View Full Version : What is the coldest you have ever been?
Averageman
02-04-21, 11:30
Should be interesting. I will start with;
We had a competition near the German Border. You got a map and one grid, you get to the grid and perform a Common Tasks Test at each station, upon completion you were graded. Then you got the next grid.
The crazy part was you were being followed by another patrol, if they caught you, you were out of the competition.
I was the last in the patrol, checking our six as we ran to the next station. Well, I heard a crack and was instantly under water. It was so cold my pants were frozen in the next fifteen minutes.
I finished we were second and when I got home and in the shower, my muscles cramped me to the floor.
F'ing cold.
PracticalRifleman
02-04-21, 11:49
I backpacked one year about 12 miles into a wildness area. It was starting to get dark because our travel was slower than we anticipated. We picked it up, double time to the camp area. There was about 14” of snow with a layer of ice below. I worked up a sweat but we didn’t want to stop to take off layers.
By the time we got to camp, I was drenched and the temperature had fallen to -7. We got a fire built to dry off our clothes. Within just a few moments of getting off the wet clothes, my boots and pants were frozen and would stand up on their own. I dried myself off on extra clothes and wrapped myself in my sleeping bag. Was a good night! Plenty of bourbon and firewood.
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Barn party one weekend over Christmas break outside of a small town in northern Mn when I was in high school. I got some girls to take their tops off by jumping out of a hot-tub into a snow bank a story below in just my underwear. I landed on the concrete patio underneath and hit my head. I don't think I blacked out but I was almost frozen to the patio and lay there for a few minutes. As a joke they locked the basement slider and I had to run around to the front of the house in 3-4 feet of snow, my cousin who brought me was sober enough to get me into a shower, and ended up boiling hot water on the stove to fill the tub I was sitting in. Full of alcohol and mostly naked on a 0 degree night, plus being 17 doesn't mix well.
Incidentally a second attempt to jump naked out of the hot-tub was made by a 13 year old, who ended up fracturing his femur later on and had to be taken to the ER, and thus shut the party down.
In high school I hated riding the bus so much that I would sometimes opt to walk home instead. About an hour walk. One time I opted to do this in January with no hat and my ears were in utter agony for a good chunk of that walk. Although by the time I had gotten home they miraculously no longer felt cold at all.
In the days that followed my ears turned bright red and were swollen and infected, and this infection seems to have triggered something like Bell’s Palsy which paralyzed the left side of my face for a week or so until the medication I was prescribed took care of that.
It wasn’t even that cold of a day in terms of temperature, nowadays I routinely shoot and run around in the woods in colder, wetter conditions than I walked home in that day, but my ears are still extremely sensitive to the cold and wind and I’ll still cover them up well into the low 40s sometimes, depending on how windy it is.
Sleeping in my apartment in Central Florida on one of those rare nights the temp went down into the 30’s. It was college, roommates and I didn’t realize we had heat. Ended up taking all my clothes out of the dresser, throwing them on my bed, and slept under the whole pile.
Not really the coldest I’ve ever been, but the memory always cracks me up.
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I was married to Satan's sister for 4 years. She was the coldest I have ever seen or been. Does that count?
I was married to Satan's sister for 4 years. She was the coldest I have ever seen or been. Does that count?
How many sisters does he have? I dont think we both married the same one.
My father and I used to duck hunt every weekend during duck season here in OK. We would typically get to our spot between 4:30 a.m. - 5:00 a.m. and it was a pretty good hike with all of our equipment. Of course, being a teenager at the time, I was tasked with carrying the makeshift blind we had built, a pack of decoys, a bag of food/water, a seat-bucket full of ammo, and my shotgun. It was likely over 100lbs worth of stuff and it was absolutely miserable to carry through mud and water over long distances.
One day was particularly cold and we'd just had snow the night before. Temperature was somewhere in the low to mid teens. The spot we were going to required a lot of walking through knee and waist high water, but of course it had frozen from the temps and we ended up using the butts of our shotguns to break the ice to create a path to walk in. We had made it about 3/4 of the way to our spot, walking through what was basically a marshland with trees growing all over it, attempting to get to a clearing to setup our decoys. I felt a snag on the bottom of my waders around my calve and suddenly a rush of cold. I must have snagged a jagged tree branch under the water because the next thing I know my legs are now soaked all the way through with ice cold water. Of course, my misfortune wasn't going to cost my Dad his chance at victory so it was either deal with it or head back to the truck alone. After about 15 minutes of attempting to suck it up I gave in and made the long journey back to the truck with all my gear. By the time I finally made it back I wasn't able to get the waders off. My legs had swollen up enough that I ended up cutting the waders off of me. That was the most cold I've ever been and hopefully won't have to endur such cold again.
