As the Winter Olympics puts skiing in the spotlight – it got us thinking about the Lake District’s world of winter sports.
While Cumbria isn’t exactly a top ski destination, it is home to a lively community of skiers who will rush out to take on the county’s fells and mountains whenever weather conditions fall just right.
Alongside Cumbria’s Kendal dry ski slope that has run for 41 years and the Lake District Ski Club, who were first founded in 1936, also operate a ski lift on Raise on Helvellyn.
But some Lake District skiers choose to carve out their own path away from the traditional slopes to take on different challenges.
Two of those skiers are Joe Dickson, 29, of Windermere, and Alex Danvers, 28, of Lancaster, who skied down the face of Helvellyn and were lucky enough to have some of it captured by drone thanks to a passing mountaineer.
It’s a feat that requires not only perfect weather and snow conditions, but also perfect timing to get right, making it a rare opportunity.
We spoke to Joe and Alex to tell the story behind the video that keeps going viral of their day spent skiing down one of the Lake District’s biggest mountains in 2023.
Joe said: “It was an unbelievable day and it was freak conditions. I’d been keeping an eye on the forecast and it had snowed heavily the week before when a high pressure system came in.
“So it stayed really cold and sunny and that really consolidates the snow. It became what you call hardpack snow and when that happens it means you’re not going to hit any rocks and it feels like skiing a piste in the Alps.
“While in the Lakes you would usually have about 24 hours to go after snow before it’s gone, this snow stayed for a week.
“I’d seen some pictures of people doing ice climbing on Helvellyn and I remember messaging Alex and saying, I think we can go and ski that.”
The duo first became friends while they were pupils at Queen Elizabeth School in Kirkby Lonsdale and learnt to ski at Kendal Snowsports Club when they were both around six or seven years old.
Joe and Alex have since become accomplished freerider skiers, who have between them done multiple seasons abroad in places including Canada, Greece and France.
The pair are highly skilled at skiing and feats such as their day on Helvellyn should not be attempted by beginners.
While Alex had previously skied in the Lake District over the years at locations including Kirkstone Pass, their Helvellyn day also marked the first time Joe had found a chance to ski in the Lake District’s fells.
Joe said: “As we were walking up the snow was up to our knees when we were trying to get to the face and when we got to the top there was so many people up there with ice axes and they just looked at us both like ‘where do you two think you’re skiing!
“We said we were going to go right down to Red Tarn and people were just like, there’s no way, you’re not doing that!”
While the pair didn’t do much route planning, Alex and Joe said they are very familiar with the face.
Joe added: “There wasn’t much planning, we kind of just met up in Glenridding and walked towards Hellvellyn.
“The face we actually skied, whenever we’d been up in summer, because we’ve been up Helvellyn quite a lot, we’d always said that would be so cool to ski down there and we knew people who had done it in the past.
“We couldn’t quite believe it at first, there was a moment when we turned around and we’d traversed past Red Tarn and looked at what we’d skied and honestly, you could have been in France.
“You had to remind yourself you were 20 minutes from home. But we did it and then we got so excited, that we looked at each other and climbed up and skied it again.”
Alex added that the pair also knew of skiers who had managed to take on the face in the past.
He said: “We’d heard people say it was a doable thing, it was just quite rare for the conditions to be so prime, so it very rarely happens.”
While the thought of dropping down the side of Helvellyn on skis might sound terrifying to non-skiers – for Alex and Joe, it was a special challenge.
Joe said: “There was a bit of nervousness for the gradient of the slope at the top but also over thinking is this going to actually work.
“But as soon as I dropped in it was a feeling of I can’t believe I am looking at the Lake District as I come down this hill, this is surreal.
“I’m putting in turns like I would in France or Canada, but I’m on Helvellyn. The feeling afterwards was just pure elation.
“There’s something special about skiing in your home mountain range, it’s kind of like sking in your back yard.”
The pair said they both had not planned to take any pictures or videos of themselves skiing the face and instead, got lucky with kind passers by snapping and videoing their feat.
Professional mountaineer and guide Tom, of TQTours, managed to capture Alex’s descent via drone.
@tqtours Skiing off the front of Helvellyn, England’s 3rd highest mountain Conditions were perfect, and the right place, right time to catch this skier sending it! #skiing #lakedistrict #mountains #dronevideo #alps ♬ original sound – tqtours
Alex said: “We definitely weren’t expecting anyone to video it, we were just going for a nice day out and when he uploaded it, it went a bit viral.
“But as soon as you drop in, it just comes flooding back to you like riding a bike, you just make the turns, get the adrenaline and it’s amazing.
“It’s a very euphoric feeling flying down a mountain, you forget about everything going on at home and work you’re really just enjoying the moment.”
The pair took on the mountain for the first and last time in 2023 and said they’ve been waiting to see those same perfect conditions since.
Joe added: “I keep an eye on it all the time and we haven’t had conditions like that since that day. Which is a shame but it also makes it extra special.
“It just shows how lucky we got that we haven’t been able to do it again in three years. I’ll be amazed if we get anything like it again.
“There was also something quite special in that me and Alex hadn’t skied together before then and we both were just free to do it, so the day we skied was a really off chance opportunity in our home mountains.
“But we’ve got some treasured memories to look back on thanks to the people who were up there that day, which is pretty cool.
“It is funny when you go up with people now and they ask where was it you skied and you point and they go no you never!”
Alex and Joe added that while there hasn’t been as much snow in the fells over the past few years in Cumbria, that the Lakes remains a lively hub for skiers.
Joe said: “The Lakes is not a famous ski destination whatsoever, we’re not blessed with massive hills, but that’s what makes it so special if the conditions line up and you can make it work.
“I know some people skied Stybarrow Dodd on the weekend, so people still do it when they can, even when conditions aren’t perfect.
“If you’re a skier around here a lot of people will do everything they can to make that day work. There’s definitely a hub here for it and some great skiers here.”
