@ejstubbs
I had a similar episode in the Beaujolais Hills once. I'd been told Mont Blanc was visible and I was scouring the horizon when my eyes flipped and I realized it was occupying half the sky in front of me.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
"Queensferry Crossing project ‘months behind schedule’ "
(805 posts)-
Posted 4 years ago #
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@Rosie (again): Lochaber Mountain Rescue are being very nice about the blokes they rescued
Indeed. And if you look at the story on their FB page you can see nice presents and thank you card that the rescued party presented them with. They also make the point that: "Not all mountain rescue is about mountains and many teams outwith the Highlands, and even those in the Highlands, do provide resilience cover at times of severe weather/flooding and when the full time agencies cannot cope with scale of an incident." Moffat MRT was out on Tuesday night helping folks stuck on the A702.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@LaidBack: Ice falling from bridge cables is not unique to Scotland...
Last year the Öresund Bridge was closed for this reason.Oresund has been closed a number of times. Even the Second Severn Crossing has been affected in the past:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51473419
On FRB the cables go between the road and cycle decks so assume ice falls into sea?
I think that will depend to a degree on which direction the wind is blowing, and how strong. I think the main difference between the FRB and QC is that on the FRB it's only the main suspension cables that are can accumulate and then drop ice - the vertical suspender cables aren't likely to shed ice other than in strong winds (which close the FRB anyway). Cable-stayed bridges like the QC (and, perhaps appropriately, the Second Severn Crossing*) have more shallow-angled lengths of cable on which ice can accumulate and then drop straight off as it starts to thaw. I'd hazard a guess that the issue is probably more likely to occur on harp-style cable-stayed bridges like the QC compared to fan-style, which seems inherently to have more near-vertical lengths of cable.
* Apparently it has officially been renamed the Prince of Wales Bridge - at a cost of more than £200K - but no-one seems to call it that.
Posted 4 years ago # -
One of the pleasures of cycling is that you are in touch with the weather. You aren't in the eternal modern cocoon, when the slightest inconvenience turns spoiled consumers into shrieking hysterics. It wouldn't be good if a main artery bridge was closed every fortnight, but the occasional reminder that there is something called weather out there, which affects humankind and other mammals isn't a bad thing.
And people love swapping tales of adventure, of eg having to walk 3 miles in snow to work when the Beast from the East struck. Meanwhile my Romanian flatmate was shaking her head and saying, it's just snow.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@ejstubbs, is the QC not semi-fan? The cables closer to the towers are closer to vertical.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Not Ben Nevis
Not a bridge
Not winter
“
The 32-year-old from Essex, who was on a working holiday, had not been seen since she went for a hike – or tramp as it is known in New Zealand – at the weekend in the Mount Aspiring national park, home to one of New Zealand’s highest peaks.The park is rugged and covers alpine and trans-alpine regions. Weather conditions, influenced by the Southern Alps, change quickly, with large rivers also prone to sudden and unexpected swelling.
“
Posted 4 years ago # -
Deeply sad - of course it's summer there, but that clearly gives as few guarantees as it does here.
Some news from France that caught my eye this morning:
The French government is to establish a protected zone around Mont Blanc and limit the number of people who can access the summit, which at just over 4,800 metres is the highest in western Europe.
“It is all well and good to worry about the Amazon rainforest, but to ignore what is happening on Mont Blanc and to allow this disrespect to continue is intolerable,” Peillex wrote last September. He said “oddballs” were polluting the mountain, citing a recent attempt by a former British Royal Marine to summit Mont Blanc for charity while carrying a full-sized rowing machine, which he abandoned on the path down.
As many as 30,000 people attempt to climb Mont Blanc every year – around 200-300 a day. Some ignore weather and safety warnings and many leave rubbish on the mountain.
At least it's not got that bad here, although didn't they have to take a piano off a while ago?
Posted 4 years ago # -
I would say that Ben Nevis has very similar problems. It is also easier to climb than Mont Blanc. There's often reports about the amount of rubbish removed from the summit and surrounds.
Posted 4 years ago # -
New Zealand bush can be dangerous. It's dense rain forest, so if you stray off the marked path you can quite easily get lost - that happened to a jogger in one of the bushy areas of Auckland! The terrain is very steep. Also, it's a maritime climate, so there are quick changes of weather and fast rising rivers. And some areas really are remote. You may not see a house or another human being all day.
It is beautiful though.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@IWRATS: A kind soul on another forum has directed me to the original source of the Arthur's Seat anecdote I alluded to previously on this thread:
Page 287:
...Arthur’s Seat ... was ascended by one of the best and most famous of Alpine guides, Emile Rey of Courmayeur, when on a visit to Scotland with Mr C. D. Cunningham in 1886...
As a striking instance of the difficulty of judging distances under unfamiliar conditions, the story is told of how Rey, looking up at the hill from Holyrood Palace, was asked, “How long did he reckon it would take to gain the top?” He replied, “Two and a half to three hours,” whereas the party reached the top in twenty-five minutes.
Posted 4 years ago # -
@ejstubbs, so really you just added the bit about the overnight bivvy. That is nothing
Posted 4 years ago # -
@TheForthBridges
#StormDennis
Very strong winds are forecast today and tonight:
✅ Queensferry Crossing expected to remain open thanks to wind shielding
⚠️ Restrictions expected on Forth Road Bridge, including possible full closure this evening
Check https://t.co/IJGk88n9sv for latest.
Posted 4 years ago # -
The great Queensferry Crossing disaster: I found a silver lining - Kevan Christie
Turns out the park and ride is quicker than driving, n=1.
Who knew. BUT luckily everyone will ignore this and other inconvenient truths and continue to drive.
Posted 4 years ago # -
And so it begins
Posted 4 years ago # -
Dartfordisation was always the plan.
Posted 4 years ago # -
We're Scottish, we drive in Edinburgh and Fife and we don't care about global warming?
Posted 4 years ago # -
Might make traffic ‘flow’ better…
Posted 2 years ago # -
“
Full-scale tests to be carried out at Jules Verne climatic wind tunnel in France
“
https://www.bearscot.com/queensferry-crossing-ice-mitigation-trials/
Posted 2 years ago # -
Maybe they should have considered the climatic conditions when designing the bridge, and before building it? Just a thought.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Posted 1 year ago #
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“
Transport Exclusive:Inside the Queensferry Crossing as you’ve never seen it before: Monorail hidden within bridge
“
Scotsman
Posted 7 months ago #
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