Out on the mountains in Snowdonia today, the gale force winds turned in storm force earlier than forecasted. We were still up on an exposed ridge when the windspeed increased to over 80mph – enough to bowl over the biggest guys in our mountaineering club (let alone us smaller girls!). I was leading, so made the call to turn back – at which point the entire group were on the ground and I had to crawl round to tell everyone!

Really good to see everyone working as a team to get the group down safely. But a useful reminder that winter is now in force in the mountains, and the weather can worsen really quickly. Utterly knackered now, think I’ll have a quieter day tomorrow 🙂

Anyone else been out and got a buffeting from the weather today?

I watched the forecasts and decided tomorrow will be a better day to go to Buttermere

Bloody scary feeling not being able to stand and walk properly – one feels really out of control, esp. on slightly iffy ground.

I think I have said this before, but there are two kinds of fun: fun now, and fun later. Getting into and out of that sort of venture is definitely fun later!

I’ve merely been shopping and bought a dining room table today. Forecast for the morning’s little bike ride is reasonable.

salut

never mind gale/storm force up the hill of snowdonia…………we have that weather at 50m above sea level in Central Scotland! Its doing my head in as its too dangerous to go out on the bike 🙁

I was quite lucky in that I went for a ride around 10am and it only started bucketing down in the afternoon. Still had a few offs as I was exploring some new singletrack with lots of slippery roots and toppled off into a ditch where it took me a minute or two to untangle myself from the bike 😳

Weather not too bad at the west end of central Scotland, although it’s starting to pick up as the evening’s gone on. Took the dogs out for a stroll up towards the Campsies at 6.00pm and it was starting to feel a wee bit hairy walking through the trees higher up the hill.

I quite enjoyed pootling along at 60 kph sat bolt upright barely pushing in the pedals all the way home.
We won’t talk about the single figures in 34-25 up a 5% gradient on the way out!!

Dartmoor was a bit breezy on the tops.. certainly enough for mucho sign language mostly indicating.. ‘descend descend descend’

Twas lovely in the two valleys though..

Was pretty bad on Ilkley moor today.
Granny ring on the flat.
How embarrassing!!

headwind strong enough today that I just ended up trackstanding whilst gurning as hard as possible and going no where, one gear and a hill didn’t help either. Bloomin welsh weather 😀

yep, we climbed out of hope on the roman road and by the time we got to hollins cross i’d made the decision to change the route i’d planned so that instead of heading down edale into the teeth of the wind, we dropped over the back into a bit of shelter. given the miserable weather continued, when sambob misjudged a puddle and ended up hitting a tree, we were more or less all happy to say “bugger this for a game of soldiers” and spin back to hope for a bacon buttie.

Couple of hours up at Carron valley today at about 3 P.M. Weather a bit biblical, pedalling downhill was a must in certain places otherwise you just stopped. Still fun though 🙂

tomorrow will be a better day to go to Buttermere

’twas grim around there today, that’s for sure – woodburner and lights on since 2pm!

Looks as though it’s a bit lively in quite a few places then! Still blowing a hooly outside here …

Will have a lasting memory of seeing 14 people first staggering, then being blown over like pins in a bowling alley, before finally resorting to crawling … we must have looked as if we’d been downing the booze all day!

Glad everyone’s had a fun (albeit invigorating) day, and hopefully no injuries.

Awful round nidderdale, 10mins in and was soaked. Was like being hit with a water canon all that wind and rain! Lasted 5 miles. Should have stayed in the pub but so keen to ride my new Soul. Forecast seems better tomorrow.

Well, there was a threat of terrible wind here today, but it seems to have passed without brewing up properly, which is a great relief I have to say. 🙂

looking out my window at 9 am, I dunno why you tried it to be honest. it was obvious to me and I’m no human pinecone. Great you are all down and stuff, but not something I would’ve done. I’m glad you are down. (the other side of my brain says yeah! woo! knarly, cool, etc) I think it was a bit stupid.

Me and a mate (he is from Bradford) went up on Sca Fell dressed in jeans and trainers, in December, some years ago because I wanted to buy his Bang und Olufsen amp.

That wasn’t a very good idea. The wind picked up and it became really quite dangerous tb. We nearly got blown off an exposed ridge bit. Had to crawl down and get as low as possible when the gusts came in.

