runs go without a base.

Snow vanishing again on Sunday.

That this thread was somewhere back on page 3 of the forum and the last post was 13th of Dec 2013 says something about the season so far. The winter has not been kind to the North Pennines - generally everything is coming through milder than forecast so there has been no great snow accumulations.


oldagedpredator


Posts: 635
Joined: Mar 2006
Last Visited: 18:17
19th Feb 2021
Re: North Pennines 2014 - Allenheads, Harwood, Weardale and Yad Moss
Date Posted: 21.02hrs on Thu 20 Feb 14
Well today I got the answer to:

I wonder if any of the UK Olympic skiers / boarders had ever used the English club fields?

And it's a yes! Good on you Jamie Nicholls.

[www.facebook.com]

Bit of slow winter in the Pennines otherwise. Yad and Weardale in action this week. Weardale had it's 50 years on the slopes celebration at Swinhope last Sunday.
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