Coldest Night?

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gdurkee
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Re: Coldest Night?

Post by gdurkee »

Hmmmm. Coldest night was probably around -5F in Dusy Basin in the Fall. Coldest darned day was about -20 IN THE SAME PLACE -- aieeeeee. Wind about 30MPH+. Really a bad day on the trail. Frostbite on my windward cheek (no, the other one -- the one below my eyes). Totally lost in a whiteout. Dismal day.

So we're skiing back to the trailhead at Aspendell and run into some guys skiing in. Because of rain shadow, the weather has kinda cleared and it's not bad. The other guys find out we're doing snow surveys for NPS and go on about what a "cush" job that must be, getting paid to ski etc. My buddy Walt -- all 6'4", 230 lbs of him and with a 4 day growth of beard -- says "How about I velcro you to my ass on the next trip and you can see how much fun we have??"

Your tax dollars at work.

g.
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jimqpublic
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Re: Coldest Night?

Post by jimqpublic »

Contrast all these Sierra temps to a Christmas ski vacation in Banff, Canada about a decade ago. Our first week the temperature was routinely close to -40F when we hit the slopes in the morning. High temperature was about -20F for the whole week. Snow was so cold that even the hardest wax I could find would barely glide. We were very glad to have a nice warm lodge to sleep in. The second week was far more Sierra-like. Highs around +30 and lows around +10.
Jim
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MooseTracks
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Re: Coldest Night?

Post by MooseTracks »

A little below -10 at Lone Pine Lake January 2006. It was my first snow camp ever, and I didn't know about the rule to "move slow in the snow" and avoid sweating. I made it from the Portal to LPL in <90minutes, but in the process was transformed into the Snow Princess:

Image

Ah, how far I've come! :lol:

-Laura :cool:
"Why do I climb? Quite simply because the mountains and I had to meet." - Colette Richard

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moosepics621
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dave54
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Re: Coldest Night?

Post by dave54 »

It wasn't the Sierra and I wasn't backpacking.

My crew and I spent one very cold night high in the backcountry of Angeles NF on one late December fire, (early 70's?). -18 F. The water bottle in the outside pocket of my gear pack actually started freezing.
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