Coldest you have ever been ?

They're talking about the Edmond Fitzgerald on Newagtalk.
The SS Morell broke up and sank 9 years earlier Nov 29 1966
A survivor was picked up a day later in 29 degree water, with a pea coat, life vest, and underwear. On some wreckage with several dead crew members.

Said he never sailed again. Ya think?

I’ve been in some dang cold weather, but I doubt any of it compares to that. Wet cold is a different kind of cold. Coldest day I had to work outside was fixing oil well flare igniters in North Dakota, ambient temp was -45, the wind chill that day was -70. I never want to be that cold again.

Ice fishing in Pittsburg NH....-45 on the thermometer.....not a stitch of wind..thank God.

What did you wear in temps like that ? I thought about going up and driving, but decided I was too old to chain up for mud.
Don't think I could wear the mask for checking tanks in that weather either.

You are one hardy person.

Cold enough for 50/50 mixed antifreeze to start freezing. Lol

lol im gonna sound like a wimp but we don't get that kind of cold. coldest I remember it ever being in my life time is -15 wind chills 0 degrees ambient temp

I duck hunted at -24. My dog didn't act too happy about retrieving.

There is nothing you can wear in those temps to keep comfortable, not for me. Best I could do was stay warm enough to not die lol. Did it for ten winters and I’ll never go back.

My usual dress for winter in that area was: First layer of long Jon’s, second layer of long Jon’s, third layer light sweats, fourth layer heavier sweats, fifth layer jeans, sixth layer insulated bibs, repeat for top half. For footwear, pair of light socks under heavy socks under Baffin boots. I can’t stand to have my face covered so I never wore a balaclava or anything like that. For gloves just a pair of knit gloves under those stupid impact gloves they make you wear. But that day I was fixing old style igniters, which requires you to thread an 8/32nds nut onto a spark plug, can’t do that with gloves on. At least I can’t. After I lost three or four in the snow I had to resign to taking my gloves off and getting it done as quick as I could lol.

Wearing oxygen in those temps isn’t fun. Then again it never is.

Thank you for the response

-27

-50 wind chill. Leather boots would freeze the instant i got out of the car. Beautiful moonlit night my buddy and i called coyote it was -29 temp with zero wind. Bolt wouldnt cycle well. Had two dogs chargin hard at a 3/4 sprint-scope froze and i couldnt dial it down to a lower power that i shouldve had it set at in the first place. That was a fun night and i never really felt cold.

-54 west yellowstone montana

Muzzloader season in December. I dont even know how cold it was that day, guessing in the single digits. I set out to do a day of still hunting in fresh snow. I dressed a little light because I was planning on walking and busting brush and cattails trying to find a deer. Late in the afternoon I found one of those spots that just screams you will kill a deer here. So with about an hour and a half left in the day I sat to wait. I kept getting cooler but I thought I can tough it out. Just about the time shooting hours were over, serious shivering started. It was an extremely long walk back to the truck into the wind with the temp falling. The only time I have felt that beginning stage of hypothermia like that, it scared me how quickly it started. I've broken through the ice up to the waist and wasn't as cold as I was that day.

-36 wolf hunting in Kapakasking Ontario , don't know what the wind chill was but it was nasty .

I went from T-shirt weather 66 F in Tucson and flew to St Louis to a -15 with a wind chill of -55. I was amazed my truck started at the airport.

University for me was a four year course called outdoor adventure leadership, and three times come to mind.

First was in wilderness first responder training. In our real life scenarios, half the group would set up a winter rescue, and the other half would "save" us. Extra points for realism. February, 20 below. I snuck a chainsaw onto campus, and cut a hole in one of the frozen lakes we were doing the scenario on. Ten mins before I jumped in and actually got hypothermic to simulate an ice rescue. The rescuing group managed to warm me up which was nice. The ten min walk back to the university warmed me up even more.

Next was when two buddies did ice immersion testing. I went twelve mins in the water motionless and could still self rescue. Feeling the cold blood from your extremities hit your core when I climbed out felt crazy.


