Graham Uney Lake District’s fell-top assessor (Climbing photography)

Meet Graham Uney, who has completed his first month as Weatherline’s new fell-top assessor for the Lake District National Park Authority.

Graham poses for a photo, out of the rain, near the summit.

Working alongside Jon Bennett, fellow assessor of 8 years, Graham is rightly proud to have landed one of the most unusual jobs going, climbing Helvellyn daily.

Requiring a love of the great outdoors, in all weather, and mountaineering experience, Graham beat over 100 candidates to land the top job.

Wanting to see what it was like for myself, I spent a day with Graham on the beautiful Lakes mountain.

Starting at 9am, Graham phones his colleague, Jon Bennett, assessor of 8 years, detailing his route up one of the Lake District’s most popular mountains, Hellvelyn. Packing vitals, including crampons and ice-axe if there’s snow and a flask of coffee and a sandwich.

Using a buddy system, every morning Graham phones his colleague with his planned route

Graham preparing a coffee for the route, a vital piece of equipment

Graham locking up before heading out

Graham starting his ascent from Greenside

Working alternate weekly shifts alongside John, Graham will climb Hellvelyn’s lofty 950m (3,117ft) daily. During the climb, Graham’s job is to take note of conditions underfoot, windspeed and temperature. Surrounded by stunning scenery, Graham captures photographs and speaks to to fellow climbers.

An assessors’ job means no break for Christmas, with colleague Jon working Christmas day. And instead of partying over New Year Graham will working that too.

Graham will be battling extreme conditions; with wind chill temperatures can reach as low as minus 16C, often competing with snow drifts and driving rain. Requiring good stamina, over the 7 days shift Graham will ascend a height just short of Mount Everest.

A qualified Winter Mountain Leader and member of the BMC, Graham beat all other candidates with his experience and enthusiasm for the Lakes.

The vital service was threatened with closure three years ago. It has provided a vital service for 40 years, and fortunately sponsors came to the rescue.

Thanks go to Graham Uney and the Lake District National Park Authority for providing this service and letting this shoot happen.

See below for more images from the photo piece, which appeared in The Times newspaper on the 31/12/2014.

I do this as a job, so if you’d like to commission something similar, do not hesitate to get in touch. Or if you’d like to licence these images for a piece, the same applies.

My number is +44 (0) 7901 617571 and email is jp@jonathanpow.com. I’m based in Manchester, England.

For the Weatherline site, go to: http://www.lakedistrictweatherline.co.uk/
For Graham’s blog Wild UK, head to: https://grahamuney.wordpress.com/
Finally, if you want to go to the Lake District (you should!), head to: http://www.lakedistrict.gov.uk/

All images are copyright Jonathan Pow and are not to be used without permission/valid licence

Enjoy the rest of my climbing/walking photographs!

Graham showing Helvellyn on the map

Graham takes a photo for people to see the conditions

Graham stops to enjoys the view on his ascent, snow starts to appear on higher ground at around 500m

A hardy dog making his way to the summit, up Swirral Edge, part of the job includes talking to walkers, advising them if dressed incorrectly or of tricky conditions

Graham ascending, just before reaching the trickiest section of Swirral Edge

Graham climbing with Red Tarn behind

At the summit Graham takes a reading, wind chill on this day was a ‘mild’ minus 4 degrees, with a maximum windspeed 37.3mph

The beautiful view over Red Tarn

Before his descent, Graham stops for a sandwich

Graham types the report after returning, ready for people to view online

The report seen live on the Weatherline website

Graham’s boots ready for tomorrow

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 31st, 2014 at 2:16 PM. It is filed under Editorial & Press Photography, Photo Jobs Blog and tagged with Cumbria, Lake District, North West England. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.