The Super 8 from jamie Lawson on Vimeo.
365shredmonkey Jamie Lawson killing it on the gas pipe
Friday 18 September 2009
Wednesday 9 September 2009
Tuesday 8 September 2009
Hold Up... Ski Resorts of Northern England... Whaaaat?
Yeah its true, and the slopes are not plastic or indoors, real snow (all be it sometimes muddy) outside in England not Scotland.
Whilst working in a ski shop last season one customer who I dealt with proudly boasted to live only 2 hours by car from Leeds and be within a 20 minute drive of what he termed to be a small ski resort. 'Milton Keynes?' I asked, 'Braehead?', but he shook his head on both counts, 'they're not ski resorts lad, they're snowdomes!'. I was slightly taken aback, believing that this individual was at best equipped with an overactive imagination and at worst severely delusional. Nevertheless, with nothing better to do that evening I decided to check out his claims on the internet, and lo and behold, I discovered that there are some real snow ski hills (I hesitate to use the word resorts) in the Lake District and Pennines.
Currently there are 5 operating ski centers, although it appears in the past there were several more. The three that appear to be worth visiting are Yad Moss and Swinhope Moor in the Pennines and Raise in the Lake District. There are no snow-making facilities so the slopes open as and when there is sufficient snow.
Equipped with this information, when the big snowstorms hit Britain in early February this year a few friends and I decided to skip work / university / bumming around for the day and head up to Yad Moss near Alston to see what this so called 'ski resort' was really like.
Driving up in the early hours towards the snow covered Pennines
The drive up was easy, and took around 2 hours. Climbing into the Pennines the snow got deeper, with some roadside drifts of up to 6ft. Yad Moss itself is situated just outside the village of Alston, which is reasonably near Penrith. It's somewhat hard to spot the ski tow from the road, and there are no parking facilities as such. Luckily we got there early and so avoided having to dig out a space and just nicked one someone had dug out the day before. The hike up to the start of the tow is about 200m up a fairly shallow incline, although there is a deep little gully off to the right hand side that catches loads of snow and is full of fun little drop offs and natural spines.
View from the bottom of the tow
The tow itself is and old pomma, which varys in length from 500m to a kilometer depending on which local you ask; in actuality it is 630m long. In times of limited snow cover there is one central run which holds snow well, thanks to ample snow fencing. In times of good snow there are 4-5 separate runs with various linking paths, but basically it's generally a case of ski where you want. The club received lottery funding a few years ago for a piste-basher and a new club hut, and whilst amenities are very sparse (bring your own food and water) compared to a European or even Scottish ski-hill, the members claim that their's are the best in England.
Top of the main tow
Lift-passes were £15 for a full day, with the tow running from approximately 10am to 4.30pm. When we were there this proved to be more than worth it, with a base of up to 1.5m across large parts of the slope, and even well worn areas of the established runs showing no signs of the heather and rock underneath. The morning was surprisingly quiet, especially considering the weather, with almost no queue for the lift. Yad moss doesn't exactly offer the most steep and challenging terrain around, but the runs do have lots of humps and rollers and generally when the sun is shining and the snow is good you couldn't care less what your riding for £15 a day.
Backflip off the new kicker, this one ended in tears, but later attempts were happily more successful
There is a slightly steeper top section off to the left of the top of the lift, and in the afternoon we selected this as a kicker building spot. At one point during the build the piste-basher came over the ridge making a b-line for us. Hearts in mouths we wondered whether our half-built kicker was about to be demolished, but instead the friendly volunteer driver hung his head out of the cab and asked if we needed anymore snow moved up for the jump. The session went well although the kicker was somewhat small, with mates throwing 3s and 5s on boards, whilst I represented for the skiers and stuck a few very tight backflips.
Joe Hunwick boosting a Method high over Yad
The slope is run entirely by a small army of extremely friendly and welcoming volunteers (& members), who both staff it when it opens, and maintain the lift, facilities and snow-fencing when there is no snow. These individuals are incredibly dedicated, and whilst there is the odd comic eccentric amongst them nobody can disagree that what they are doing is incredible.
The Crew (- the photographer) at the end of the day
We had an epic day, and will definitely be heading back up as soon as the snow hits next season. So next time it snows hard in England, especially if you live in the north, take the day off and head up to Yad Moss, you wont be disappointed.
