Walking - The Lake District Ski Club

Sunday, 30 April 2017

Until now I had no idea it was possible to ski in England. I don't ski myself but a couple of my friends do. In search of the place suitable for practising skiing in the UK before going to the Alps, they discovered The Lake District Ski Club. Despite no chance of seeing any snow at the end of April in England, we set off for a day trip to the Lake District to check the place out. After a couple of hours drive, we made it to the Helvellyn Hostel near Glenridding and started climbing up the path leading through the old lead mine.

The 360 metre button tow and a hut are located on the northern side of the 883m high fell named Raise that belongs to Helvellyn range.

Instead of following the path leading towards the Sticks Pass we turned straight towards the hut and shortly could see it in the distance.

To start with we walked along the tow to the summit of the Raise, planning to have a look at the hut later.

It was quite windy on the summit. Most of the tea from the flask got blown away.

We stopped outside the hut for some time. Off course we couldn't get inside because only club members have access but we still got a good idea what the place is like and if it would be worth joining the club.

We decided to come back to the youth hostel via a path from Sticks Pass.

At the car park, I was relieved to take my DonJoy brace off and it felt good to have completed the walk.

After a pint in Glenridding on the way back home, we popped into Fairfield Marine to look at the boats as my friends are equally interested in sailing as they are interested in skiing.

ViewRanger summary:
Height gain: 653m
Length: 8.2km
Duration: 04:27:06

Here is the link to the GPX file:
Walking Lake District Ski Centre.gpx