Next was a whitewater rescue course just after ice out. 8 hours of riding down rapids, wearing only a shorty wet suit and a life jacket practicing rescues. That was actually the worst because it was so prolonged

Coldest was not necessarily because of extreme temps but not prepared for what I got. Supposed to be a day trip to Jersey but got trapped in Philadelphia. The heater on the truck I was driving wasn’t working. The sun went down and the wind picked up coming off the water. Tried to get some sleep and woke up shivering so hard I thought the muscles in my back were going to snap my spine. I have not been close to being that cold since.

3 straight days under Ice Beaver'in

-40. Plus wind

Wasn't cold while moving

As boys at just after Christmas we had to check out our new stuff. My pal got some hip waders and “waterproof” gloves. I got some ammo. We found a place in the creek where a bunch of carp were trapped in a pool, and ice at each end. Well... it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Being boys we had to get them out and up on the bank. We took turns with the hip waders and not really waterproof gloves. After getting a bit deep for the hip waders and picking carp out of the water we we’re rather soggy and cold. We realized this too late. We were a mile from home and half way there feet and hands were not working real good. We flopped over a barb wire fence, crashed in the house and lay in front of the wood burner. That pain when everything starts to warm back up is oh so exquisite. Add in his mom standing there with hands on hips yelling at how stupid we were made it even colder! We both got a lil nip in hands and feet that trouble me to this day.

You southern people crack me up!

Pete

-30 to -40 wind chill guiding hunters is the coldest I can remember.



I’m sure we do but don’t laugh to much until you have pulled a well in the middle of a corn field in June or July down here. Air temp was 113 not sure what the heat index was and didn’t care. lol

Me and a buddy tipped a canoe and got dumped into an icy beaver pond. There was a quarter-inch of ice on the surface that had formed overnight and we were using the canoe as an icebreaker to check our traps (dumb, I know).

We were able to get to shallow water and get the canoe righted and then back to shore. I had hip boots on that filled with water. My legs went completely numb, like walking on two wooden stumps.

-30 to -35 for 2 weeks laying on my back on the ice of lake Simcoe doing overhead welding on coverd dock slips for a big marina. The wind blowing off the ice and never getting sunlight was brutal, plus being young and broke i never owned any warm clothes. i dint think i thawed out till spring.

-30 with a -60 wind chill. That was in Kansas sometime in the 80's

I checked the weather before going on a 4 day weekend hunting trip. The weather was wrong. I didn't bring the proper sleeping bag. I after the first day I couldn't find dry wood. I've been in colder Temps but with proper gear. It only got down to the single digits but I was cold, hungry and miserable. I was too hard headed to call it quits too.

But it was a dry cold......

-20 daytime highs, -35 at night for a couple weeks. Most typical winters here.

Been out in -50 lots of times, but the coldest I've ever been was when I ran the Yukon Quest dog race. The temps dropped when I crossed over into Alaska and although I dont know how cold it was, I know it was brutal. The stretch of trail along Birch creek was the worse. Saw -65 in Fairbanks one winter too.

December 88

This southern boy had been flown into Frankfurt Airport on Thanksgiving Day .After a few days of processing I get to my unit in Grafenwohr just in time to be issued gear for a winter training exercise and loaded up to go to the woods.
There was a foot of snow on the ground and it was an iffy thing just getting to the training area. Being as new and green as they come I was assigned to fetch and tote tents, cots and such. During the course of this while toting an armload of cots in the dark I managed to walk out onto snow covered ice hiding a really deep rut. Deep enough to soak me to my belly when I broke through.
Even though I reported this to the NCO in charge work still carried on and only by keeping moving was I able to continue. Somewhere early in the AM I was finally told to hit the sack. It was when I stripped down and started wringing out my drawers that the NCO realized I wasn't just a slacker.

I know not Alaska cold, but for an Alabama boy it was quite the shock.

