It was -20 yesterday in buckland and I had to work out side for about an hour all i had on was two light jackets, lonf sleeves t-shirt, short sleeved t-shirt, carthart bibs, redlined carhart bibs two light jackets ,AIH yellow gloves ,brown jeresy gloves as liners ,face mask,bunny boots and a river otter fur hat . but I had a place to get warm if I needed to ,also i travel with my refridgerwear in the winter and wear it when need

-41 this morning and I can't even get my teenager to put a hat on. He relented when I told him that the girls would think he looked funny with no ears!

.......Ya ,, It,s about 24 above here in Hoonah , Thats why I ask so many ??? AKPLS where are you located ,,, that is ice road building temps ....Ford Fanatic is that cotton you were describeing " the t shirts " I would freeze to death here wearing cotton ... Cotton gets people killed here on the coast ... I know OTZ is about as coastal as any where could be but I imagine the bay is froze over...I have Red Dog weather on my Yahoo and it has been 30 below or so there .....Yesterday it was 57 below with the wind chill @ Prudoe so it,s gettin there .......

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:
...... AKPLS where are you located ,,, that is ice road building temps .....

I'm in North Pole. Temp was still -36 at 4:00 PM......it's now 8:00 and it has gone up to -20 and supposed to go higher tonight and snow. If it stays up I might take the kids and chase some rabbits this weekend.

I used to live on the Old Valdez Trail in Salcha

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:
I used to live on the Old Valdez Trail in Salcha

I know the area well.....used to live out past the Knotty Shop.

had -46 below the night before last and now a balmy -12. Have my monitor heater as back up-great joy. River now may be froze over so I might be able to get and set some traps. It seems winter might be a short one. Hardly any snow.

Wife made me a new pair of Moose skin boots with canvas tops-I am ready nonetheless.

Well I made er up here .....Sitting in Peak Camp ,,Deadhorse , Alaska ...right now getting ready to go to work ...Working nights ...The forcast is calling for -40 with winds 15-20 ,, wind chill may be 65 below ....Operating a water pump house working on the Ice road to NorthStar Is ....,,I,ve got a pickup to hang out in between water trucks tho ..........The cold feels hot and its not the kind of thing I want to hang out in all the time ....Haven,t seen any white bear yet .... Gotta go ....Gumboot out ..

I have never been in such a cold climate. I have watched as many National Geographic specials as possible and have done some additional research. The wool is a great insulator. Specifically wool from the musk-ox. It has 5 times the insulating ability of even the best Merino wool. Unfortunately only native Americans are allowed to harvest it. They make it into socks, scarves and the likes which are sold for profit. I would love to get my hands on socks for almost any price. When my feet get cold, my brain goes dead. Also wolverine fur is the only fur that will not ice, ice will not stick to-at least that is what Nat.Geog. specials always state.

When it's -25 ambient, I don't travel. If there is any wind, you are looking at -35 and beyond. Things start to break very easily at that temperature and nothing needs to be done when it's that cold (unless your job requires). As for hunting or trapping, it's not worth it to go out in that kind of temperature. You are risking your life IMO if choose to do so.

On one occasion, I did go out caribou hunting when it was extremely cold. It was my third year in AK and I was gung-ho for anything. When we got to Kwethluk (18 miles from Bethel), we went into the store. The lady at the counter looked at us with these crazy eyes and said, "do you know how cold it is?". I said, "no, pretty cold". She says, "it's -42!" We traveled another hour and turned around. It was so cold that my eyelids would freeze to my binoculars everytime we would glass.

gumboot,

I'm working with a bunch of your coworkers down right near Umiat. They've been building ice roads and drilling pads since December. I just left today, via twin otter, and the temp was -45° ambient. Didn't feel any better when we got to Deadhorse.

In the summer, I work there at West Dock, and stay at the STP. We run the oil spill boats and do a lot of crew transfers to North Star when the hovercraft can't make it.

I've been on the coast a whole winter season, and I doubt you'll see any bears. They do come around more in the summer. You may recognize this spot, if your drive past the hovercraft tent, and stop next to the polar bear sign and look to the west...

A few weeks ago we had consecutive -70 days here in Tok. I was out on the trapline the weekend before where it got to -40 the night I stayed out in the cabin and then my snowmachine froze up the next evening, so I ended up staying out again. That night it dropped to -60. My brother in law came out at -45 and we towed the machine to the cabin and he took it apart and 4 hours later we were back on the trail at -50. Good clothes are a must. I wear fleece pants and shirt, a cabelas down jacket, cableas pack boots (-150 below rated), BRP snow pants (bib style-these are the warmest pants I have ever wore), beaver fur hat with fleece inside, and turtle fur neck gaitors (these are awesome!) Gloves I just wear cheapos from AIH. I am blessed as I don't ever get too cold. No extra socks, etc. I always have safety stuff, matches, fire starter, flares, a little food, jet boil stove, satellite phone, and extra gloves. Being prepared for the cold is a priority, especially when the temperatures are -40 or colder.

