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Peter S


Guest
Summer News from England's ski areas
Date Posted: 13.10hrs on Tue 16 Sep 03
Summer maintenance work has continued gradually at Raise and Yad Moss.

At Raise a condition of the 1988 planning consent requires the removal of all snow fencing in the summer so this was duly done on the 1st May. The chestnut paling is hung on wire tensioned between removable steel stanchions that slot into housings in the ground. All 700m are then rehung during the first week of November. This is a pain every year but by using the lift line itself to ferry the palings and posts from their storage area onto the slope, the job is made a lot easier. Last year it took three days to put the fencing up and one day to take it down.

During the summer a heli lift shared with the Lake District National Park Authority, ferried up a new rope together with replacement fencing, diesel and ridge tiles to finish off the Millennium hut. We cut the old rope up into manageable sections and dragged it down the fellside. The new rope had been ready spliced but unfortunately when we came to install it we found it at least 30 feet too long. Oooops! Hopefully by now it should have been re-spliced and installed.

Over at Yad Moss in the North Pennines there has now been some movement towards completion of the Shelter hut. We’ve finally reached agreement with the builder and hopefully we can get it in a fit state for the start of the season. As far as I know the Poma seems to be running OK and the engine is tested every month or so. Hopefully it should be ready to run when the snow arrives. As far as I know the Kassborher and skidoo are also operational.

A lot of the towside fencing has also been replaced with many of the posts and rails being recycled from the original fencing, some of which was 20 years old. The replacements are being arranged so that the Kassborher can prepare as much as the tow track as possible. This should mean a more level tow track and less digging! We are also experimenting with different designs of fencing and are using a zig zag configuration in some areas, to enable the piste basher to manoeuvre close up against the fence. Over the next couple of years most of the remaining fencing will probably be repaired replaced or re-orientated.

Elsewhere the site is being tidied up and the occasional rock removed. The intention is to try to get the system operational as soon as possible after the snow falls.

If anyone knows of any news at Harwood Common or Weardale please tell us. I saw a group up at Harwood at the weekend so hopefully there is some work going on up there as well.
Bill Wilson


Guest
Re: Summer News from England's ski areas
Date Posted: 10.20hrs on Sat 1 Nov 03
Call into the Glenmore Cafe (Glenmore Aviemore) We have some impressive pictures of skiing in Weardale, Co. Durham, North Pennines.
Big snows in the 1970,s
Gullies all filled and superb conditions for weeks.
Last season Weardale ran for about two weeks, not bad considering thw most Scottish set ups did not much better.
mummy skier


Posts: 65
Joined: Apr 2003
Last Visited: 13:34
16th Jun 2010
Re: Summer News from England's ski areas
Date Posted: 10.20hrs on Sat 1 Nov 03
I used to love going up Weardale. Definitely not for the wimpy though! Particularly if the road was blocked past Westgate!
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