For more info check the Yad Moss Website: http://www.yadmoss.co.uk/
Words by P. Godsmark,
Pictures, P. Godsmark & A McDow
Whilst working in a ski shop last season one customer who I dealt with proudly boasted to live only 2 hours by car from Leeds and be within a 20 minute drive of what he termed to be a small ski resort. 'Milton Keynes?' I asked, 'Braehead?', but he shook his head on both counts, 'they're not ski resorts lad, they're snowdomes!'. I was slightly taken aback, believing that this individual was at best equipped with an overactive imagination and at worst severely delusional. Nevertheless, with nothing better to do that evening I decided to check out his claims on the internet, and lo and behold, I discovered that there are some real snow ski hills (I hesitate to use the word resorts) in the Lake District and Pennines.
Currently there are 5 operating ski centers, although it appears in the past there were several more. The three that appear to be worth visiting are Yad Moss and Swinhope Moor in the Pennines and Raise in the Lake District. There are no snow-making facilities so the slopes open as and when there is sufficient snow.
Equipped with this information, when the big snowstorms hit Britain in early February this year a few friends and I decided to skip work / university / bumming around for the day and head up to Yad Moss near Alston to see what this so called 'ski resort' was really like.
Driving up in the early hours towards the snow covered Pennines
The drive up was easy, and took around 2 hours. Climbing into the Pennines the snow got deeper, with some roadside drifts of up to 6ft. Yad Moss itself is situated just outside the village of Alston, which is reasonably near Penrith. It's somewhat hard to spot the ski tow from the road, and there are no parking facilities as such. Luckily we got there early and so avoided having to dig out a space and just nicked one someone had dug out the day before. The hike up to the start of the tow is about 200m up a fairly shallow incline, although there is a deep little gully off to the right hand side that catches loads of snow and is full of fun little drop offs and natural spines.
View from the bottom of the tow
The tow itself is and old pomma, which varys in length from 500m to a kilometer depending on which local you ask; in actuality it is 630m long. In times of limited snow cover there is one central run which holds snow well, thanks to ample snow fencing. In times of good snow there are 4-5 separate runs with various linking paths, but basically it's generally a case of ski where you want. The club received lottery funding a few years ago for a piste-basher and a new club hut, and whilst amenities are very sparse (bring your own food and water) compared to a European or even Scottish ski-hill, the members claim that their's are the best in England.
Top of the main tow
Lift-passes were £15 for a full day, with the tow running from approximately 10am to 4.30pm. When we were there this proved to be more than worth it, with a base of up to 1.5m across large parts of the slope, and even well worn areas of the established runs showing no signs of the heather and rock underneath. The morning was surprisingly quiet, especially considering the weather, with almost no queue for the lift. Yad moss doesn't exactly offer the most steep and challenging terrain around, but the runs do have lots of humps and rollers and generally when the sun is shining and the snow is good you couldn't care less what your riding for £15 a day.
Backflip off the new kicker, this one ended in tears, but later attempts were happily more successful
There is a slightly steeper top section off to the left of the top of the lift, and in the afternoon we selected this as a kicker building spot. At one point during the build the piste-basher came over the ridge making a b-line for us. Hearts in mouths we wondered whether our half-built kicker was about to be demolished, but instead the friendly volunteer driver hung his head out of the cab and asked if we needed anymore snow moved up for the jump. The session went well although the kicker was somewhat small, with mates throwing 3s and 5s on boards, whilst I represented for the skiers and stuck a few very tight backflips.
Joe Hunwick boosting a Method high over Yad
The slope is run entirely by a small army of extremely friendly and welcoming volunteers (& members), who both staff it when it opens, and maintain the lift, facilities and snow-fencing when there is no snow. These individuals are incredibly dedicated, and whilst there is the odd comic eccentric amongst them nobody can disagree that what they are doing is incredible.
The Crew (- the photographer) at the end of the day
We had an epic day, and will definitely be heading back up as soon as the snow hits next season. So next time it snows hard in England, especially if you live in the north, take the day off and head up to Yad Moss, you wont be disappointed.
For more info check the Yad Moss Website: http://www.yadmoss.co.uk/
Words by P. Godsmark,
Pictures, P. Godsmark & A McDow
Monday 7 September 2009
Friday Night at Cas
Another fine little edit from J. Lawson. check it
Friday Night at Cas Vegas from jamie Lawson on Vimeo.
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