Number in series 70; Year of publication 1986 - Fell and Rock ...

A. Harry Griffin 111the same mould — primitive skis without steel edges fastened on to nailedclimbing boots, after first gouging out grooves in the heels to take theelementary bindings, for an ascent and descent of Harter Fell fromLongsleddale. The ascent, using skins — naturally, in those days, acquired atthe same time as the skis — was straightforward enough but the descent, since Ihad no idea how to turn, quite disastrous — a succession of falls, all the waydown. In retrospect, though, there had at least been the delightful sliding alongthe easy bit at the top and the dramatic views across winter Lakeland. No doubt,on that distant day in the 1940s, a would-be ski mountaineer, with a very greatdeal to learn, emerged.It used to be called ski touring in the early days and a few of us old stagers,more interested in mountains than in careering down the same bit of fellside,time after time — and, also, let it be admitted, no longer athletic enough for icymoguls — still prefer this sort of skiing and seek it out whenever there is generalsnow cover and we can summon up the necessary energy. For skimountaineering certainly needs more continuous effort than ordinary pisteskiing where as much time, or more, is spent in being whisked effortlessly upthe slopes, not counting the time standing in the lift queues. Piste skiing is, orshould be, neat and elegant and, in its higher flights, demands considerabletechnical skill, but these skiers don't need to know anything about mountains oreven about the vastly-varied types of snow as the ski mountaineer does. To ski,away from the piste, the Lakeland fells, the Scottish hills, the Alps or any othermountains, competently and with enjoyment, it certainly helps considerably ifyou are a skilled technical skier, but an average skier with wintermountaineering experience will probably cope just as well. It is far moreimportant, in the mountains, to be able to ski slowly, under complete control,while assessing the changing quality and suitability of the snow, as well as of theweather, than to be capable of fast, elegant descents. Many a mountaineer whoseparallels or short swings leave much to be desired has skied the Haute Route.Living within the Lake District national park and retired, now, for more thanten years, it is comparatively easy for me to seize ski mountaineeringpossibilities on the fells seen from my windows — or, more likely, others thatmight have better snow — whenever there is general snow cover or, at least,snow down to, say, 1,000 feet. The winter of 1984/1985 was one of the worst forskiing, any sort of skiing, in the Lake District for many years but, at one time,four months of weekend skiing — even if only shortish drifts high in the fellscould be expected and the fells have been skied as early as November and as lateas May — and, in 1979, in the middle of June, a few days before Midsummer'sDay. But ski mountaineering, needing a fair blanket of snow on the fells, is notnormally feasible for anything like as long as ordinary downhill skiing and theopportunities have to be quickly seized as they occur. There are obvious placessuch as the round of the Dodds, the Helvellyn range, the Skiddaw-Blencathraarea, the Fairfield Horseshoe, the High Street fells, the Howgill fells and so on347 Ski-mountaineering on Hellvellyn. R.J. Kenyon