2013 Ski Touring in Sheffield

It was such an amazing day that in my mind, it doesn't need words 

(this might also be something to do with exhaustion).

So here are the pictures...

My beautiful wooden skis

Me, tentatively skiing up the road at 8:15am. Streetlights still on! When I went to bed on Friday night to the promise of snow, I resolved to be out early enough to beat the road-clearing public and the traffic

A snow-bunny at a farm on the edge of Sheffield.  Not great clarity but it is clutching a sprig of grass in its paw - Beatrix Potter style.

The descent from the A57 Bell Hagg pub to the "beer garden".  SUCH a shame this pub is closed.  Sheffield's best "green run".  I've noted the snowiness of this track on a number of running and mountain biking outings.  It was lots of fun on skis.

Sheffield's best blue run. In the field below the Bell Hagg pub.

White geese in a white field.

Finally found some passers-by to record the event.  They'd been dropped off at Rivelin and were hiking into Sheffield.  I've had these skis and boots 4 years now and used them 5 days in the UK.  In another 4 years they'll have paid for themselves (based on the cost of your average ski holiday).  Of course, I know that they've already paid for themselves in fun-points.

After a few epic fails involving a lot of descending and re-climbing, encroaching exhaustion and a lost path, found again, I was very relieved to reach the A57.  I wanted to take a picture of the Rivelin Dam crossing but the snow had been compacted into chattery ice by vehicles and the wind kept blowing me sideways into the stone wall.

I had a celebratory cup of coffee before heading downhill back to Sheffield

Snow drift in a doorway to a walled garden

At the Rivelin carpark I stopped in a bus shelter to chat to a couple out for a walk and drink more coffee.  The descent down the A57 was tough where the snow was slushy from the gritty spray off vehicles on the road.  I skied close to the wall to get as much good snow as possible and managed to glide a bit.  The couple advised me that there was good snow cover on the Rivelin path despite my concerns that the trees would have sheltered it.  They also warned me of the fallen trees!  Eek.  The trees were all passble.  I was entertained by these two ducks, sitting in the "warm" spot on the millpond.

The pretty pussy cat on my skis keeps me company when I'm out on my own.  I was looking forwards to the "easy" flat ski along the Rivelin Path.  I didn't realised how enjoyable it would be as it had been "pisted" by walkers.  I hardly had to make an effort.

Once at the bottom of the Rivelin Path I put the skins back on my skis and started the long haul up Walkley Bank Road to the house.  By this point I knew I'd given myself a heel blister and my middle two toes on my left foot were too tightly crammed together leading to dead-spots in the nerves.  I was cheered up to find that 5 of my neighbours had built an igloo at the top of the street.

   And here is the route