The coldest I’ve ever been....happened every winter in the mine. You would work 10 hours in a wet loading section, crawling in foot deep water with water pouring out of the roof. The underground temperature was 55 F. Doesn’t sound to bad? Wait till you have to drive out in intake air course, with 100,00 CFM of 0 degree air hitting you while you’re going 15 mph against the air current. Your wet clothes freeze solid in seconds, and your skin looses all feeling.

January 27 1989. The thermometer read minus 82 F We had several days right around that temperature but that was the lowest. Folks who had oil heat were SOL because the oil would not flow. They had to move in with families who heated with wood.


One guy tried to remove the felt filter from his oil line. Lost all his fingers in less than two minutes

No incoming air freight or mail because it was too cold to fly. They even closed the school

Only one vehicle in town would run and the owner kept it going for 12 days.


I think Paul was in Fairbanks at that time. Pete too probably

It was darned inconvenient !

Operation Jack Frost , January ‘76. Yukon stove with a 55 gallon drum of Mo Gas perched outside the tent was a lifesaver !

A customer of mine called and asked that I come out and fix the water well in the bull pasture if I remember correctly it was around -45 with out wind chill added .
Thankfully I only had to break loose 3 joints of pipe with two 24" offset pipe wrenches, when the water started spraying all over it would hit my coat and fall off because it was already frozen .
I went through 24 pairs of cotton chore gloves in a hurry !

The winter of 1968 -69 in Wolf Point was brutally cold also when it warmed up to zero people were running around in tee shirts because it was to warm out compared to what it had been ! There was many days around -40 / -60 without wind chill
Allan

You win.

Coldest I've seen is -45 F straight temp. Visiting Cass Lake Mn.

Coldest I've played outside in is -30 F straight temp. Ice Fishing north of Sudbury, ONT

You know it’s cold when you drill a hole ..for ice fishing....and steam comes out..

The coldest I have ever been was a winter camping trip in boyscouts. Went to Lake George CO. Scouts have an acreage there. My sleeping bag on that trip was a WWII army surplus mummy bag with feathers in it. I slept on the floor of a tent. It was hours before sunup when me and several others built a fire and sat around it waiting for morning. I don't know what the temperature was but it was bad cold. I don't think anybody slept much that night.

Got cold enough a few years ago on a trapping adventure to WY the cooking oil froze. Pickup battery was dead. Had to push start it. I have peeled frozen eggs to thaw in a skillet many times but only had cooking oil freeze that one time. I slept fine. Learned back in those boy scout days that you need a warm sleeping system. When I got up it was a bit chilly though.

I was in North Pole. It did get a mite chilly for about a two week spell. I've shown it before - here's what my outdoor thermometer looked like on January 30, 1989.

I've been in -42, but it was totally clear and calm. We bundled up and took a hike and we were fine. Your feet don't slip and slide on snow and ice when its 42 below

Minot, North Dakota. -40s. It was brutal.

-42* F near Cold Lake, Alberta sitting in a deer stand
awaiting the arrival of Mr Big Antlers.

walleyed

- 42 in Warrensburgh, NY in 1968. Would warm up to - 30 during the day. The cold does not bother me, but the wind. Coldest I've ever been was when I went through the ice beaver trapping.
These days I'm on blood thinners and I really feel the cold, love that wood stove.

Feb. '96 I was in central MN and woke up at 6am to my wife calling me from our home in Northern MN saying the car wouldn't start. It was -35 where I was, so I asked her how cold was it? Surprised because the car always started, -60. I told her that was God's way of telling her to stay home!

ice fishing on Lake of the Woods in Minnesota at -35.

I used to walk to work in Fairbanks anytime it got below -35. I figured it was easier on me than the PU. I was never cold on the way. Beaver hat, mits, bunny boots and carhartt coveralls. A insulated cup of coffee and away I would go. It was about a 2 mile walk. You can dress for the cold, but its hard on vehicles.

70 & 80’s in Fairbanks would drop to 50 below for a couple weeks several times a winter. You could count on power going out sometimes for several days.
For the first 6 years of the Quest I broke trail from Chena Hot Springs to mile 101 Steese. It was a no excuse job cause the race was on! Birch Creek was always the coldest and the track felt like it had 2X4’s across it. Rosebud was also bad when the wind would blow. Freeze flesh in a minute!”

