[Closed] Pentlands conditions?

From my window they are covered in snow.

I've still got lots of snow in the garden and there is more wet/white stuff falling now. I can't imagine it's going to be that pleasant 🙂

I'd imagine it would be bloody awful and with the wind chill at low level being as bad fairly baltic up there. Still fill yer boots and take some photos.

Some very deep drift around there.

dave you need to get some skis! we skied scald law on wednesday night and it was amazing 🙂

is the snow deep enough to not hit stones/rocks on a snowboard?

certain aspects have obviously caught a lot more snow than others but the south face of scald law had a good covering. no rocks but lots of underlying grass and heather if you get the wrong slope.

the only rocks we hit were riding back down the landrover track but still got all the way to the road (parked at silverburn).

good webcam for monitoring pentlands skiing potential too:
http://www.webcams.travel/webcam/1329762542-Weather-Pentland-Hills-Eastside-Farm-Nine-Mile-Burn

also the gully on the north side of black hill is always a good laugh and holds snow for ages

Walked around White Hill / Puke / Torduff etc. this afternoon. Deeper the higher you go; Puke fairly well packed with ice underneath (twixt-the-trees section), probably do-able, suspect there'd be a bit of hike-a further up. Maidens often pretty good in the snow with moderate foot-fall, watch for ice though. 4cast said even windier than today, so wrap comprehensively - had an ice cream headache at the top of white hill after walking up the steep way 😥

(snowboard evidence on Puke side of White Hill too; snows quite crusted now, if that makes a difference)

Thanks all, thinking I might give it a miss.

I'm going to head up in a wee while just to see what it's like. Given I couldn't see East Cairn earlier this morning it should be "interesting".

I reckon hard packed more than anything. The snow in my garden is frozen solid so it bodes quite well for higher up.

Thin powder over ice. Some deeper drifts.

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I was gonna try for Maidens but the wind is a killer. Easily the coldest I've been on a bike this year.

The wind is brutal. On the fence myself about a short lap but I think probably not.

deep down you know its a really bad idea don't you Northwind....

I just walked 300 meters to get my car and almost froze. Youd need to be insane to venture out in this...

😳

Just put in an hour long ride at the same altitude a few miles away. Bitterly cold wind with drifting fins of snow beside fencing, but the wind is scouring the snow from the fields and exposed tracks so lots of riding was possible. I rode about 3/4s of the loop with a lot of it in exposed conditions. Lovely when moving, but the cold gnawed it's way straight through my sealskin gloves and socks.

Watch out for puddles and streams. There's that whole 'creme brûlée' thing going on.

That was great fun 😀

It's not too bad but I wouldn't bother going high, in the trees it's all ridable. The drifted snow is really packed hard from the wind and just slows you right down, some impressive drift formations around. The ice is worth watching out for, we had a few slides. Def worth taking an extra layer and thermal blanket in case - proper winter conditions up there and would quickly get nasty if you had a fall.

[quote=bigjim ]Def worth taking an extra layer and thermal blanket in case - proper winter conditions up there and would quickly get nasty if you had a fall.
+1

Great fun this morning, but hard work. We chose trails carefully - avoiding anything high and basically just playing around the edge of the Pentlands to avoid too much pushing.

Rode up the bottom section of Puke Hill and cut in to the woods on the right. Along there to the woods by the top of Torduff was good, as were the Clubbidean Woods. Poet's riding well and the track southwards from the top of the Kirkgate was rideable. We turned right rather than left up to Maidens - the head wind and deeper snow up there would be tough I think. Around Harlaw level all pleasant, and nice to bump into a fellow STWer there Colin. 😉

Came VERY close to eating sheep s*** on the track from Easter Kinleith to Torphin though. Front wheel dug into a deep snow drift. Thankfully managed to get my hands out to brace the fall as a well placed pile of the smelly stuff rapidly approached. Take care out there folks!

[quote=pixelmix ] nice to bump into a fellow STWer there Colin.
FWIW, Nail Trail was shit. I ain't been down there in over a year and there are loads of logs across it now (in addition to it being ultra-muddy).

Ah well, glad we headed the other way then. Sounds like I'll continue to avoid the Nail Trail for the foreseeable future. Was such a nice piece of trail a few years back. 🙁

Watch out for puddles and streams. There's that whole 'creme brûlée' thing going on.

It's a sh!t business.

Well. That was interesting!

Had a bit of an equipment failure so that took some of the fun out- decided to wear my downhill pyjama trousers to keep the legs warmer, turns out the venting panels that never really seemed to do anything before, actually do 😳 Lovely warm legs, very cold balls. Everything else worked as planned, I ended up far too hot at some points. Those Glacier Gloves are fantastic- I've got bad circulation so anything that can keep my fingers not just working but comfortable is pretty much miraculous. Most people will find them too hot almost all the time I think.

So, must admit I totally spat the dummy after toiling up the ranges road (which is looking quite mad with all the refrozen and torqued up ice) and went down to Harlaw to mess around in the woods instead of going up maiden's as planned. Can't say it was a nice day out, but satisfying. You know something's going on when your camera and haribo freeze.

Oh- and nailtrail has had an outbreak of log-leaving, I removed a bunch earlier in the year, no chance they were deadfall (one was an old log sawn at both ends!) Haven't been down for a while.

Superb earlier this evening. That wind we've had has dried everything out - even the Maidens/Phantoms junction.

It's a lot drier, but my bike and I are very very muddy still!

More later, but I'm just back from a wee 23-miler round the Pentlands. Unless you are on a hot date tonight, grab your bike and get out there. They are riding as well as I can remember and who knows how long it'll last.

[b]DO
IT[/b]

Rain due tomorrow I'm hoping most of it will land on the weegies.

Hoping to go riding up there this Sunday. Not been up there for years, hoping to do a few trails I have seen on the map. Hope the rain stays away.

Was up last weekend for first time donkeys... Bit of a mixed bag, Maidens was not bad, back of Black Hill the same. Scalextrix was really soggy though.

The usual muddy bits are still pretty muddy (although I've seen them muddier).

Q

who knows how long it'll last

Went up last night, down Maidens and round Black Hill. It was dry as a bone. I've only been riding for a year but it was the driest I've seen it. Was looking forward to my up coming holiday, lots of long night rides 'till I checked the weather.........rain for the next 7 days!

Cheers to the guy I met on Black Hill who showed me some more trails I didn't know about. Thanks Dougie.