Mostly Skiable - Some Areas Thin/Narrow

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It was a cold and frosty morning as I drove down from Dumfries. Once I started the walk up towards the Raise ski area it warmed up in the sun. Once up above 2500ft the temp went below freezing.
At the ski tow and above the temp was around -2C.

The lift had been running at the weekend and would have opened today but the snowline answerphone said there was no operative to run the lift but it was expected to open on Wednesday.
Im amazed that I have never been up at Raise before considering I only live 65 miles away,
but today I decided to head south to the Lakeland Fells rather than go north to Glenshee.


The single fixed Poma lift at Raise had been running over the weekend following last weeks snowfalls. It did not run on Monday because of the weather but when I phoned the snowline on Monday night it said they would make a decision in the morning. I had decided to drive down regardless as its only about an 80 minute drive from Dumfries.

It was a lovely cold and frosty morning as I drove down to Ullswater and along to the village of Glenridding. From the village its up a narrow road/track to the Youth Hostel at the old disused Greenside Mines. There were a couple of cars there but it was pretty quiet. I gave the snowline a call and it said that snowcover was good but there were no volunteers to run the lift today but it was 99.9% certain it would run tommorow.

I was not too downbeat as I set off on the climb up towards Raise. On the website it says its about an hours walk to the lift but once the track went missing under the snow it was quite hard going and it took me a bit more than an hour to reach the Lake District Ski Club hut. It was dry but misty patches were coming and going making visibility variable at times. When the cloud and mist cleared the views down towards Glenridding and Patterdale were excellent.

It was great to be out on the hills on a fine Winters day. I ate my packed lunch sheltering behind the hut then I was joined by two hillwalkers with their dogs. After recharging the batteries I put the Snowshoes on and then made good progress following the poma track to the top. The snow was hardpacked with an icy crust but there was plenty of it on the runs.

I walked up to near the summit of Raise (2889ft) and had a slide on wind scoured snow to the top of the Poma. I sat down to get the camera out when suddenly a splash of coulour appeared just behind me, it was a guy snowkiting. I managed to get a couple of pics before he flew ofer the ridgeline, his friend then appeared looking for him. The first guy reappeared and I had a chat with them before I had a nice fast run to the foot of the Poma tow. I then got the shoes on again and climbed up to the ridgeline and from there I rode down until the snow turned into heather. It was then an easy walk back to the car.

It had been a good day and I will certainly be back but will make sure the lift is running next time.

Myself