Winter patrol fun

Yesterday it was -35 F at the office. But my coworkers assured me that it would be warmer farther south, where we intended to go for a snowmachine patrol.

Both of the guys I went with have frostbitten their necks in previous winters. Blisters and everything. Is it really wise to listen to them?

But I did. We went south. I was as bundled up as I could be. Long johns, fleece pants, snowmachine bibs, bunny boots with two pairs of socks. On top I had a regular long john shirt, my body armor, an expedition weight long john top (with an extra long neck), a sweater, a fleece jacket, and my regular NPS jacket. I had a balaclava and an extra neck gaiter so there would be no way for my neck to be accidentally exposed. I wore gigantic gloves and a nice warm helmet with a face piece. The face piece was designed to funnel my breath out the sides to keep the helmet from icing up, but my little hoses kept detaching. It's hard to fiddle with anything while wearing big gloves. And the rubber hoses were frozen and hard to manipulate anyway. I drove around half blinded by ice.

It was warmer farther south. It heated up to -23 F. Not quite at a range where I like to be out, but we were there, all bundled up, with three snowmachines (that barely started because of the cold. That should be a hint).

So off we went. It was a gorgeous day. Sorry I don't have any pictures, but my camera batteries would have frozen anyway. The snow covered hills were beautiful and it was sunny out (which was kind of a pain on the way back what with the glare and my iced up helmet). We crossed a couple rivers, no problem. After about an hour and a half of riding, we came upon an overflow. Picture a frozen waterfall. It was fairly level on the top, and then dropped off steeply to one side. There wasn't space to go around it with all the trees everywhere. One guy went over and then it was my turn. In no time at all I'd slid off the ledge and got stuck with one ski somehow underneath the ice shelf.

The snow was so deep, as soon as I got off the machine I was up to my waist. I floundered around trying to wrestle with a very heavy snowmachine (everything is heavier in three feet of snow). Then my coworker pulled me out with his tow strap.

I walked back to my machine on the solid ice that I'd just been riding on. I was slipping on it, it was so smooth. Then, slush, slush, POP, slurp! I punched through a slushy spot and ended up with my boot full of water! At -23 F I found this a little concerning.

I said to my coworker, "I stepped in the water."

"What?" He didn't see any water, after all. Nothing but ice and snow.

"My boot, it's full of water." Trying to remain calm.

"Your boot's full of water?" We had those big helmets on. It was hard to hear.

"Yes, my boot is full of water."

My other coworker had overheard. There was no discussion of whether or not we should head back, all he said was. "Do you want to eat before we head back?"

No, I didn't want to eat. I was worried about ending up with no toes. But I put on a dry sock and stuck it into my wet boot. And my foot still wasn't cold (although the outside of the boot was covered in a sheet of ice), so once I settled down mentally, I ate some cold couscous and frozen oatmeal cookies. The couscous reminded me of that round, grainy weird ice cream stuff. I can't remember what it's called.

I was feeling bad for being the reason we were cutting our trip short. It was only 1330, we had a few hours of daylight left. Then one of the guys, to make me feel better, dunked a whole half of his body into the water. He'd gone down the trail to turn around and came back covered in ice. He was mostly dry inside, but he told me later he would've turned back for that if we hadn't been going home already.

So what is water doing as a liquid at -23 F anyway?

We rode back and my feet stayed toasty warm. I love bunny boots. I'd never tested them at -20 F and full of water, but they work. My foot didn't get cold until I was sitting in the truck on the way home.

On the way back there was a little bit of confusion when one of the guys took a shortcut and got ahead of me. I didn't see him get ahead, and then I noticed he wasn't behind me. I stopped to wait for him. This was the guy who had gone for a swim. Of course calling him on the radio would be pointless, unless he was stuck somewhere. I listened, and didn't hear him buzzing up the trail behind me. So I called on the radio, in case he'd stopped. He didn't answer so I turned around and headed back. I imagined all kinds of trouble he could have gotten into. Maybe he really had gotten wet and was even now suffering mental difficulties as hypothermia set in. Maybe he'd fallen off the bridge. Maybe he'd gotten stuck in a snowbank with a snowmachine on top of him. I went a little ways and called for him again. I got an answer that time; both of them were up ahead waiting for me. Whew!

We made it back to the trucks without further incident.

Now today, my neck is killing me from bobbling around on that horribly rutted trail with a big helmet on. And my shoulders are sore to.

It was another cold day today (-40 F) so I mostly stayed in the office, with a miserable headache caused from my strained neck. But it was worth it to get out on the machines and soak up some much needed sunlight.

On Friday morning I'm leaving for warmer weather. Now is a good time to escape. This weekend it's supposed to "warm up" to -15 F. Oh, so sorry I'm gonna miss it!