Through the snow came Mo and the boys on the Liverpool Repeater which was roughly 46 miles from where I was. Rishworth moor sits about 430m asl which explains the reason why I could. It's not a massive distance by any stretch but certainly more than normal. I think the sensitivity of the Baofeng radios is also a contributing factor.
Atmospherics do play a big part in radio propagation I'm told so perhaps snow doesn't really matter? Interesting nonetheless. More high ground shenanigans to come