I remember one year at work it went down to 50-60 below for almost the whole month of January.
The hydraulics on the hi-rail truck would not work,so they sent some thinner oil which only succeeded in burning out the pump.
Luckily we had acess to a railway speeder so we could get out and change all the broken rails after each train.At that temp the older steel gets so brittle that some will snap clean after each train.
Had to do a track patrol (inspection) at those low temps before and after each train.

Little did I know it at the time but the coldest day of my life was when my first wife said "I do"

November 14, 1976 Attigan pass north slope of Alaska. Final tie-in we had to keep propane bottles on the bus so we could heat the bottles in the tent to preheat the pipe. The weather station at Dead Horse air strip announced the temperature was -83 F actual and the wind was at 40 knots. They said the wind chill was somewhere below 120. We were about twenty miles from camp and a couple thousand feet higher. Working at forty - fifty below was fairly common with a few minus sixties thrown in. I remember guys carving the frost on the inside of the bus windows, it was about two inches thick. I also remember thinking it was as close to being in outer space as I would ever be. Saw tempered steel break like glass. Fingers and toes still get painfully cold very quickly.

Hunted and worked in 40 below but the coldest I've ever been was after three hours of standing chest deep in a cold lake at 8,000 feet in latex waders and only jeans underneath. I was catching 18 to 24 inch wild browns on dry flies with nobody around and stupidly fished until they stopped eating after dark. I got back to the truck barely as I was hypothermic already. I sat in the truck for two hours to feel normal.

I'd rather work in 40 below with decent gear than that.

Pete

Flipped a canoe 3 miles from my vehicle while duck hunting. Learned then that canoes are not for dangerous water and why I always recommend a boat when someone on here asks about it for trapping.

I was at Happy Valley (Giggle Gulch) I believe November 1976. It was so cold that the planes weren’t flying. I got a flight to Fairbanks after New Years. Upon getting to Fairbanks we were the 19th plane waiting in line to land because of the ice fog. We circled for an hour and were next in line to land, the other planes all went on to Anchorage. All of a sudden the pilot said were cleared to land. Our flight was the only one that landed in over a couple of days. Power at home was off for a couple of days and was really cold.

I've been in negative temps many times, Northern Maine, Washington State, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota. But the coldest I have ever been was in Saudi Arabia, Jan 1991, sitting in a DFP in the middle of the desert, 40+ mph wind, 24 degrees, foggy. No thermals, just my desert BDUs. That was a long night.

Dropped my 4 wheeler though the ice on the Missouri River. Completely submerged 3 mile walk to the pickup. Wet cold and lucky to be alive. Though for sure my hands were gone.

Just last winter winter we had 9 days where it was -60 or colder. My thermometer went out but some of my neighbors said it got down to -65. Machines are too difficult to get started and hard on them if you do. Spent most of the time at home putting wood on the fire.

The coldest I felt that I can remember was in August a few years ago. Went out with some guys up river on what I though was going to be a short evening hunt. Ended up going 3+ hours up got a bear and packed it out. Sweating away I thought we would make camp and spend the night. Nope back in the boat for a night ride home. I didn't have my warm clothes and not even a windshield in the boat. Clenched and loosened my muscles for the next six hours. No hot tea and no extra food for energy. Now I take plenty of warm clothes and a sleeping bag if it's not my boat.