A close second was in highschool. After a track practice a few buddies and I decided to go to the lake to relax after a hard practice. The problem was it was early March and although it was in the 70's that day, the water was no where near warm enough. We went to a spot where a cliff overhangs the water (probably 2 stories up) and decided we'd all jump in. We jumped, and the moment we hit the water it was like all of the energy was zapped out of us. We weren't far from the rock shore we needed to swim back to, but due to the cold we basically lost function of our limbs. I remember panicking and kicked as hard as a could with little result. Luckily we made it to shore. We laugh about it now, but we're lucky we didn't drown. A few yards farther out and we likely would have. I don't remember being as cold as my duck hunting trip, but this experience was certainly more eye opening to what cold can do to you.
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Late season Quail hunt, mid January, wind out of the NW 20 mph and gusting, 20 degrees.
My old Britt “Hog” was trying to get a drink out of a frozen pond, going further and further out looking for water.
She broke through and couldn’t get out. Without thinking I dropped my gun on the bank and ran out to help her. I broke through the ice as well right next to her. The water was just chest deep, but I was fully drenched.
I heaved her up onto the ice and managed to get out myself.
It was a long, miserable walk back to the truck.
In college (1971) I participated in a early spring canoe trip in the northern part of the LP in Michigan. Canoe flipped and I went into the ice cold water. The super-fast current immediately pinned me to a tree spanning the river - same tree that flipped us. Motor function was blocked within seconds of entering the water - so being pinned was a blessing - otherwise I would have drowned!
Ten - 15 minutes later, the 2nd canoe in our group came along and stabilized me further against the tree. When the third canoe arrived, they rigged a system of ropes to pull me ashore.
PROFOUND hypothermia. After a few hours around the fire they built, my clothes were dry and I was functional enough to complete the trip as a passenger in another canoe.
COLD - COLD - COLD!!!!!!!!
geezer john
Inkslinger
02-04-21, 13:20
Pennsylvania doesn’t get super cold, and I generally don’t mind the cold. That being said, one time I passed out drunk on my front porch after a company Christmas party and came to around 6am. It was a good thing my blood alcohol was pretty close to antifreeze...
As a preteen and teen, used to go out in the woods to clip evergreen brush for a friend who made Christmas wreaths. Got crazy cold a few times, but...had to suck it up. Served me well when I got a job that requires working outside in subzero temps.
Straight Shooter
02-04-21, 13:56
Pennsylvania doesn’t get super cold, and I generally don’t mind the cold. That being said, one time I passed out drunk on my front porch after a company Christmas party and came to around 6am. It was a good thing my blood alcohol was pretty close to antifreeze...
Brother..PA doesnt get super cold? I disagree.
One snowy, blustery night sometime after midnight, Me & two other truckers were up on I-80, slowly moving due to horrendous conditions..when one of the trucks fuel filters started to clog up. We were going up a mountain and he was barely able to move. Two of us made it up to the rest area on top, waited for him, in CB contact the whole time. I/we always carried extra filters, so we stopped to help him. Man that wind was whippin & was sharper than a Bowie knife. We had to take 1-2 minute relays to get the filter off, prime it, then put it on. Seems it took about 45 minutes. Was -20 degrees. We all three were freezing when done.
As a pre-teen in TN, Ive hunted several times when my shotgun or rifle wouldnt fire, Im hot natured and have always been able to stand cold much better than anyone I know. I dont even wear coats or long sleeves, I hate them. No one has seen me in a coat in over 10 years..I wear plain short sleeve T shirts year round. But that night up on that mountain in PA Ill NEVER forget...we couldnt even talk for a good while.
Inkslinger
02-04-21, 14:27
Brother..PA doesnt get super cold? I disagree.
One snowy, blustery night sometime after midnight, Me & two other truckers were up on I-80, slowly moving due to horrendous conditions..when one of the trucks fuel filters started to clog up. We were going up a mountain and he was barely able to move. Two of us made it up to the rest area on top, waited for him, in CB contact the whole time. I/we always carried extra filters, so we stopped to help him. Man that wind was whippin & was sharper than a Bowie knife. We had to take 1-2 minute relays to get the filter off, prime it, then put it on. Seems it took about 45 minutes. Was -20 degrees. We all three were freezing when done.
