> Find galleries, blog posts and many more episodes at www.mountainairpodcast.uk“It’s about being prepared for what nature throws at us”Interview recorded 27/09/23Since 2009, Mark Diggins has been the coordinator of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service (SAIS). This valuable role means overseeing hazard forecasts for Lochaber, Glen Coe, Craigh Meagaidh, Torridon and the two halves of the Cairngorms… as well as being part of the team that inspects “the most unstable” slopes and snowpacks on a daily basis. In part thanks to this excellent service, Mark is keen to highlight that being avalanched in Scotland is actually “a very rare event”, and that one of the guiding principles of the SAIS is to inform and encourage people to make sound judgements about their own winter adventures, and to be more likely enjoy the icy peaks as a consequence. In his words: “the mountains are a really important place where we can learn and develop as people”.If you’d like to learn more about how avalanche hazard is measured and judged - and how the formation of a snowpack can lead it to becoming unstable - you’ll find plenty of fascinating insight in this episode. What you’ll also find is a comprehensive picture of how a person finds themselves in the head of such an exciting and essential public service. Mark’s life has seen him inspired by early youth hosteling trips (where he’d load himself up with heavy tins of peas and beans and sleep on piles of bracken), to serving an apprenticeship with his local climbing club, to being mentored in “how not to be blown over” by climbing great John Cunningham. Having dedicated himself to qualifying as an IFMGA Mountain Guide, he spent 16 years living and working in the European alps, eventually taking up other projects working alongside film and TV crews on remote and challenging projects across the globe. His adventures have taken him: across “poorly mapped” Greenland; “caving” down Low’s Gully on Malaysia’s Mt Kinabulu (and climbing up vines when reaching the jungle terrain that followed); to volcanic acid pools in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression; and to the echoing sounds of the Bedouin call to prayer in tall desert canyons.> sais.gov.uk> markdiggins.com> bmg.org.uk/guide/?mark-diggins