Limestone Maine, 1965, radio said -54 with 45mph wind. Tried to get my friends VW bug started. Tried for about a half hour to no avail so towed it to an unheated garage and put a light in the engine compartment and a blanket over the hood. it finally started an hour later. After that, all of us that worked together would take turns starting our vehicles every hour around the clock, until the temp got back up to -25. That I believe was for about 12 days. My beer froze just walking to the car, and my cigarette went out. Took all of the fun out of it.

the coldest I ever was it was not that cold and it wasn't either of the times I went through the ice


trying to get heat in the pole shed we were working on , it had just turned cold and snowing kind of a mix of freezing rain and snow , jeans and a flannel shirt felt fine when I went up the ladder, I had no intention of laying on that roof that long


hey Pete we need you on the roof to put the stack up for the Modine heater. sure I park my truck on the far side of the pole shed , toss the rope over and they tied me off to the hitch on my truck so I couldn't fall

what should have taken 20 minutes turned into about 90 that flew by and I was shaking so bad when I came down soaked through , laying on steel working on the flashing and getting it all together.

I was 16 or 17 stood in front of a salamander heater for what seemed like an hour to quit shaking and teeth chattering it may have not been that long.

as far as I know it is still holding an no leaked in over 25 years

It got to -35 here in January of 1994 and I believe that holds the record as the coldest ever recorded in KY. It also snowed 20" and was real cold for several days

On top of a long ridge in NE Wy setting fox traps. Actual temp was -36, but was about a fourty mph wind blowing out of the north constantly. That was about as cold as I've ever been. Thought I was dressed for it, but. needed more layers. Was worth it though, had quite a few fox bouncing on the trip back through there!

Too funny, the second coldest night of my life was outside of Spangdalem AB, Germany. Exercise Salty Demo in 1985. Set up an ambush, light rain, pretty much soaked us getting into position, then the temps bottomed out. Sooo cold, laying still, soaked to the bone until morning.

-40F blowing a wet 40 knots on the deck of a ship in the south sandwich islands. Had warm gear and foulies on and every orifice duct taped shut (boots to pants, sleeves to gloves). Facemask and goggles. After about 15 minutes, I couldn't wait to get back inside.

But we figured you had about 2 minutes of lucidity before passing out if you went over the side. Hard to imagine somebody lasting hours in it like the original post.

I remember that year, couldn't have told you the year, but we don't usually get much colder than 10-14 below zero. That year, it was -25 to -26 back in eastern Ks. I was pickiing up 220 conis in trail sets for coon, and got careless. By the time I got that 220 off my fingers, there wasn't any feeling left! Must be why I remember it. We used to get some mean subzero stuff when I was a kid, but it hasn't been that way for at least fifty years.

Back on page 2, white 17 tells a bit about the Siberian High Pressure that capped interior Alaska for a couple weeks in early 1989. Yeah, it was a bit chilly. We had a local radio station, and they repeatedly reported -75F. First thing in the morning, noon, evening. Sounded like a broken record. Knowing that the temp varies a bit throughout the day/night, I walked down to the local Flight Service station. I say "Hey Jim, you are the official National Weather Service dude in these parts, and I'm calling B.S. on the temp you're giving the radio station. How can it be so static at -75F day after day, for more than a week?" His response was enlightening. "Well, our thermometers are calibrated so they're accurate. But, we only calibrate them to -75. Anything below that temp, we have to report as -75F. So officially, -75 is as low as it gets". I then asked Jim, "How cold is it really?" His response..."Minus 75F".

I did put on the snowshoes and walked across the river and harvested a few ptarmigan at -75F. That's a whole 'nother story...

Jack

-47c ambient. -69c with the wind. Picked up 2 wolverine that day

The coldest temp I have been out in was 42 below in Fairbanks, AK. The coldest I have ever been was sitting on a deer stand outside of Jonesville, LA when it was 20 above!

Standing in waist deep water for 12 hours waiting for rescue when my duck boat flipped and sank a few octobers ago.

It was in the early 90s. Carter had signed over the canal. We where beaver trapping in NE Mn. Temp was minus 40 actual temperature. We had wind gusts up to 50 miles per hr. The governor had shut schools and all unnecessary travel down. We where beaver trapping. The first beaver house we set. I slipped off the house. Broke thru the ice and landed on my feet with my head just above the water. Any how. Standing there we made a plan. My buddy helped me out. I ran for the truck. We did two things right that day. Each brought a change of clothing. And we had left the truck running just in case such an incident took place. From there we went to Tower/Sedan. The bar was open at 8am that morning. We partook in plenty of warm refreshing beverages that morning and well into the afternoon. We ended up in good shape. Thanks to the kindness of the good people of the Iron Range

The coldest straight temp was ice fishing lake of the woods years ago.
We were in a sleeper shack.
_56.
Went on a coyote calling mission to Montana about 10 years ago. At daybreak, it was _37 high for the day was _25 I think.
15 minutes of laying prone was my max. But holy crap did the coyotes come bombing in!