As a pre-teen in TN, Ive hunted several times when my shotgun or rifle wouldnt fire, Im hot natured and have always been able to stand cold much better than anyone I know. I dont even wear coats or long sleeves, I hate them. No one has seen me in a coat in over 10 years..I wear plain short sleeve T shirts year round. But that night up on that mountain in PA Ill NEVER forget...we couldnt even talk for a good while.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really mind the cold to a degree so that’s why I say it doesn’t get “super cold”. One of my favorite things to do is go out for long hikes when it drops into the teens. I’m just comparing it to some states the have daytime temps in the negative regularly.
Straight Shooter
02-04-21, 14:37
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really mind the cold to a degree so that’s why I say it doesn’t get “super cold”. One of my favorite things to do is go out for long hikes when it drops into the teens. I’m just comparing it to some states the have daytime temps in the negative regularly.
I see, I agree. But northern PA..it do get chilly! PA is such a gorgeous state, SO rural with good folks, but those cities...shitholes, like most cities in America now.
FromMyColdDeadHand
02-04-21, 14:45
Was in a Film history class and we watched a clip with some blue language. The lights come up and one girl feigns “Oh, my virgin ears....”. To which I sote voce’d, “The only part of ya...”.
Cold, coldest I’ve ever been...
Steve Shannon
02-04-21, 15:04
-48°F in Butte, Montana in winter 1988 or 89. The furnace couldn’t keep up and we couldn’t get the apartment above the mid 40s. We ended up moving in with my father in law for a week or so.
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reckon it was not as how cold I was but how cold it was in Edmonton Canada for a friends wedding in Jan !! Straight from Maui to Edmonton never been to a place that actually hurts to breathe in !
Forgot the temps but whatever it gets in Edmonton !
OH my buddy was from Maui lives there now and loves it guess he got used to it :)
I used to teach snowboarding in the winter (8 years) had some serious cold days when the weather was poor just because you are up on the mtn 7 days a week usually its riding the lifts when you freeze as you are not moving :)
Most my life in the islands so for us if it was 60 degrees it was like freezing and would show up to the harbor with jackets and sweatshirts and tourists think we are joking but we are freaking freezing to what we are used to
But nothing I could ever say I was in danger of having issues lucky
I did do some diving around ice that was insane cold in the post dive that gets you but in water only extremities get cold as we are wearing dry suits but its the face and fingers and the getting out doing gear with diving in sub zero that is freaking brutal as you cant use your fingers properly
When I was a kid in Michigan, we had a great sledding hill about a mile away from our house. You had to cross a swampy area to get to it.
One time when I was about 10, on the way back home after sledding for hours, I broke through the ice in the swamp. Went in up to a little over my waist. Lucky it wasn't deeper. By the time I got home my wet clothes were frozen.
I've been cold a number of other times and even had mild frostbite on fingers & toes, but don't remember feeling colder than I did that day.
Sour gas plant at 8,000 feet on top of a mountain in SW Wyoming during the 80's, one night it got down to around -42 with wind 30-40 mph so wind chill around -90. Plant was pretty much shut down but we had some instrumentation that needed watching that was freezing up so we had to drag steam hoses around to thaw things out. Even with all the Arctic gear we had you could only handle about 10 minuets outside and if you wanted your truck to run you couldn't turn it off. Mind you the plant was built to handle 40 below with no problems but the wind chill pushed it over the edge.
Then there was that time at Wildflicken when I discovered that Mickey Mouse boots don't work worth a f@ck if you'er not moving around and that you should always test your insulated air mattress for leaks before you need it for sleeping out in a German December.
Whiskey_Bravo
02-04-21, 16:39
I read this as, "what is the oldest you have ever been".
Took me a second thinking to myself, well right now I guess, TF kind of question is that?
2009, near the summit of Kilimanjaro.
Not the coldest temperature I’ve been outside in, but I was woefully under-dressed. That, combined with the altitude and exertion, made it the coldest I’ve ever felt. Felt a lot better when we reached the peak.
About this time last year, it was -35 where I am; this next week is looking to get down that way again.
militarymoron
02-04-21, 18:10
Went cross country skiing back in high school (mid 1980's) with a buddy, in the wrong clothing (hey, it was the 80's and I didn't know about Goretex) - cotton pants, wool gloves, etc. Took the ski lift to the top of the mountain, and skied off trail down the back side. It was great. Until we remembered we had to hike back up. It was snowing heavily, couldn't see shit, had to rest as we were exhausted, only brought a bit of beef jerky and almost no water. Alternated between sweating in thigh-deep snow hiking uphill and freezing when resting as we were all wet. The wind was blowing as well and that was the coldest I can remember feeling, ever. I had grown up in England and saw a few cold winters, but never felt like this. Fingers, toes, nose, ears all hurt terribly for a week and itched like crazy from superficial frostbite.
