Snowy hill training

It seemed like the ideal training session....running at least 2 of the 3 peaks of Yorkshire-great scenery, and terrain perfect for Iceland...that is until I woke up on Sunday morning to a coating of snow! Oh well, a bit of snow shouldn't;t be anything to worry about, after all there will be plenty of snow in Iceland, even in July. We arrived in Horton in ribblesdale a few hours later and surprisingly the snow didn't seem as bad here. I set of up Ingleton with the intention of dropping down the north side and back along the valley, possibly with a detour up whernside too. The first 4 miles or so are constantly up hill, all-be-it with a relatively steady gradient. The snow was only a couple of inches deep, and the wind was non-existent...I was even sweating despite the -1 degree temperature when I left the car. With less than a mile to the top the cloud descended, the wind picked up and ice spicules were blowing straight into my face and eyes. Everything seemed white, the beginnings of snow blindness. I could no longer see the path and just stumbled on blindly. The gradient ramped up and the snow began to turn to ice underfoot and I was reduced to walking. It was bitterly cold now, must have been -15 with the wind chill I reckon. Eventually I saw a figure coming towards me out of the mist...he warned me that my planned descent was impossible without crampons...not good considering I was just wearing running shoes! I followed his tracks up to the Cairn at the top before heading back down to where the northern path turned off. Before getting there I slipped over a couple of times, and knowing that its a scramble at the best of times decided against it in the current blizzard conditions. I headed back down to the car where I quickly got changed and warmed up before putting on my walking gear and heading back out for a walk for a couple of hours. all in all, not the training session I had envisaged, but not too bad despite this. Hopefully the weather will be better in 8 weeks time when its time for the 3 peaks fell race!