1977. I was working in a auto body shop and drove tow trucks. Worst year ever in this region. -20 to -30 for a few weeks. Wind was horrible every night. -60 to -70 wind chills at night.

I spent many hrs out in that stuff pulling cars and trucks out of the snow banks. The hi-ways were nothing but sheets of ice at times. Several big rigs ran off on the shoulders or the median and were stuck. We were told by the ISP to leave them but get the drivers out. After a few days a lot of those trucks were laying on their sides. From the high wind and the snow giving way under them.

The absolute coldest was at 3:00 AM with me trying to get home for a little sleep. I was driving with my door open watching the side of the road because of the blowing snow. I hit a snow bank and that was that. I was about 300 yds from mom and dads house so I took off walking. By the time I got there I was so cold I couldn't open the door. Luckily my mom woke up and let me in. I fell in the door and mom pulled me over to the oven and lit it with the door open to warm me up. An hour later I was about to go back out looking for dad who was hrs late coming home from his work. Just as I was about to leave I seen head lights out in a field by their house. It was dad, the roads were not passible but the wind had blown all the snow off the fields. For the next week or so that is how we got back and forth from the farm to town or work.

Fell overboard drifting a creek in winter. Was a full day from the truck. Paddling kept me warm.

A or B ? I was at Happy Valley A in ‘75 workin on the river crossing. Sagwon or Scagwon I think is what they called the river. Then at the end of the season in ‘76 I was on the Happy Valley roving tie-in crew but I’m fairly sure we were based out of Toolick and sometimes Chandalar. But we did tie-ins at Galbraith lake, and Franklin bluffs as well. Interesting bit of trivia. I talked to a couple of biologists that were camped on Toolick studying the lake trout. They told me that the lakers in that lake were the biggest of any they had catalogued/surveyed in any of the lakes on the slope. And according to the annular rings on their scales there were fish in there that were alive when George Washington was alive. And that except for the zooplankton and insects the fry ate the lake had only lake trout in it and was a closed canabalistic ecosystem.

That is interesting!

I worked on the crew setting Atco's at B lived in A. My crew was from Barrow. Great food. The night mechanic was catching fox just walking down the creek. You right Sagwon River. That was where they had a push cat to push the trucks up from the river onto the shelf and was called the Ice Cut.
There are HUGE lakers in a lot of the Brooks Range lakes. I am not positive about the year though. No pictures or diary just worked no time for that. I had some 20 hour days!

I haven't thought about pipeline days in years. Thanks All!

SKinning a moose -50 with strong winds. Hands swelled so bad with frostbite after had to cut my wedding ting off and took a week off work as the skin peeled. Was a good learning experince. One time came back from a long check and hopped in the shower and the cold water felt like it was scalding me and i started to shake so hard I couldnt stop, that was freaky cause I had felt fine if not warm on the ride.

I spent 3 years in Tok AK. 91-94 and we saw neg 68F and many days colder than neg 50F Actual temp. Minus 20 was about the lowest that I chose to go play in.

Spent the night in a snow cave at minus 43 during a winter survival class while stationed at Port Clarence AK.

Negative 40s in the early 60s in northern Idaho. I was just a kid but I remember helping dad do chores. My brother and my bedroom was unheated but we had a bunch of quilts. Only heat in the house was a wood stove in the living room. The door to our bedroom was shut at night to keep the heat in the main house so the water pipes wouldn't freeze. I don't remember it being uncomfortable.

Fort Erwin California in the winter of 05. Was there training up for Iraq in a tent with no heat and it was so cold the coyotes would come in at night to sleep. True story.

