Skiing at 40 below

Yousers, that's cold! 40 below is the point where the Celcius and Fahrenfeit scales give you the same thing. Which for most people is 'stay inside, are you kidding me?'



But it was Heike's birthday and I needed some fresh air and a blow out, so I tagged along with Heike and Ben. it was the coldest any of us had skied in I think. But we were well rugged-up and Heike's new reliable Subie got us out and back no problems. (Apart from when she nearly drive it into the bridge leaving the hot springs...)

We skied up the N. Fork of the Chena River only a mile from Chena Hotsprings. We had a soak out there when we were done, meeting up with Pat Cotter who'd been out checking his Beaver traps (nada).

A totally different kind of outing to last weekend, that's for sure. Crazy temperature swings up here in the winter. At 20 F (-5 C), its really comfortable, and you can stop and chat, enjoying the views, sun and company. At -40 C we really dressed warm, fired up the chemical hand and foot warmers, and kept moving except for stops to swings feet and hands to force the blood back into them, and the occasional photo and a few quick words. I've never worn so much, moved for two hours and not sweated.

It was an exceptionally clear, crisp day. The hint of a breeze took out breath away down valley on the way back out - for some of which we had the sun on our faces, and boy was that nice! Pretty neat to be out on the Yukon Quest dog trail too. We could follow the trail markers, although they'll need to do some work in a few stream crossings. We had to navigate some open water at one point - crazy give the temperature. It was only a few inches deep too, so we weren't in any danger although you'd not want your dogs getting cold wet feet out there.