Coldest standing air temperature I've experienced was -67*F while at the 'Bay winter of '85-'86.

Coldest with windchill was here in Bethel 1988/89 was -105*F.

Northern Outfitters will keep you alive. Everything else you will die. Unless you are wearing Native made fur clothing, but that will cost you beaucoup bucks.
My Mother-In-Law made me a beaver mulaqai and my head has never been cold.

Most Natives in this area are Yup'ik, they wear qaallu-aaq (snowpants), over longjohns and jeans and a paltuuq (parka), of some sorts. Usual footwear will be Sorrels. But they do not stay outside long when it gets really cold, only going outside when necessary.

Gumboot, PM me, I have a Northern Outfitters hard hat liner that seems to be discontinued.I've found that it's too warm until it gets below -25deg.
I have two of these and don't need but one.

It works extremely well, having a long dickey portion, front and back and keeps the drafts out. It also has a velcro on fleece face shield, I might have a couple of these, if you work long enough, you could have one thawing out and wear the other.

It's yours for the asking.

So, send me your address and I'll stuff this in a USPS flat rate box and send it off to you.

Mark

Take a look at the Arctic gear made by Wiggys, lots of mushers and using this stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by BW:
gumboot,

I'm working with a bunch of your coworkers down right near Umiat. They've been building ice roads and drilling pads since December. I just left today, via twin otter, and the temp was -45° ambient. Didn't feel any better when we got to Deadhorse.

In the summer, I work there at West Dock, and stay at the STP. We run the oil spill boats and do a lot of crew transfers to North Star when the hovercraft can't make it.

I've been on the coast a whole winter season, and I doubt you'll see any bears. They do come around more in the summer. You may recognize this spot, if your drive past the hovercraft tent, and stop next to the polar bear sign and look to the west...

................I haven,t been out to North Star Is. yet.. I recognize the boats as they are in the boat yard next to the spine road.....Temps are up but the wind just keeps blowing and blowing ..........It,s so different from Southeast in that respect.....In alot of others also .......But the wind here is like on the Chuckchi tho not as strong it seems .......I sure like all the daylight tho ....Its light later than at home now ....

........I was by here.night before last and was suprised that tho North Star Is. is 7 miles away,,far enough that from the cab of the truck ,the curve of the earth was noticeable ...It was so visible ,,,Must be the lack of humidity ..................I found I can wear my hardhat over my beaver fur , trappers/mushers style hat ...I can even get my turtle fur face mask / hat under it So the MSA hard hat ends up multi tasking as a hard hat , ear protection , with the installed muffs .and head lamp [ bracket ] And the hood of my parka fits over it all , Altogether too hot for above 45 below wind chill .......

Your not missing much. NS is six mile out, according to the radar leaving the STP.

Here it is, in all it's glory...

BW, how'd you like Umiat and the Umiat Lounge? I was there in early September, talk about desolate!! How's that new Wal-Mart coming along?? LOL!!!

I haven't made it there yet, we're about 26 miles north where the Chandler meets the Colville. They were working on that last stretch of ice road when I left 12 days ago, and it may be done sometime soon. I go back tomorrow for 2 weeks.

We've been getting fuel from there via rolligon, and fuel and everything else via rolligons from 2P pad on the Spine road.

Still working on the ice road? How long will it be before the river gets to thin to drive on? There isn't a whole lot there, a bunch of buildings and an airstrip, there was a new group of people taking over the place while we were there and they were pretty nice folks. SOme of the guys ate dinner inside the lounge and we had them pick up our river gear with their pickup truck which saved us a bunch of work and they did it for $50.

