SKI-ING AT HOME

AS most people know, this winter has given plenty of opportunity for ski-ing in England and Scotland. In many parts of the North ski-ing can be quite good, and a few notes on possibilities may be useful to those who are the proud possessors of a pair of skis, and who live within easy reach of the hills. Cambridge parties skied at Dalwhinnie in the Highlands in January last year and again at Christmas. Teesdale and Swaledale and the Ogwen Valley have been tried, and also the main street of Malvern, and the villa-lined avenues of Golders Green.

It was last November that we skied in Teesdale. Langdon Beck Hotel is over twelve hundred feet up, and apart from the snowy conditions the wide, open dale, dotted with whitewashed farms, has a great attraction.

The valley slopes, however, are too broken up by walls for long runs, but the very high plateau-like moors ensure plenty of snow and severe frost. "Tailing" behind a car went very well, and we also had the rare experience of ski-ing across the Tees on the ice. In passing it may be suggested that the most enjoyable way to attack Crossfell is on ski; as little as two inches of snow is enough to make all the difference between a toilsome moorland walk and a pleasant run, especially in a good breeze.

Those who want steep hills, however, will find very few in Teesdale; the lower parts of Swaledale are better, and at least one very good run has been found Ð most limestone districts should provide similar short steep runs. Down in the valleys good snow is only found in severe weather, and in almost any of the dales in Yorkshire or Derbyshire there are far too many walls. Further to the West in the Lakes or North Wales snow seems to be unreliable unless one climbs high; in Teesdale and Weardale a car can be taken above two thousand feet at several points, higher than anywhere else in England. The Cheviots, too, are smooth and steep, but rather hard to reach: a summer acquaintance with them, however, suggests that they again might be more attractive on ski than on foot.

Christmas week-end in the Central Highlands proved a success, despite a thaw on the 28th. In the previous January conditions for a few days were very good indeed, with over a foot of snow. Dalwhinnie on the main Highland line is easily reached, and is said to be the best centre in Scotland; the slopes are very open and bare, but a depth of at least six inches of snow is desirable. The natives, however, regard this as a minor fall. The good run west of the village gives about three-quarters of a mile, with a fall of sixteen hundred feet: this may be regarded as fairly typical.

Judging by the figures for Braemar snow lies at twelve hundred feet for from twenty to seventy days a year (for example, twenty-seven days in December last). The snowfall is slightly heavier at Dalwhinnie, and in addition Braemar is harder to reach from the South.

Lastly, those who have once been charmed by Scotland Ð whether by the glories of Skye and the sea-lochs in summer, or Glen Nevis at Easter Ð will not be disappointed in the Eastern hills when they have seen them in midwinter; in a cold season the short winter days could not be better spent.

Further south ski-ing is, of course, occasionally possible, but more as a joke than anything else; the run from Mill Hill to Hampstead was done in January, and one man has even skied to work in Durham; Derbyshire, too, has been tried. In a normal winter, however, the high northern Pennines will give a good deal of cross-country work with easy slopes, and the Eastern Highlands will provide that and good slopes as well. As a new weapon for the armoury of the inveterate bog-trotter, ski may be heartily recommended; especially to those who live within reach of the hills and can therefore seize the opportunity afforded by a snowfall. G. M.