What is the coldest you have ever been ?

[jix]

On the Marge of Lac La Barge; (Northern Alberta) 1849

so I opened the furnace door to peer.. and there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar.
Oh please close that door, said he, for I greatly fear, that you''ll let in the cold and storm , for since I left Plumtree, Down in Tennesee, its the first time I ve been warm.

The cremation of Sam MaGee...By Robt Service

 

[Citydude]

One night, NEW Years Eve, in Edmonton it was 50 below F, My dodge truck oil was frozen solid, but I didn't know it. Truck started, went back to wait for the cabin to warm. Neighbor phoned. He said your truck sounds pretty bad. It was the oil pump that failed. Totalled the engine. after it was checked, the oil pump gear drive woodruff key had sheared right off. Never saw oilf freeze solid before, but it does at that temp. KEE Kee birds were all out that nigjht..Kkee-kkee Kekeerhrist its cold out.

I remember my dad putting a 100 watt floodlight under his 1960s Buick to keep the engine oil warm. He did it when we had a " cold snap" as he called it. (-40).

 

[xtn]

Gamble, Alaska (Western edge of St. Lawrence Isle in the Bering Straight). One had to be fast on his feet. We lived in Quonset huts connected by passage ways (no heat in them). Commonly 40 below with a wind.

Toilet was a shack built above 50 gal oil drums that, when full, were pulled through a loose fitting door and burned out of town. Need to take a dump you didn't sit there long with the breeze blowing straight up!!

Harry K

Wow! I looked this site up on Google Earth, and you win! Looks amazing to me that people can live there at all.

I think the locals fifty years later must have complained to somebody though. In 2005 the EPA made a map of where those toilet drums were abandoned a couple miles south of the quonset huts. They also got really pissed about all the marston matting you guys left down by the air strip.

 

[Loadstar]

-Cleaning snow choked make up air units
- -40 freezer work
- night time roof work when wind chill goes to the negatives
-winter cooling tower cleaning

 

[MossRoad]

-22 F is the coldest air I've ever been in. I was quite comfortable sitting in the middle of a lake on a plastic bucket in my parka with my back to the wind catching 11.75" perch one after the other in about 2' of water. Most fun I ever had ice fishing.

However, the coldest I ever was, as I recall, was when I was a kid. Out sledding with friends. Don't know the temps, but I recall extremely painful toes and fingers, to the point it made us cry and we could hardly walk home. Diagnosis was minor frostbite. Thawing out was the most painful. YIKES!

 

[mjarrels]

When I did wrong and had to return to my wife!

mark

 

[Bill 55]

In the late eighties I was working as a diesel mechanic. I was sent on a service call to start a truck that had died along the road because og gelled fuel. It was -21 when I left at 0230. By the time I got there it was three trucks that had all left our garage together. It was only about 50 miles from the shop so I did not have enough room in the fuel tanks to get enough #1 fuel in to clear the snotty jello that was floating around in the tanks, so I had to drain some out in the ditch. The ratchet was so cold I had to stuff it up the tail pipe on my service truck to get it to turn. I got the drain plugs out and the water in the bottom of the tanks was frozen so I took my coat off , laid down on the ground and punched an awl through the ice. As the fuel ran up my arm the hairs all broke off and floated away. Still don't have any hair on my arms. By the time I got six tanks drained down enough to take care of the problem it was about 0500. I knew where there was a fuel distributer and went to their yard and arranged for them to make the short run out to. dump the #1 in. By now it was -30 and none of the trucks would start without charging the batteries. I ended up spending 19 hours starting three trucks.
Bill

 

[QueBota]

It's a form of "hazing" the new crew, dangerous, can be, painful, absolutely, wind chill, at temps that low wind chills drop rapidly. Tremendous difference between a no/light breeze and winds that would scream and howl relentlessly. When the temps were down and the wind was going, it was difficult if not impossible to walk between buildings, could not go alone. They eventually built "enclosed" walkways. During the "ceremony" there our folks on standby to keep watch on the new guys. Normally goes off without incident. They give you a few weeks to acclimatize before the ordeal. Normal procedure is to work up some body heat but not sweating, before starting the walk. Average temp in the "heated" buildings was arond 40F.

Can't imagine it's much worse than SEALS in the ocean for long periods of time in water temps below 40 F. Those guys look cold.

Check out some of the videos of the crew working outside on Mt. Washington, hard to believe folks can survive under those conditions.

Coldest I ever experienced in my local area was -32F in north central PA, very calm and cold night. You could go outside and walk around in sweatpants and a sweatshirt and it did't feel cold, it was actually fun; however, there was no wind at all.

Q

 

[QueBota]

T shirt and Shorts at -85*f in the Antarctic. Super jeebees, that would make your pecker shorten up. What ever was the reason for that exercise?

Quazi military hazing/team/morale building. Kind of like being in the Navy the first time you cross the Arctic or Antarctic circle, they send you out on deck till you freeze you ***** off, used to much worse pre PC days.

Q

 

[tcartwri]

TIM Cartwright..a Fellow "Frozen Chosen"..were you a "Buzz-Head then? I was TMO out of the OPS bldg. back when it was an H hut
"
JIX Aka "Casey Jones " on ARS Radio 1340

Nope, we were civilian beakers working out on the sea ice. Last time was 2008. Don't think you would recognize the place now.