.....Was out on the ice again last night ,., Driveing on ice is an interesting experience when in a truck that weighs over 200,000 lbs... on 80 " of ice....We are going to start rip rapping the island next week I think ...........30 below seems to be where it starts getting cold ......wether straight temp or wind chill ............Findng the right face mask is a serious challenge ...Have to wear eye protection so getting a mask that doesn,t fog the specs is tough .....

quote:

Originally posted by Northway:
A few weeks ago we had consecutive -70 days here in Tok. I was out on the trapline the weekend before where it got to -40 the night I stayed out in the cabin and then my snowmachine froze up the next evening, so I ended up staying out again. That night it dropped to -60. My brother in law came out at -45 and we towed the machine to the cabin and he took it apart and 4 hours later we were back on the trail at -50. Good clothes are a must. I wear fleece pants and shirt, a cabelas down jacket, cableas pack boots (-150 below rated), BRP snow pants (bib style-these are the warmest pants I have ever wore), beaver fur hat with fleece inside, and turtle fur neck gaitors (these are awesome!) Gloves I just wear cheapos from AIH. I am blessed as I don't ever get too cold. No extra socks, etc. I always have safety stuff, matches, fire starter, flares, a little food, jet boil stove, satellite phone, and extra gloves. Being prepared for the cold is a priority, especially when the temperatures are -40 or colder.

..

A friend in Glennallen told me about the -70 in Tok ......Thats cold ............BP has a -40 policy here for construction with equipment ., Too much stuff breaks.....Yesterday one of our Vac trucks [ water tankers] had a major steel frame break .,.,...Temp related steel fatigue .......My clothing has become like a uniform to me as it seems to work the best for work for me so far ......
Guy Cotton , or other high teck heavy weight long johns , zip neck top ..
Polar Teck 100 wt shirt ,,,,Stormy Seas ,Grundens fleece pants
Cotton Duck Carhart non insulated bib over alls
I major scored and got a brand new pair of Bata White bunny boots in Anchorage , But I,ve found my Artic Sorels actually more comfortable so far .,.,I think because they transfer persperaton away from my foot better ....
Traction devices are mandatory company policy .
My wife sent me a pair of my felt lined pac style cork boots [caulk boots ].........No slips ,trips or falls now ., but as I got them to fit snug in a warmer climate , they start getting cold after a half hour out in 20 below .......
For a coat I use a Carhat Black Artic hooded jacket , but @ 30 below I switch to a Big down parka I got @ Army& Navy ....@ 40 below I put a fleece jacket under it ....So far I only have one good face mask , which I wear under my Beaver Mushers hat....My MSA hard hat actually will fit over it comfortably and the ear muffs on the hard hat keep it on in the wind ..... ..
So far the longest I,ve spent out at a time was
an hour and half.. I was wanding for buried metal and had to completely cover every foot of ground on a part of a pad we were returning to original landscape countour .........I could have stayed out for several hours but my glasses froze up and I couldn,t see any thing ,.,. temp was 20 below with the winds to 20 mph or more ........about 45-50 below ........The problem with my fur hat is if I sweat it up ,so I,m experimenting with [doo rag ] typs things between my head and the fur .........
Still learning ...........
I do enjoy the Aurura Borialis every night ...

....I must say I,m amazed at how much colder even 10 mph breeze makes everything ...........Except for how fast my mustache and beard would ice up last night I couldn,t believe it was 40 below ., But the smoke rose straight up for most of the night .......

.......-47 d F ,,-72 wind chill @ Deadhorse this morning ......Even with a breeze visibility gets limited real fast ....

...........I have been going back thru rereading alot of the posts ,..,., Its been down in the 60-75 below wind chill temps the last few days ..There are so many good points people have made ,,,,,,,I have noticed some people here at work and in the Prudhoe Bay area seem to disregard the cold in what honestly reminds me of people who disregard p.f.d,s ie. float coats ect. when boating .....,.,.,I,ve only spent a few trips traveling in phase 2 travel conditions , [ blowing snow with visibility limited to around 5 delineators ....

I did find that a MSA V Gaurd hard hat can be adjusted out far enough to wear my beaver mushers hat and a face mask under ..........I really consider myself fortunate because I work alone by and large and so can experiment with different gear ..........I have pretty much come down to pretty simular outfit as what grizz described ...........Tho the Carhart Extreme coveralls are pretty warm , they arn,t the best thot out piece of gear I,ve encountered ...And the snap on hoods only seem to work when laying down .....................They are not very deep from back of the head to the cheek area and so they don,t protect the face hardly at all ........................The coveralls are also quite stiff and make bending and working more work than it needs to be ..
.
I ordered a Canada Goose , Resolute ,parka , as I learned from getting cold that the parka I,de got didn,t insulate the arms well at all ,which lead to cold hands and fingers ..........................

So far I have had no success with keeping my glasses from freezing over when I need to wear a face mask ..........I got a special no fog neoprean face mask that is garrenteed to not fog the goggles ..It doesn,t fog them but just working around the Vac trucks and pumping water @ such cold temps makes enough fog that will freeze to the lense and then there ya go ,. Froze up again .......Oh Well ...