Skinning up was impossible. 🙁

Currently offshore on a North Sea rig in force 11 severe storm winds. Gusting to 90mph, steady 70-75mph with 30ft swell.
Should rock me to sleep nicely at the end of nightshift 😯

Ooh I coon’t do a job like that. I get sea-sick on the Woolwich Ferry. 😥

Reminds me of the love-hate relationship I have with helvellyn. I have climbed it a few times in my teens but I remember the first time I climbed it with my other half, when we set off it was blue skies and forecast to be a bit drizzly. As we reached the summit it got more and more unpleasant and eventually it was blowing so hard I couldn’t stand up and was cloudy enough that you couldn’t see more than a metre ahead of us which was fun re-tracing steps off the top. Second attempt we turned up the night before in clear skies and sun, good forecast with maybe a bit of rain, woke up at 3am in the tent under a foot of snow. One day I’ll reach the top on a clear day!

What rig ya on mrfannay? Not offshore now but I was on the galaxy3. Used to love the storms. Have a good trip and stay safe.

Really wet all week, but then it was really hot here today! 🙂

Seven Mile Beach was lovely!

CFH – that’s enough gloating from you! (looks out of window, sees grey clouds and wind, tries not to think about hot, sunny beaches …)

Kev – not stupid, an informed decision taking into account the level of risk. We knew the detailed mountain forecast, amended the route slightly based on my knowledge of the terrain along every part of it, had prepared alternatives and escape options, and all had proper winter mountaineering kit with several of us carrying ropes, survival bags and an emergency group shelter. I made several changes to our route and the day progressed, and when the wind got to in excess of 80mph and the conditions were at the point of changing from challenging to dangerous, made the call to drop of the ridge safely using one of the escape routes I already knew about. Used good technique for the conditions – pairing up stronger people as a wind buffer for others who were struggling, experienced navigator in front, 2 strong and experienced people as back markers, and a keeping together as a tight group.

‘stupid’ is when you go out in conditions which don’t match your experience.

Postponed today’s road ride until this afternoon.

Might get Mrs Gti to drop me in Blackpool, west of here then blast back home with the wind blowing me!

‘stupid’ is when you go out in conditions which don’t match your experience.

😀 Cooeee!

TBH, Sue’s probbly taking more risks coming out for a pint with me in That London…

It’s windy for Reading, Berkshire here..

But nothing like the wind I grew up with on the Norfolk Coast by the North Sea….

I don’t like cycling in the wind.. unless it is pushing me..

Wish we had some ‘bad’ weather out here, might actually bring some snow…

*grumble grumble*

Still, bright blue, clear sky is quite nice 😉

Sure did Sue.

River Penmachno on Saturday afternoon/evening. The whole 19 miles was ridden in water, either a stream running down the trail or massive puddles. Never been so wet riding the wind was howling like no tomorrow and it was a very dark night. Despite that it was a really enjoyable ride.

Rode Conwy mountain today, wind was mad up there as well, but no rain.

Surprised to get out this morning after a wild night just to the south of Glasgow. This included being outside in my wellies at 1am trying to shift 5 inches of water from the front of my house after a biblical downpour. Blocked drain shovelled clear.

35 road miles this morning in rather cool conditions. Beggar of a head wind for the last few miles but by some miracle it stayed dry the whole way.

Glad i made the effort.

Only just spotted this thread. We were planning to do Snowdon yesterday but bailed based on the MWIS forecast and did a loop above Hope instead. From what Sue W has said we decided correctly!

Had a cracking time in the Peaks instead (bumping into NBT and Co. on the way round, shortly before Sambob had his difference of opinion with a tree by the sounds of it). The wind and rain only really picked up towards the end, and we were pretty sheltered most of the time so it was all fine. Here’s the resulting video of me mincing down “The Beast” and a few other hills, in case anyone’s really bored:

[video]http://vimeo.com/32729874[/video]

vortexracing – glad you had a good weekend, albeit somewhat wet and wild! Sorry about bailing out on Sunday – couldn’t face a second day of the wind after Saturday (although it had calmed down a bit). Went for a road ride with a friend instead – far more sheltered in the Conwy valley, but the fields were all flooded – must have been the ‘river’ from Penmachno flowing through!

mintimperial – Snowdon on a bike would have been “interesting” on Saturday! Although on the leeward side, it would have been fine, but as soon as you got to any point exposed to the SW wind things would have got a bit breezy!

I do kinda like being out in that weather though – definately exhilerating 🙂

Snowdon on a bike would have been “interesting” on Saturday! Although on the leeward side, it would have been fine, but as soon as you got to any point exposed to the SW wind things would have got a bit breezy!

Yeah, we were planning to do the Ranger path on the way down, I expect we would have all been blown back to Llanberis in pretty short order. You’re right about it being exhilarating being out in that sort of thing, but there were a couple in our group who aren’t that experienced and I think even the oldest hands were glad we changed our plan. Next time…