My first day at work for the small environmental consultants commenced at 8am. We got grabbed the sampling equipment and got in Jason's giant SUV (ute) with the representative from the government department of the environment. Before heading to the sampling site we drove a few blocks to a carpark downtown that provided a good view of the mountains above Gold Creek. 'See that crack there?' Said Jason, gesturing to the fine hairline fissure in the thick embankment of snow on the crown of the mountain range. ''Bound to be an avalanche soon'.
Below the fissure there was a heavy whack of snow, perched at the ready for gravity's steady pull to lead her down the cliff-slope and into the cravasse. We were hoping to be standing in this cravasse in a few minutes, extracting 500ml of water from Gold Creek to test for mercury content, in this, the town water supply that spewed forth from the old mine shaft.
My companions decided that the day was cold, as it had been for the last few, and therefore snow-melt was significantly retarded. It was safe to enter the avalanche zone.
On-site, an earlier avalanche was frozen in motion at the creek bed. Jason donned safety clothing to protect the sample from contamination from his mercury tooth-fillings, and we were home and hosed.
No comments:
Post a Comment