Tok Alaska 2004 about this time of year it was -42°. Drove to Fairbanks got on a plane to Anchorage and flew back to a balmy 42° Nebraska... loved it there though

I feel like a wimp compared to you people. The coldest I ever felt it was -24 back in 1993 or 94 when I was living in Pennsylvania. Didn’t even do anything in it other than go outside for a few minutes to experience what it felt like. Living in Idaho now, I may top that but not looking forward to it.

Good clothing in layers Grandpa.If you're working in the cold,peel off the layers when working so you can get the good of them when you stop.If you are not moving in the cold fur is what you want to be wearing.Same if it is cold and strong wind-wear fur.
It takes a couple weeks to get acclimatized once the weather dips down low.Then it is no different than any other time of year.Sweating in the cold weather is what makes you feel cold.
Some people have problems with cold feet and cold toes.it is because they strangle their feet with too much heavy socks-their feet sweat and then get cold.
Best way to keep feet warm in winter is get a good pair of insulated boots one size larger than your regular size,and just one pair of thin socks.-Feet will never get cold.

Sounds like good advice Bono especially about the boots.

-45 ice fishing in northern Minnesota, worked millwrighting many of times in -25 ,

-40's Bottineau ND. A big wake up call for an Ohio boy!

i fell through the ice ,complete submersion at a beaver lodge that had been empty two weeks before but now had enpugh beaver to keep it al.ost thawed under the snow . It was -6 that mourning I had a half mile walk out to the county road and a half mile on it to make it back to house I know i made it over half way to the house on the county road because i remember passing the halfway gate . the neighbor picked me up and took me home . All i really remember of being on the county road is that gate pain and forcing one foot in front of other
The wood stove hurt when i got inside my coveralls were too froze to unzip my jeans cuffs were froze to my coveralls which were hard to get out of because they were froze stiff with a sheet of ice over them my long hair was froze to the collar of my coveralls

Deep Gap, NC. Light rain, high winds and a job that needed to be done. I love the dry cold of interior Alaska.

I'm convinced that a thermometer tells you very little about how "cold" it is. I spent 25 years in the Interior of Alaska and saw the thermometer push below -70F several times. When the thermometer is showing those kinds of temps, it's usually windless and very low humidity. Cold? Yes, but relatively easy to deal with. On the other hand, I spent 5 years in SE Alaska on the salt, and never saw the thermometer get below 0F. In an open skiff with wind and high humidity, I invariably was colder on more occasions in SE Alaska than I ever was in the Interior.

Jack

Fallen through the ice many times. Swam in water like a blended Margarita at Polar Bear plunges, etc. Almost died of hypothermia a couple times. (My core temp was under 91F.) Camped in -24F. Worse than that was backpacking with it in the 40Fs and 50Fs then a Polar vortex dropped it to -18F. I was days away from the truck. Inconceivable it would drop that drastically. Never seen the like! Thus totally unprepared for it. Made it out with only mild frostbite.

Yeah, I been cold a time or two.

The difference between low spots, creeks, rivers and higher country can be 15 to 20 degrees. For entertainment on long rides on the trapline I have a thermometer I can watch the variance in temperatures!

Big difference between 20 below in MCG and 20 above in ANC next to that dang inlet

Arctic warfare training on the Hudson Bay. As soon as the ramp dropped on the herc I knew we were in for a tough 2 weeks.

We decided to try winter camping one January back around 1990...in a 20 year old canvas tent. Set up a nice campsite by 5pm... At 7pm it started raining buckets and filled about 2" of water in the tent. By 9pm the temperature had plummeted to around 20F.
I've been dry in -50 wind-chill and that was not nearly as bone chilling cold as the night in that tent LOL

Coast Guard loran stations!

Staraya russkaya poslovitsa: "plokhoy pogody ne byvayet ... tol'ko plokhaya odezhda."

Exactly , Jack....the coldest I have been is in wet cold, not dry cold .

