A short video shot last Friday on the Wrekin.
Reply
Inspired by my ‘Shropshire Skiing’ on Friday afternoon I was minded to see how conditions were in Wales for a trip the following day.
I’d already scoped our the Berwyns for possible skiing opportunities but in the end I was swayed by reports of ‘powder’ on the Breacons and Pen-y-fan.
Arriving in the car park off the A470 at around 11.30 I muck about trying to find a parking spot that I’d be able to exit from should the snow start to come down. Once sorted I kitted up and checked the OS map. The tops were in cloud, a shame as on the drive down the Breacon Beacons looked fantastic in the morning sun.
Breacons in the snow, looking towards the A470 car park during a rare sunny interval !
As luck would have it I bumped into Mike from the Snowheads forum and he kindly offered to walk up again. He’d been to the top for an hour waiting for the weather to clear with no luck. As we headed up the snow started to fall and the wind increase. By the time we hit the 600m level it was howling a blizzard.
David in the Breacons, Dec 2011
With the weather closing in and visibility reducing we decided that hiking to the top wasn’t going to be very rewarding, so we kitted up for an easy slide back to the car park. By this time the path had filled in but the tufty grass was poking through in places. Mike lead the way cutting high across the slope, down the valley to get a more direct run to the bridge.
This was very different kind of skiing, requiring patience and softness with the ski’s. Push too hard and you break through into the grass and muck causing the ski’s to slow rapidly, but choose an good line, avoid the odd rock and don’t rush things its all good.
“Mike Pow” a purveyor of the finest Welsh Skiing and my guide in the Breacons.
It’s a shame the Breacons were not more welcoming as there is definitely potential. Fingers crossed for a Blue Sky powder day next time…
The Snowheads forum thread for all who wish to get involved is here
I finally managed to score some Shropshire skiing for 2011, and my first Welsh skiing the very next day.
Last Friday dawned murky in the village but a glance over to The Wrekin showed lots of white on the top, so a early Friday finish seemed a good idea. By the time I loaded the car it was snowing hard, and it got heavier as I drove over.
In the car park I hooked up with Nicholas, a skier from our local slope who was out for a walk, and we hiked up together with the dogs.
A good covering
The hill was looking very Wintry above the half way house but the cover was quite soft as had yet to be ‘pisted’ by the passing walkers. Discretion was the order of the day and I decided to ski the grassy pitch from Heaven’s Gate to Hell’s Gate. It was probably only 75 meters or so but it was nice to have snow under skis again.
Skiing below Heavens Gate
I had a second attempt just below Hell’s gate but the cover was thin and the grunching noise off putting !
All in all a pleasant walk up. Fingers crossed for more snow this coming Winter.
Ski Inspired, the people behind the BB ski school are offering catered chalet accommodation in Baqueira this year. Just 40m from the lift with a top class chef we’re looking forward to sampling the food and accommodation at some point this year.
First batch of compost produced.
3 months in and the new indoor composting machine has produced it’s first batch of compost. As you will see from the photo’s below the resulting compost is dry, soil like and easy to handle.
It’s fair to say that I could have ‘harvested’ compost before now but I decided to wait until it had reached the ‘full’ line marked on the inside of the machine. Quite impressive that the composting machine has managed to reduce 2 peoples food waste over 3 months to such a small volume and probably hints at the richness of the finished product.
Removing the finished compost from the machine was easy. The internal ‘lid’ is removed leaving plenty of room to access the compost with the trowel provided with the machine. In the end I used some plastic container and scooped out the compost directly. In the end the machine produces approximately 4 litres of compost over 3 months. I took the opportunity to clean the lid section with a damp cloth. “Jobs a good un”.
I decided to use it to boost my lavender plants and I’ve sprinkled it around their bases being careful to avoid the leaves. I’ll report back on how it goes.
‘finished’ compost from our indoor composting machine.
Feeding the plants with the compost created by our composting machine.
Trifides Grand couloir – La Grave.
Powder on the Glacier – La Grave.
Tree Skiing in Serre Chevalier. March 2011.
Montgenevra Tree Skiing.
Montgenevra. Off Piste run to La Vachette.
Fast decomposition of food to compost.
The new indoor composter continues to work well. Food goes in and the next time I open the lid it’s disappeared with only a small increase in the volume of compost to show for it. We’ve mostly been feeding it with left overs from cooking and out of date food from the Fridge.
Most impressive has been the speed at which the unit has reduced potatoes, 24 hours and there was little to show for them. I chopped them down to prevent them jamming the mixer and that was that. The ‘mix’ in the unit has stayed dry and I notice that the ‘fresh air’ light comes on automatically from time to time.
Here are a couple of photo’s showing the speed at which the unit is working. They were taken 3 or 4 hours apart after a fridge clear out:
Before
3 hours later.
If you are interested in pre ordering a unit drop me an email:
3 weeks into the test of our new indoor home bio digester \ composting machine the news is good 🙂
We’ve been feeding the machine waste food from the kitchen and fridge and there is almost nothing to report. Food goes in & disappears ! The resulting compost mix is dry and there are no unpleasant smells or leaks.
The ‘mix’ of food waste has been a selection of salad, old vegetables and out of date pasta and rice. I can’t say we’ve put the maximum amount through the machine but it’s easily coped with our needs so far. For instance a 1kg bag of new potatoes that had gone to seed were reduced to almost nothing in the space of a day or two supporting the manufacturers claim that waste is reduced in volume by 90%
Uncooked dry rice takes longer but that’s to be expected.
So far it looks as if it will be at least another month or more before we’ll need to remove compost from the machine. Photo’s to follow later.
All in all ‘Boringly’ effective !!!
The Sunday Times reports that local authorities will be encouraged to collect food waste and may charge households for the privilege.
After the new Indoor Composter arrived we were keen to see how well it worked.
The start-up procedure was very simple. The machine arrived with a bag of ‘starter’ agent containing the bacteria which will break down the food waste. This appeared to be dry compost. The instructions say to add sugar and water to the dry mix and leave for 24 hours before adding any waste.
Dry ‘start-up’ mix containing the active bacteria.
Sugar and Water to activate the bio mix.
7 days in and I’m glad to report all is well. The ‘compost’ in the unit is dry. The small amount of food added so far has been broken down and the unit is seemingly smell free !
The manufacturer suggests that waste food should be broken down to 10% of it’s original volume in around 24 hours and so far that seems to be about right. The only thing that appears to be ‘hanging around’ is some fresh pasta I added which was past it’s sell by date in the fridge.
To be fair the manufacturer suggests that it takes a week or so for the bacteria in the machine to mature and multiply to full strength so we’ve only added a small amount of fresh waste, mostly consisting of coffee grinds and bread.
So, after 1 weeks operation, so far so good 🙂
If you are interested in ordering a Home Bio Composter please get in touch. The initial plan is to bring in small batches of units as demand builds.