Tear It Up

How silly of me to not take my camera with me when walking to the dentist for a check up. Not that you expect to want to take a photo in such a place, but walking along a main road that dissects part of the local forest is always somewhere that you might see something interesting. Most of the wildlife stay inside the forest areas and don't bother with the road - why would they? I saw a coyote once, but they are hardly exclusive to forests.
Today, however, two of the resident ravens of the forest had found a filling breakfast a bit away from the road. 8:45am and they were already feasting on squirrel. They allowed me to get close, before moving a couple of metres away as I walked past. I don't know whether they had killed the squirrel or not; it's certainly possible. But they are known to let other creatures or circumstances do their dirty work for them, and swoop down afterwards to get a free meal.
It would have been great to have capture on camera an example of the food chain at work (the photo above I took a few weeks ago), or their beautiful, shiny black plumage in the morning sun, their awesome beaks also catching the light.
Or one of the ravens looking at me and swallowing a big bloody piece of squirrel.

The Great Escape

After a bizarre few weeks of winter involving continuous heavy snowfalls, neverending fog, dangerous snowpacks, and temperature inversions, it took me a lot longer than I would have liked to get up into the mountains this season. Coming off of the back of an almost spring like spell of weather, temperatures have finally begun to moderate, and I could see from my window over the last few days that the mountains were once again nicely white on the trees. With fresh snow having fallen over the previous two or more nights, I awoke this morning with an uncontrollable urge to finally get myself up into the mountains this winter. It was partly sunny, the mountains were visible, the forecast was one of clearing skies as the day progressed, but that it would stay at or below freezing at my favourite local mountain. So the decision was made, and the necessary gear and supplies were packed. Unsurprisingly, Mother Nature had something to say, and clouded the skies over and made the mountains disappear once more. However, it was too late to have a change of heart; my mind was set.
On the way there, some breaks in the cloud were evident, but even as I made my way up the mountain, varying severities of fog made me wonder just how worthwhile the trip would become. Now don't get me wrong; I love winter fog and snow, and I would still thoroughly enjoy it if that was the dice the weather were to roll. But I wanted to be able to admire the views; if not down to sea level, at least across to neighbouring peaks. I wanted to snowshoe, and without my own snowshoes, and being on a budget, getting up into the mountains and engaging in winter sports is not a luxury I can afford much this season. Fortunately, when I arrived at the winter sports area, the fog had lifted and there were just a few hanging clouds over some of the surrounding summits despite the overcast skies. The ravens brazenly wandered around, majestic birds that they are, only reinforcing my appreciation of them. Magnificent creatures, so striking, so graceful. Like eagles they have a presence that you cannot fail to be captured by.
I rented my snowshoes, and promptly changed them for another pair as one of the clips was broken. Then it was time to set off on the snowshoe trails; initially, there was a large group of children with some adults coming back, making me think that these trails are going to be busy. I was wrong. For over an hour afterwards, I did not see anyone else. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. When I want to explore nature, I don't want to see anyone else around. At all. I'm not there to make friends, to exchange pleasantries; I'm there to be at one with my surroundings, to be encapsulated by them, to forget the worries and stresses of everyday life. I was blessed today to have such fortune. It was a day I really needed.
The obligatory, and always thoroughly enjoyable, beer up in the mountains after exploring was enjoyed. Twice. Not the best beer around, but today it didn't matter. The memories, the homage to similar explorations in Norway, Poland, and Slovenia; that was what having the beer was about. The service was terrible, but then it so often is in such locations. As it happens, that played into my hands, as an unexpected sunset bathed the mountain hemlock, amabilis fir, and yellow cedar trees in a magical orange light, to bring the perfect closure to the most wonderful day I have experienced for some time. And to think: such a day would not have been possible in the part of the world in which I used to live.

Rant: Balls

I've never understood why tennis players always get a second chance at serving. It seems like at least half of the balls from their first serves hit the net or don't land in the appropriate area on the other side of the court. Are these players crap? Why should mistakes be allowed? You don't see many double faults because they always seem to manage to serve correctly the second time. So they can do it. How about penalising them if they mess it up the first time? I don't pretend to be any good at tennis myself but I don't see the enjoyment of watching it when they have daft rules like this that, to my mind, don't bring out the best in the players and don't contribute positively to the spectator aspect of the sport.

Fog

For the last few days, nature has given us a lot of winter fog here. There is a temperature inversion in the atmosphere, allowing the mountain peaks to be sunny and warm while down here at not so high elevations, the temperature has been staying cold in the fog. I love fog; I love how it changes the world in its own way, creating its unique mood. How it makes the world close in around you, reflecting the streetlights at night before plunging you into murky darkness in unlit areas. I remember one time many years ago in England, having to stop my car down a sidestreet as the fog was so thick that I couldn't even see out of the windscreen. It was necessary to get out to discover where the parked cars were; and yet only two roads away, the air was completely clear. Hiking up to the ski jump in Holmenkollen, Norway, only to stand right next to it and not be able to even see it; but still enjoy hiking in frozen foggy forest nearby. Despite its drawbacks, fog is beautiful, especially in winter with snow lying around. Yes, winter fog is best.

Joys & Perils Of Winter

80cm of snow in 10 days, equivalent to the whole of last winter.
Going to the forest at the crack of dawn each morning to enjoy the coldest temperatures.
Seeing how the world changes every day, and taking photos.
Experiencing spectacular hard frosts.
Blowing snow.
Breath freezing on my coat.
Shovelling half a metre of snow off the balcony so it doesn't flood the apartment when it melts.
Wading through snow and falling into it while measuring it.
Falling over twice on black ice in one evening: once in the road and once on some steps.
Waking up on New Year's morning to see another 7cm of snow and the trees are white once more.
Photos are here
Enjoy.

Mmm Delicious

With the still continuing subzero temperatures here, and heavy snowfalls, it is great fun being out and about. So much so that the other day I was surprised at how tasty the snow was when it was blowing into my mouth. A few brief moments later I realised that it wasn't snow. It was my nose, running straight into my mouth.

Two Hours Of Winter Fame

Winter has really hit hard here recently. All this bulldefecation about winter not starting until the solstice next week. Rubbish. Winter starts when it gets to winter temperatures, whether it be early or late. Living in a country where the winters are cold, winter comes earlier than the solstice pretty much every year. I love winter, I love cold. I love weather; even if that means I perpetaully moan about it when it is hotter than I would like and more humid than I would like. I will quite happily watch weather channels on television; and one in particular has regular slots for showing photographs of the weather as captured by viewers. So I decided that after seeing curious ice formations that I struggle to understand exactly how they managed to form as they did, at and around the base of a small waterfall in the local forest, I would send in my encapsulation to The Weather Network. Lo and behold, they chose it and showed it for two consecutive hours. It was worth getting up at the crack of dawn and venturing outside in the -9°C temperature after all. Wait; it's always worth doing that. Significant snowfall somehow missed this area a few days beforehand, so I was pleased that they also chose a photo of ice and not only photos of the snow that was covering pretty much the rest of the country. Not a bad result, considering I had never sent in anything to a television station before. Then came the snow.
Between fifteen and twenty centimetres of wonderfully powdery, soft, arctic outflow winter frozen heaven. I never cease to be amazed and thrilled by just how much everything is transformed by a good covering of snow, and how suddenly the whole world is different. With temperatures forecast to continue the last few days' trend of staying below freezing day and night until Christmas, with more snow before then, a white Christmas is surely a certainty. Which is fantastic. What would be even more fantastic would be a white 365 days a year. Leap years can have the extra day without snow, just so I can see and enjoy everything that would otherwise be hidden.