Sharon -

Spaceeba za Rooski yazik. Ya nravitsa!

You're correct. Reasonable clothing makes all the difference!

Jack

YA rada, chto tebe ponravilos', Dzhek! YA tozhe . Odnazhdy my vse budem prazdnovat' skazkami i russkoy vodkoy, maksimal'no priblizhennymi k real'nosti.

All this talk of cold has me taking out my real warm clothing...fur and shearling !

I'm taking out the vodka ! Na Zdorovie !

Prost, skoal, Copenhagen

Ok I get it...for health and medicinal purposes!

Beaver trapping in UP on all day float and slipped all the under water on bank of river. Was mid day and a long day after that.

Yes Sir... Got to see some cool places while in the Coast Guard.

Fell in the river coon boat trapping once. Cold water sucked the air right out of me. Had to build a fire and dry me and my clothes to continue. Was not a pleasant afternoon. Still think the coldest I ever been was as a kid trying to sleep in an old milsurp sleeping bag on the tent floor.

not the coldest, but real close for me was in the 90's rat trapping.

I had a real narrow and shallow 16' boat that I was push poling around a slough. The beaver had cut some of the brush off just under where the water line was.

In the teens that morning and a light covering of ice I was breaking through with the boat. Hit one of those stobbs and it sent me out of the boat, about neck deep in water. I got to the shoreline and tried to decide whether to get a fire going or cut across an open field to me truck. It was over 1/4 mile easily. My hands had already started getting stiff so I headed for the truck. The wind wasn't much but when I got to the high part of that field I thought I had made a mistake.

Luckily the land owners wife had seen me fall so she headed out in her truck to get me. Which she did. Took me to their house and let me sit in front of their fireplace. All was good until she told me to get in the shower and she would find some of her husbands clothes for me to change into. LOL

I knew her husband well enough to know if he came in and found me in his clothes, I would be cold for eternity.

I can’t remember THE coldest. They started to all blend together. The worst have been on days with 31’ish degrees and 100% humidity facing wind.

When I got put on blood thinners....LOL

Last vikings game outdoors, i froze 8 toes

When Newt and I got ship wrecked a few years back I dont wish to be that cold ever again in an Atlantic ocean bay.

Soaking and treading water in 38-41 degree water would have done us in before the sun set that day I am sure.

An amazing story of survival. Glad you guys made it.

Dont do that to your dogs

I hate the cold. I had to change a flat tire in -2° with a significant windchill.
Glad I am a mechanic with experience working in a tire shop. I changed that tire in just over 2 mins. I just chucked everything in the bed of my P/U when done.

Cold sucks , I get just cringes reading these threads.

I had an ingrown hair or some sort of massive pimple on the back of my head. Was sore for days. I get out of the shower one morning and go outside. When my skin tightened from the cold that sucker exploded. The ooze then froze to my hair. Walking back to the house I was able to peel the whole thing off.

Thank you Pike. That mental image you provided just made my morning's cup of coffee extra special...

Jack

been through the ice 6 times.
they're all pretty equally cold.

Enjoy your eggs.

While the temperatures were no where near as cold as some of you all have been exposed to, my coldest experience occurred at 35 degrees. We were driving a large swamp for bears when it started to rain. We were all soaked by the time we got back to the truck. The 5 minute ride in the back of a F150 at 55 mph was brutal. I swear it took me a half hour just to get out of those wet clothes.

Not the coldest ambient temperature or even the worst windchill.
Thanksgiving day 1990 my company loaded our equipment on the railhead at Ft.McCoy .
Teens and single digits , cold steel objects and no place to go to get warm for 36 hours.
The most heat you got was from the coffee or soup from the mermites .

Sitting standby diver in Puget Sound, Wa. Surface temp was 34-36 Deg F. I started to get hypothermic in the rain, OIC didn't believe me. I thought my skin was crawling.

Wind chill -107 in mn back about Jan in 1982 or 83. I was on my way to St Paul for a dinner meeting and it was called off. I was driving a 1981 Chev El Camino. Not a winter vehicle.