Photos and words by Rich

Anyone who has lived in England over the last three months will tell you that the weather here has been unreal. Most major skate events from the start of June have been rained off, or a washout – earlier this year we had to cancel Summer Session Round 1 thanks to underwater train stations and shut motorways, the first time we’ve ever not run an event due to the weather. A week ahead of Round 2 the forecast was looking really good – but obviously we must have done something to really piss off the weather gods because, at the last minute, a low pressure system appeared out of nowhere and dumped a load of rain on the Peak District.

However, what the malevolent forces guiding the weather didn’t take into account that we’re British. We’re absolutely happy to have a BBQ in the pissing rain, or stay on the beach even though it’s blowing a near gale and the sun is nowhere in sight. So a little bit of sideways rain and howling wind isn’t going to stop us bombing, carving and sliding our favourite hills, oh no…

James, flatspin on super-switchback on a pre-session hill-scouting mission. He's pulling the board round so hard the outside wheels are off the ground - beast!

The format for the Summer Sessions has been unchanged for six years now. We hire out a bunkhouse in the middle of the Peak District, an area of natural parkland with some nice twisty roads threading through it in the centre of England, cobble together some vans and cars, fill them up with skateboarders and go and hunt some hills down. This year we had a really good mix of abilities, with some super-good sliders attending alongside some skaters who had never really dropped a hill before – so lots of opportunity to learn new stuff.

Everyone arrived on Friday night to an ominous sky and a rising wind. We managed to get some good runs in the dry though, packing everyone off to a local slide hill. The tricks started coming pretty fast from the top sliders, but that didn’t stop some less experienced riders getting stuck in, and soon we had first pendulum slides being learned alongside toeside flatspins and backside powerslides. We finally made it back to the bunkhouse as it got dark to a feast whipped up by the Lush chefs accompanied by probably a bit too much beer.

Anton Carving up Hill 10 just before the rain happened. Long, smooth and fun.

There was a plan to wake up super early for a dawn raid on a local “A” road, but we all woke up to intermittent drizzle so it didn’t quite happen. However, that didn’t stop the groups getting out for some early morning runs. Bleary eyes and beer heads were soon replaced by adrenaline-fuelled chatter as the vans moved from one hill to another, scoring some sweet carving and bombing runs on (just about) dry roads. Then the rain came just in time for lunch at the pub…

I’ve never really enjoyed skating in the rain that much, but the sessions that followed on Saturday afternoon were really, really fun. A trip to a local steep slope turned into a longest slide “competition,” with some really silly speeds and distances going on, and some monster bails into muddy verges too. Wet roads are pretty ideal for getting a feel for sliding, so there was plenty of progression going on at all levels. A small group managed to sneak a quick session in at the infamous “Hell Bend” on the way back home, a challenge in the dry, returning to the bunkhouse with stories of perfect runs through a river on the road and some monster crashes into a nettle filled ditch. Good times…

Rahul went faster and crasher harder than pretty much anyone - does he ever stop smiling?

Summer Session Saturday nights are usually pretty legendary – this one was no exception. We all woke up Sunday morning to find stickers on the rafters, bruises all over the place, a balance board on the table (!) a room full of empty beer cans and memories of a promise to surf down a dam…

Si did way more embarrasing stuff than this after it got dark...

With the road wet we needed some other entertainment. Someone found some red dish/sledge/toboggan things in the bunkhouse, perfect for wet grassy slopes. The Peak district is full of reservoirs, quite a few of which have earth dams covered in grass holding them back. One thing lead to another, and after breakfast we found ourselves all together on a nearby dam egging each other on for some grass sledging! James from Bournemouth took the speed record, and there were some pretty humungous ragdoll wipeouts as people span out on sheep’s poo and ruts in the grass. Somehow we all escaped the farmer chasing us off on his quad bike, piled back into the vans and headed back to the Quarry Hill for some more sliding.

James busts out a layback in the wet on the mega-slippery Quarry hill. The road looks like it's been varnished!

The weather was starting to get a bit better (well, it had stopped raining quite as much), and the Session finished with a cool slide jam in the wet on what has to be the slidiest hill in the Peaks, complete with the odd cement truck! Jay, Matt, Nick, Stevo and James were all killing it with some techy standup, and once again there were some huge bails into the kerbs as some of the carvers went for speed and distance in the wet. As people started to filter off to catch trains and lifts back home, all the talk was of how awesome the session had been and how good next year is going to be. Bring it on!

Massive thanks go out to our drivers - Nat (wafflesole), Pete (busman), Stevo, Jono and Nick, everyone who helped us with the washing up, James and Si for entertaining everyone, Stevo for showing us the craziest corner we've ever seen, everyone who travelled such a long way to the event despite the shocking weather forecast, spending extotionate amounts of money on rail fares in the process, especially Jay from Paignton, Jono and co from Plymouth and Will from Glasgow, and lastly Jane at Thorpe Farm Bunkhouse for putting up with us again. See you all next year!

Want another take on the event? Check out this write up in DFRskatezine by Steve Broomer. Cheers Steve and Nat for taking photos!