What are the conditions like around Edale at the moment is the hard weather route iced up? I see that the daytime high tomorrow is -2 if Jacobs Ladder is sheet ice I don’t want to die.

Also wondering if Ladybower routes would be better option?

I’m also keen to know about routes round there as I may go for a night ride tonight but if there’s 2 ft snow all over then not much point

At a guess from many years experience, it should mostly be compacted snow from walkers today. There was to much snow to have become ice that quickly. Give it a go, the compacted snow is amazing fun and quite grippy. You Scott over boggy bits as well. If I was home this weekend, I’d be out there!

PS, I live on southern edge of Sheffield and we had 12″ Thursday, melteddown to 8 Friday. So expect hope & edale to have good levels.

I was up Longstone edge last night and had 3ft drifts all the way to Eyam which was hard work. Might try a route round Hope tonight.

I was out today. Lovely day out. Should have left the bike at home.

There’s been very few walkers out, and even fewer bikers, so there’s no nice fast compacted snow paths.

Roman Road from Hope is now disgusting – wasn’t too bad first thing, but it’s melting now and the farmers have been driving a tractor up and down it to get feed to the sheep, so it’s basically 2 ruts which are either a muddy slushy churned up mess or 10″ deep in meltwater. This goes as far as the Aston b/way junction.

From there up to the top of the Beast was a carry – only 1 walker had been this way before me. The track as we know it is filled with drifts, the rest of it is between ankle and mid-thigh deep. I ended up walking along the top of the broken down drystone wall that was just poking out in places.

Nobody had done Potato Alley (walkers or bikes). Footprints on Jaggers Clough.

Beast is running well once you’re in the woods – same true of Hagg Farm – push/carry up, the exposed section is deep, soft and slow, the woods bit is slushy, fast and very sideways.

Along the side of Ladybower – again almost untracked, and 6-8″ deep.

Permissive bridleway up to Win Hill – I was the first one up it. A carry. Maybe 10-12″ deep.

A tractor had driven up to near the top of Aston from the Roman Road, where the permissive b/way comes out. This was pretty good once the gradient got going – 18″ wide rut up to knee deep in places, but hardpack and fast.

Basic issue is that the snow is very wet and heavy and it hasn’t been cold enough for the ground to freeze, so everything is VERY soft and slow going. Even when the snow is thin in the woods, there’s usually mud underneath it to sink into, unless it’s a solid rocky surface.

I saw only about 6 walkers out all day, and 1 other rider, so don’t expect nice packed down trails to appear over night.

(I don’t twit, but if anyone one wants to C&P this onto KoftheP, feel free)

Great picture…..how long did all that walking take you??!!