Because if IStrines were blocked it would have made getting back from Langsett a massive pain in the backside, whereas the average STW mountain bike ride is about five miles long and mostly spent pushing up hills…
And because roads are cleared by snow-ploughs whereas trails aren’t.
And if anyone’s interested, the high road out of the back of Castleton over to Tideswell is just about passable if you don’t mind a bit of carrying and riding through semi-frozen slush.
Anyway, are you not busy planning a special snow-free, super-flowy, Hora-Pootle? 😉