😯

My attempt to tame a maiden this morning…

Just past the bottom gate, Flotterstone side…

Maidens-Promising by ChrisWilkinson1, on Flickr

Just past Phantoms turn off…

Maidens-NotSoPromising by ChrisWilkinson1, on Flickr

about 100m further up…

Maidens-Defeated by ChrisWilkinson1, on Flickr

two pairs of feet and one on skis only up Maidens, none up Phantoms at all. The bottom bit was just some kids walking up to play.
Don’t think I’ll be heading up there again in a hurry.
The reservoir was frozen at the dam end, with drifts about 5 foot deep on the ice.

Defeated, so rode on the A702. Still quicker than the car as the new snow is causing chaos.

Nice photos mate – it was worth a having a dig at. Thought that would be it for the snow – but no.

I was prepared for a carry, but I was sinking thigh deep every step.

chriswilk, are you heading from penicuik to edinburgh? castlelaw to howden glen to dreghorn might be passable on foot at least, as thats quite a popular route. a lot of up though!

castlelaw to howden glen to dreghorn

Nae chance. We were walking up there on Sunday, coming off Allermuir and crossing the Castelaw-Dreghorn road was knee deep. What we could see of the road from the top of Allermuir looked very deep and unwalked as well.

bigjim,
yep, Penicuik to Edinburgh (by the Zoo).
Castlelaw is 50m higher than Maidens and generally has less traffic so no way am I going that way.

Will probably do WOL up towards Bonaly, then the back roads through the estates up to Dredhorn then round the golf course to the ski slope, then road back towards Penicuik taking in the Bush singletrack.

Ah ok, I just saw robgarrioch earlier saying it looked very compacted. WoL is fine, a lot of trees down at the moment though.

Is the singletrack at bush the bit that goes parallel to the road from the 702 to gowkley moss? despite getting the bus to work from there for almost a year i didn’t explore it much.

Nice pics, but I don’t think I’ll be taking a bike up there anytime soon.

the singletrack that I know goes from the South end of the bush estate and runs between the 701 and 702 towards Penicuik. There is quite a few different paths there and they are dog walker territory so should be well tramped down.

Anyone know if the Flotterstone/Nine Mile burn road is open at the moment? We were hoping to get the McEwan’s bus to Nine Mile Burn and attempt the five peaks at the weekend but I can’t get through to them on the phone 😕

Could try phoning the Flotterstone Inn?

Ian,

Pretty sure its open – drove along it yesterday afternoon and although snowy it was passable. Did have to divert through Pencuik at the new water works though as a load of lorries were stuck on the hill.

Also, planning on heading out to Mortonhall and Braids tonight if you fancy another play? Meeting at 7pm at KB (though still to be confirmed)

Would do, but have got to make up for lost time at work, got in VERY late after B.R.M.C. last night!

Cheers though!

A colleague drove past Nine Mile Burn this morning along the A702 and he said the road was fine, got to minus 20 at Dolphinton though.

Planning on heading up to Clarkies in Penicuik tonight, anyone been along the old railway line to Penicuik recently, and know if it can be cycled or not?

13thfloormonk – There is a camera on the A702 at Boghall on the Traffic Scotland Website, which will give you an idea of what the road is like.

the A702 was fine thismorning, although it was icy so the bus may not be running today. I stuck to below 30mph in the car and was slipping a bit (it was minus 11 at the time though).

Yesterday I tried riding some of the dog walker routes around Penicuik and failed. The snow was tramped down, but still soft and lumpy underneath. The tracks were only about a foot wide and I kept slipping into the walls of snow.

I’m guessing the old railway line will be impassable. It doesn’t get that much traffic once away from the towns and is quite exposed on some parts, in particular the viaduct between Penicuik and Auchendinny.

I cycled the old railway line between Penicuik and Rosewell a week past Sunday and it was punishment, looks like I might just have to stick to the roads tonight.

Avalanche News… There’s been more!

