Frozen porter

This is the porter the drillers use to move equipment around, it is currently on a winter holiday. It has been parked here since november, in a very exposed location so snow hasn't gathered around it very much, but snow has stuck to it.

Tough Pup

About 3 weeks ago there was a sled dog race that came through the region, unfortunately we didn't get to see it. Apparently, about 90km from here 3 dogs were lost, so for the past 3 weeks these animals have been wandering the tundra and have endured temperatures below -40C and wind up to 90km/h.
This dog showed up at the front door of the camp early one morning, it was obviously very tired, hungry and dehydrated. The dog has a rabies vaxination tag, so the camp manager was able to trace the owner through a the vet that dud the vaxination. Currently the dog is being cared for by the drillers, who are feeding it up as it has lost a lot of weight. hopefully it can be reunited with it's owner and the rest of the team at some point.

Window Cleaner?

While working at my desk I noticed the light coming through my tunnel suddenly got dimmer, I looked up to see the tunnel blocked by Kirk.
Lastnight and today we are being hit by another Blizzard, so my tunnel is now blocked by snow again.

My View

Thought I'd try again with the shot from my window. I had to dig it out again today after two days of snow and high winds.

Digging out... Again

After two more days of Raglan's finest weather the new drifts were quite impressive.

Not much of a picture

This is the view from my desk, sort of hard to see in this image, but it is looking out through about 6 feet of snow. I dug this tunnel yesterday to let some light into my room as I wes getting fed up with the dark.

Digging out in Raglan

Two Guys digging for the windows in at Donaldson camp, Raglan.

Digging out in Raglan

After 2 1/2 days of high winds and snow this is what Donaldson camp looked like, Snow upto the roof!

Here you see two guys digging out some of the windows to let the light in to the offices. In the foreground you can see where I tunneled to my window. My window was totaly burried so I had to pace the distence from an adjacent window, then stard digging, hoping to hit my window, fortunatly my paceing was bang on and I found my window.

Home & office for a month

Yep, this is where it all happens - well not much is happening really, the weather has made for a slow start to the season. I have been working on reports from other projects.

In this shot you see my bed on the left, on the right are 3 pules EM receivcers, charging ready for a day in the field. My wall is covered with all sorts of useful information, windchil chart, schedule, transmitter loop maps and such. My view from the window is blocked by snow, which I have since removed to let the sun shine in, the window has now frosted over, so I still don't have a view but at least I have natural light.

2 of 3 Suns

Had to get out of the office today, the weather looked nicer than it was, -35C and windy.

Sun Dogs, or 3 Suns as I heard it called here, are a fairly common sight here, there is often a full 22 degree halo around the sun. Before going out I put on my telephoto lens as I was hoping to photograph snow blowing along the ground up on the hill, but it was too damn cold to go up there. The wide angle lens would have been better for this shot but there you go... The sun here is rather over exposed, but I wasn't going to mess around with a tripod and take a HDR set, getting one shot was suprisingly hard in the cold.

About time for another post

Well I haven't posted in a while, because I haven't taken any photos to distract you from my awful writing.
We are currently in a run of weather days here, first it was too cold (below -45C with windchill) today there was a storm forecast, and it did eventually come, so it was a good thing the guys didn't go out. It looks like the storm will last into tomorrow, to another weather day!. Fun Fun Fun!

Danaldson Camp

I my way back from the Crone shack today I stopped to snap a quick shot of the camp. You can see the snow plough tracks in the forground, left after clearing up after a few days of wind and drifting snow.

Northern Quebec

Just a view shot from the plane on the way to Raglan. I posted it for two reasons: I found it an interesting view geographically. It is logged woodland, the white areas are treeless and snow covered, the green areas are the buffer zone around waterways.
Not sure why but this view created a bit of an optical illusion, making it look like the rivers were running along the tops of the hills.

Back in Raglan

Made it into Raglan Yesterday no problems. Not much to say about the place other than COLD! I checked the thermometer last night and the temperature was below the scale which ends at -40C or -40F which ever you like. I would guess it was about -45C. It is warmer today, -32C but with the windchill it feels like -50.
I'll post some photos in the next day or two, once I get things in the processing office sorted out and have got some work done, or at least started.

Back to Raglan

I left (the house) for Raglan at 4:45 this morning, but my flight was canceled, so I managed to get on a flight leaving at 10:15. I am now in Montreal relaxing ready for the trip North tomorrow.
Weather looks nice up there, -38C tonight, but much warmer tomorrow at a toasty -31C and sunny!

check it out at Raglan Weather

Caribou

ok, I'll try to post a picture...
This afternoon we went out for a short ride the the area where the caribou hang out. We see them every day on our way to the survey area, but I don't usually take my camera into the field, so didn't get any pictures until today. It was snowing quite hard and I used 400 ISO, so the image is quite grainy.

28.8 Kbps

No pictures today, I am on a 28.8 kbps dial-up connection.
Well I made it to Stephenville (Not actually Cornerbrook) The job here was described to me as a "tough job" and that it is! The grid is on the side of a steep hill, some sections are almost vertical. Our tactick has been to ride the Skidoo to the top by a less steep route then basically slide down the hill attempting to stop at the pickets and take our readings. The snow is very deep here, the pickets (1 metre long) were placed in snow that was over waist deep and now a lot of them are buried.
Today there is a wind warning and snowfall warning, We went up to the grid to continue our survey, but the weather was too bad, there was a lot of drifting snow, zero visability and parts of the trail had been filled by snow slides. The wind makes it hard to survey, but the blowing snow causes white-outs, which can be very disorientating, so it is the first time in my year as an operator with Crone that I have had to call a weather day.

And we're out!

After a day of digging we finally hit the road. In this image you can see the snow was up to Michelle's shoulder height, with even more piled up where we had to throw it. After getting al that shifted I had to go and remove the truck from the drift where I "parked" it the night before.

Getting there...

Digging out took a while, and several cups of coffee. This image is looking down the driveway toward the road which lies about 3 m from the shovel.

Supost to be going to Cornerbrook

I was supost to be going to Cornerbrook today for about a week of work, however, the weather had other plans.
I had been attending a metting at the GEO centre all day, so I didn't see how bad the weather was getting untill about 5 pm when I left. The snow flakes were about the size of ping pong balls, and there were lots of them falling. Usually large flakes are an indication that there will be little snow, but you could tell these fellas ment busines! The drive home was long and hard going, snow was already deep on the roads and drifting with near zero visibility in places. When I got home I beached the truck in a snow drift by the house and helped Michelle dig her way onto the drive way.