Lаngdon Common 31 January 2015

Snowfalls in the recent days gave us hope to find some snow during the weekend. We picked up Yasha and went searching for a place to ski near Durham. Unfortunately, we did not find enough snow and went further into North Pennines.

The red line shows our track. The "P" icon shows the place where we left our car.

We left the car at the top of the road in Langdon Common. We could not get any further anyway, as the road was blocked by drifting snow. We put on our skis and went along the fence. The sun shone on the hills in the distance

We were facing very strong wind and drifting snow. There was little snow on the ground, it was all blown away by the wind.

Sonya did not quite enjoy the wind.

The leftmost hill in the distant range is Cross Fell. It is the highest fell in North Pennines.

Drifting snow. The wind blew away all snow. After skiing for about half a kilometer, we decided that taking Sonya any further in this weather is not a good idea, and turned back.

We went to explore a disused quarry near the road. There was no wind there.

But plenty of snow and lots of icicles.

Some cliffs in the quarry were covered with icy skin.

The icicles are bent by the wind.

Icy fish scales.

Icicles of many shapes and sizes, like pipes in a church organ.

Kids are enjoying themselves.

We are leaving the quarry.

Gone with the wind...

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