(smaller one to either side of the one posted last Sunday, the original’s in the middle, now partially in-filled by Mondays snow…)

So, avalanche experts, what is it about that slope? particularly exposed to the wind, forming a slab upon which new snow is falling?

Or is it just the only slope in the Pentlands at that gradient?

There are patches of different vegetation round there, a lot of bracken that won’t have rotted down much since autumn and some areas of harebell or something, perhaps the snow doesn’t bind as well as it does on heather or grass, plus it is pretty steep there. There is a nice trail that goes through it, some of you might know what I’m talking about.

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Apart from the perhaps a lot of that graupel that fell was blown into that area making it extra loose? I imagine there must be other little avalanches int he hills somewhere.

Mostly Awful.

Think I’ll abandon all Pentlands plans until I get back from holiday. This thaw bodes well for some good hiking over in the west coast though!

so where to offroad around here tomorrow? coastal path? costorphine hill? that woods behind fairmilehead?

Cossie hill be well soggy I would have thought. Infact everywhere will be. Coastal path?

don’t mind soggie, more worried about erosion i guess. trip out east along the sea might be the one then 🙂

An Edinburgh avalanche for those who haven’t seen it yet

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvfTXBbJrIU[/video]

Walked up the pentlands yesterday, its very very wet, ground is still frozen so its firm underneath, quite a few patches of wet snow still about. I would imagine today would have been sheeticemegaslidedeath given whats happened to all the running surface water in town overnight.

Oh and the Flot is under new ownership, will be interesting to see how the beer and service compares!

will prob head up for a wee look in the morning i think,

Will report back.

Bigjim – I can confirm that it was super icy in the Pentlands today. More of a bike slide than a bike ride 😉

Oh and the Flot is under new ownership, will be interesting to see how the beer and service compares!

Doubt it can be any worse than it was. Haven’t been back since the summer before last when me and my GF were told to F off for taking our bikes into the beer garden. 👿

Last time the Pentlands were like this I fell off and it hurt lots, so I’m giving them a wide berth for the moment!

Had lunch in the Flot in October, it was pretty good iirc

Quick update on the Pentlands.
Went out this morning to do my usual route up the Pentlands, which would normally take about 2.5hrs.
Snow was pretty deep as to be expected, probably 6-8″ this morning, it was badly rutted in places and there were large patches of ice with snow on top. Had to push from the Beeches to the top of Eastside, decent to the A702 was fun.
[video]http://vimeo.com/17980147[/video]
It took me 5.75hrs in total, I am shattered this afternoon.

Went out for a wee ride today, loads of fun but gave up on the heights just because it was such a pain in the bum to get up the hills. Decided against poet’s as a climb and went up the kirk gate, oh the misery, whole thing’s covered in a crust of compacted snow that breaks up when you pedal, like riding on marbles. Crap. So I gave up and stayed low.

Chocolate Chute was completely awesome though, had to go back for a few extra goes

Poets Glen was rideable, there is a decent amount of shelter from the trees.

Dang. Ah well. I was put off by the road link

Somehow got out for a wee spin this afternoon… Had a go at Puke Hill 1st, zero grip for climbing after the car park gate, so pushed / carried up to Bonaly reservoir. Snow just too soft to get any purchase, even on the trodden bits. In fact, descending was easier staying off the trodden path.

Had a turn round Clubbiedean next, difficult to keep a line on the road, but quite pleasant through the trees, where there’s few footprints and less depth of snow

Fun, but a little unfulfilling. Hopefully, it’ll improve after some holiday trafficking. Merry xmas one and all 🙂

Chocolate Chute was completely awesome though, had to go back for a few extra goes

Chocolate Chute?

Since the ice here on the north side of town has now been covered with a thin layer of snow, the Roseburn path is rideable again, so I reckon another trip up to the WoL to the Pentlands might be in order shortly. Sounds like it’ll just be up Poets and back down. I don’t have my google earth overlay handy, where is Chocolate Chute?

Rob,

Had a great ride last nite doing the Dreghorn stuff we rode 2 weeks ago with Ian and Mortonhall, Braids and Blackford glen. Snow is a perfect depth for drifty fun!