Stunning, majestic...freezing!!

I knew this was going to be a tough training day, when we had to dump the car a mile away from the car park as its back end was sliding all over the road.

We did the usual and unloaded all our kit and changed to match what was a surprised and freshly white north moor. Base layered up we set off moving away from the military camp and off over hills. It was not long before we realised that the snow was no longer 1ft or 2ft but heading towards 4ft in places.



As we climbed higher the next hour was a tough slog over deep snow, no running this was a proper hike. This was proving to be a real thigh burner, you almost had to lift your legs up to your chest to get over some of the large pockets of snow. By the time we pushed on to Yes Tor, the snow was never less than 2ft.

I think the worst part of the 3hr hike was walking over ground we knew was covered in technical rock track, it might have looked smooth, fluffy and welcoming. The right footwear was essential as anything less than strong support, would have left us both with very little skin left on our ankles. We did have some falls, far more than normal and unfortunately I did find a huge pocket of snow that was up passed my chest.

By the time we both jogged off down the road to the car, the snow was driving down hard, it was a difficult but ultimately a rewarding training day, next week we are off on a 35km trek, to really push our endurance levels and time on the trail.

-Darren

Stumble It!