M Stevenson ,, I got the Hard hat liner today .Thank You ,., I,ll be wearing it in the morning , Its a good thing we did the mail the way we did as the company moved me .....I have seen several of these up here but they can,t be bought locally ... I,m spending most of the day outdoors now . it warmed up nicely , got up to around 15 below today , course there was a breeze blowing , tho lightly...On Easter morning I was spotting trucks and had both eyes stick, freeze shut , tho not at the same time ........I didn,t have my goggles on and burned my face where my hard hat liner didn,t cover ... I wasn,t wearing my beaver hat as I thot it would be too warm , turned out to be less than 45 under .....and I was out standing in it for an hour and a half .........I,ve learned that [ ANY } exposed skin , includeing the tip on the nose that is exposed in the cold will freeze if left out long enough , which may not be too long at all .......

The beard does help and I need to breath thru a face mask , or be in the ruff of my parka ..... The Canada Goose Resolute parka is the most amazeing peice of gear I,ve seen yet .......Unlike the Carharts , every part of the Resolute was designed and built for maximum warmth , comfort , serviceability and longevity ..just absolutely amazeing ....When I get a camera I will post a pic ......The Carhart is tough , affordable and pretty good but it could really stand some improveing ... .... There ya have er ...

Gumboot, you're welcome. I had been wondering if it had arrived yet. I had no idea how long it took for USPS to deliver from Michigan to Alaska.

Did you call Northern Outfitters and order more fleece face masks? I believe the lady said they weren't making any more till the get the Nomex to make more Hard Hat Liners, so you might want to give them a call before they are out.

I'll be interested to find out how well it works for you.
Mark

It was 35 below this morning on the warmer of the 2 thermometers ...I was out side for about 2 1/2 hrs continously with a brief in the pick up break to change eye wear ,. Out of the more than 10 combinations I have tried in the last month The Northern Outfitters Hard hat liner is above and beyond all the rest , as far as a hard hat liner goes .I worked out side for 9 hours or so all told today wore the liner every minite of the time .. It and the face mask dried quickly on the defroster when I took a break . My beaver hat is the warmest and coziest , but I can,t just apply a face mask to it like I do the hat liner ...The velcro fleece face mask is amazeing in its simplicity and effective ness ......The musher that I ran dogs for in 88 had his beaver hats made with hook side velcro on the outsides of the cheeck area ....I found it the perfact set up and so I,m doubly impressed it is on this hat liner ....They even put a pad of velcro on the ends or the visor string so when you tighten it up and set the cord locks you just touch the string ends to the hook side velcro patches on the sides of the liner and the wind can,t blow / whip them into your eye .... .........If these were only available for 200 $ THEY WOULD BE WORTH EVERY PENNY ..... ...I don,t know if we will get another cold snap , it is supposed to get up to zero in a few days ,, That will be wierd, ,, It was up to 14 below today and that was nice ... sure is brite out ... saw musk ox every day this week and caribou also .... another crew had a white bear stroll on by . ....That would be a shock ,,,,,,,,

How much work can you get done in cold like that? I'm sure it would be little or none if it was me involved.

For me , my biggest problem is warming the air up that I breath ... I get tired of my nose pretty much freezeing closed , About 20 below is the coldest I can work relatively hard in , something like snow shoeing or shoveling would be .......But with a full face mask to breath thru which warms my breath and the rest of the right gear , I can work somewhat steadily down to 55 below so far .......Breathing does become a chore as the face mask freezes up , which is something I really like about the velcro on fleece face mask, it is open on the bottom side and it takes a long time for my beard to ice up enough to inhibit breathing .........I sweat alot and I get frost built up between my fleece jacket and my parka or Carhart work coat ....Essespecially all along my arms .....If and when I am in these temps and don,t have company paid for heat I will probably need to change alot of things around .....I can get away with pushing things because I always have a warm vehicle close to get in ..........

Before I moved to northern Sweden, I used to live in Manitoba (among other places that get cold).

I'd just like to reiterate the posts about the Canada Goose clothing line. I used to have one of their parkas (I think it may have been the Resolute parka that gumboot458 mentions so favourably above).

It really was superbly designed in every respect. It was still in good shape after about 8 or 10 years of use, but I lost it during a move.

As I recall, when I got it, the price was less than many other (more famous) brands at the time, and the Canada Goose design and sewing was miles ahead.

John

As a kid fresh out of high school I worked for a seismic survey company and had opportunities a plenty to go to the far north. I always figured that I couldn't hack it. You have someone convinced me that I was right all along. I remain curious about it all though.

GUMBOOT-If you see some musk-ox running around the fur is good to put in the toes of your boots and the fingertips of your gloves or mitts. I work in remote areas all over Alaska and several of us do this. Alpine Anne