A day in the office

I spent a few days with my sister Kathy who works as an Avalanche observer in North Cairngorm. There is still an amazing amount of snow, even for this time of year! Her job is to collect data by digging a pit in the snow and gather information, based on snow crystal type, snow temperatures, hardness etc, and use it to give an avalanche prediction for the area. This is done every day during the winter in all weathers, even on the windiest days. You can see here the depth of snow which is still around, in this snow pit she found about 7 different layers of snow type. For further information about the Scottish Avalanche Information Service go the the website: http://www.sais.gov.uk/

Training update

Dram and Einich

This weekend was spent training Einich under Striding Edge and the surrounding hillside. We made quite a bit of progress working larger areas to extend the length of time she works before locating a hidden person. Red Tarn proved to be quite a challenge, there where quite a number of onlookers, some unknowingly stood right next to the hidden person who was sheltering in a bivvybag (protection against the weather). I think they must have got a bit of a surprise when, what they thought was a rock started to move as Einich approached and stood barking next to it. A big thankyou goes out to all our very willing volunteers who give up their spare time to sit out on a fellside in all weathers.

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera so I have included a photo from last months training in the Cairngorms.

Still snowing in Cairngorm

Einich at work

February has been a month of travelling between the Lakes, Glencoe and the Cairngorms. We have been blessed with fantastic snow conditions and great weather. This last week I have been in the Cairngorms with SARDA (Lakes) training Einich to locate people buried in Avalanches. We had a group of hard working volunteers who didn't mind being buried in snowholes several feet below the surface and wait for the dogs to come and find them. The dogs located them by picking up an air born scent which filtered up from the snow, they then dig and bark to locate the source. It's great to see how quickly a dog can pick up a scent and home in on it. All the dogs did really well. By midweek a fresh snowfall arrived which was enough to closed the ski area for a couple of days. We seem to have been digging all week.

'Peat Light' Exhibition opening!

I'd just like to say a big thankyou to everyone that came along to view my exhibition opening last Saturday. It was a great success and very enjoyable chatting to you all! If anyone would like to go along to see my work, it will be on show in the Severn Studio, Brantwood, East of The Lake, Coniston, until 7th March 2010.

New Exhibition at Brantwood Coniston

This Saturday is the start of my latest exhibition "Peat Light", held in the Severn Studio at Brantwood, Coniston. There will be new work showing, many are of local scenes and some Scottish landscapes. It will be showing until 7th March 2010. For further details go the Brantwood's website www.brantwood.org.uk

Sketching in big gloves!!

Happy New Year. An Teallach from Opinan.

Dave, Einich and I spent the New Year in the Far North before returning back to Glencoe. The weather was a mix of blizzards and beautiful sunshine, but always well below freezing with a biting wind, bringing the temperatures down even further. Despite the extreme cold, Dave managed to stand for hours in the pursuit of the perfect photograph, and I managed to sketch in big gloves stuffed with handwarmers. Conditions underfoot was quite hard going, the soft deep snow meant we had to break trail most of the time. Luckily I managed to borrow some snow shoes which made walking a little easier, although it does help if you remember to bring your walking poles.! (I'd forgotton mine).

Einich in survival mode!

it's amazing how dogs can suddenly spring into action when a sandwich appears.

Winter Wonderful!

The view this morning........I love it!!!

It's been snowing on and off since Saturday, and no chance of driving out anywhere to get supplies. It came as a bit of a relief to see the snowplough (Tractor) coming up the road.

Just some of the massive piles of snow that have been shovelled out of the way.