February 7, 2018

By Andy Smith

More route info here

Snow Business
6

Three of us met at Staveley Mill Yard on a dank, drizzly, grey day. I arrived first and was quick to grab myself a coffee from More Bakery and pick my new favourite trail snack, the mighty Scotch egg. The lads and Sky the trail dog arrived within minutes and after quite a bit of ‘faffing’ we loaded the three bikes onto the truck and headed up the valley to start the ride.

Our mission was to ride over to Longsleddale, ascend Gatesgarth & Harter Fell and onto Nan Beild for the classic zig zag descent back to Kentmere. We had no idea what was ahead of us.

The riding was tricky, helped by a farmer’s tractor tracks but my rear tyre was losing grip and I was fishtailing along behind Lee & Paul who clearly had better traction. The steady climb over to Longsleddale was a challenge but we pushed on. Taking a break about 20 minutes in we heard puffing and panting behind us and were surprised to see two elderly gentlemen approaching fast on e-bikes. They stopped to chat and it turned out they were both in their 70’s and their bikes were the reason they were still able to get out! Anyway, they weren’t going too far as they had an afternoon appointment with the sofa and the Australian tennis. Can’t fault that.

We cracked on, dropped into Sadgill and began the slow ascent of Gatesgarth. The day was still dark and dank and the riding was tough and we slowly rode up into the low cloud. Half way up Paul stopped and declared ‘I’m failing to see the point of this’, words that would come back to us and make us smile later on in the ride. We said our goodbyes and pressed on.

Literally 10 minutes later, and to our surprise, we rode up through the cloud base and into a blue bird. Like taking off in an aeroplane and cutting through the clouds. Like bursting into heaven. I can’t lie we were both totally overwhelmed by our effort to keep going and to now be reaping the rewards.

The snow was getting deeper and the riding was getting tougher but the blue skies and the sudden heat from the sun was driving us on. Bikes on our backs, we were quickly overtaken by two fell runners who said a quick hello then moved off into the distance. We made it to the top of Gatesgarth and were treated to most spectacular views back down the valley. We met a guy with his young daughter who was hell bent on digging a snow shelter. Lee asked if there was room for all of us if a storm came in, she smiled, very pleased with herself and nodded.

We waved them goodbye and pressed on, we could see the fell runners (who were now fell walkers) struggling ahead of us, knee deep in snow and looking to almost grind to a halt. They disappeared over the top, they weren’t turning back so we followed.

An hour later, taking knee high strides, every step sinking a foot or two into the snow it became obvious things were getting serious. The bikes were picking up snow after every throw down due to exhaustion and getting heavier. Still, the sun warmed us, the sky was bluer than blue so we found the extra effort.

As we were about to reach Harter Fell, the fell runners were heading back towards us, on the retreat. ‘Where are you guys heading with those bikes, the girl hollered?’ ‘Nan Bield was the plan I shouted back. ‘Turn back guys, it’s waist deep on Harter, the drifts are insane. You won’t make it and it’ll be dark in an hour’.

I guess we were tricked by the warmth of the sun, the vast blue skies and the pure white snow, we’d started out out in the grey drizzle, remember? We were beaten. Time to retreat and be thankful of the amazing adventure we’d had. Going back was insane, axle deep, totally out of control, over and under steering, carving, using the edges of the tyres, just trying to stay upright. Snowboarding on a bike, I guess.

The backtrack on the flats was tedious, punishing at times but we had amazing memories to hold onto. The climb back over to Kentmere was exhausting and we arrived back at the truck with four and half hours of sheer effort in our legs. What an amazing day, a real epic, a realisation that you live so close to such beauty and just how lucky you really are. We are experienced enough that we were never in danger, but we were fighting the elements all day long and nature won again. We knew when we were beaten and we sipped our coffee in Wilf’s cafe with a satisfaction you only get when you’ve pushed yourself to the limit.

One Cold Winter’s Morning

Words and photos by Tristan Tinn - @tristantinn

A very chilly dawn raid...

I guess in a sense this article is a follow up to my last piece; ‘When the fog never clears’. Since that trip, Autumn had slipped away and Winter now had a firm grip on the higher fells. A daytime ride was planned to celebrate a member of the Hope Tech team’s birthday, bashing around…

February 7, 2018

By Andy Smith

More route info here

Snow Business6

More articles

One Cold Winter’s Morning

Snow Business
6