I was stationed at Ft Wainwright AK for 3 years so -70 or so...
Temp wise, I've been outside in temps well below 0 with numbing wind chills, but the coldest I've ever felt was when my buddy and I were 4wheeling on a beautiful day in Anza Borego desert.
Strictly a last minute 5AM get in the jeep and go run with plans to be home before sundown. Amazing 85o day bopping around the desert in a 1965 Kaiser CJ5. A leaking radiator and a flat left us running late coming back home through the mountains in Julian California well after midnight. Now we're over 4000 elevation, the temps are in the 20's, and the snow started coming down. Heavy and hard. Open top jeep, shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops with snow piling up in our laps as fast as we could shovel it out. I have never felt that cold before or since. It was still an amazing day.
Denver Christmas Eve blizzard of ‘82. Something like 30” of snow, and temps dropped to around -20. City was at a complete standstill - they put out a call for anyone with 4WD to help with emergency services.
Yet my stepfather wanted a newspaper, and sent me out. Nose didn’t even run because my snot froze inside.
Sent from 80ms in the future
TheAlsatian
02-04-21, 18:38
I saw 30 below a few times at my ranch in Western Montana. I had to feed cows daily and had to dress like the Pilsbury Doughboy to go out in it. The fall was even pretty cold. I remember going to my son's highschool football games...did you know beer can freeze in your truck??
40 miles on a road bike. Gray drizzle, high 30s, wind. Only wore a windbreaker. Bike shorts, bike helmet. No gloves, no balaclava for the head. When it was over my hands would work just barely well enough to put the bike on the rack and start the car. Despite the heat generated by hard riding, I was close to hypothermia.
been at -40 a few times...
Landed in Winnipeg one night at -39 with about a 20kt wind(guessing -50 or -55 wind chill). Guy I was flying with said "if you do the walk around without a coat on, ill buy all the beer and food in Omaha"... done deal... Even the canucks thought I was crazy until they heard about the deal...
Another time landed in Fairbanks and it was -45... we all pile out of the airplane straight into the van to the hotel. Captain asks "any of you all do a walk around" "nope, its -45, you do it"... we all looked out the windows of the van, said "yea nothing missing" and drove off...
Below about -10 its just bitter... I can deal with most temps above that with a fleece and a lightweight northface type jacket... I think my eyelids froze OPEN one day in Anchorage walking to breakfast at -10... it suddenly became hard to blink...
I was dressed appropriately, but on a recent snow mobile trip in the Colorado Rockies, continental divide, 12,500 feet elevation.
My guess was temp around 0 degrees and windy. Wife’s phone shut off trying to take pictures it was so cold.
It was the kind of cold you take glove off and hand immediately hurts. But this is from a guy who grew up in the warm southeast. I had never seen a snow outside of Georgia dusting.
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-45 in non Montana. A lot of days out in the cold at -30. I broke through the ice on the bighorn rubber on a horse in -20, we both got out and it was a long ride back to the barn.
Was living in a crappy ass fema trailer that had been down in no for Katrina. Woke up one morning and it was 22 inside. I thought it was warm because it was -40s outside.
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Coldest I've ever felt was in a swamp in Florida.
Coldest I've ever been was during CWLC in Alaska.
Coldest I've ever felt was in a swamp in Florida.
Ranger school?
My coldest was during cold weather/mountain training. Equipment made it not so bad, until we took it all off for stream crossing. Crazy thing was once out of the water we all felt great standing around in running shorts.
The_War_Wagon
02-04-21, 20:58
-60 wind chill (-30 temperature) in January in SD.
Been in Pittsburgh 18 years now - we've been as low as -12 here in that time, but SD in January is the only place I've ever had a mustachesicle! :eek:
Black_Sheep
02-04-21, 21:09
Spending the day doing service calls during a winter storm with -95 wind chill was brutal, but the coldest I've ever been was while camping in the Black Hills in early spring. A storm rolled through, everything was damp and the wind picked up. I lay there in my fart sack, shaking uncontrollably and praying for sun up. I didn't have the right gear and suffered as a result...
Averageman
02-04-21, 21:19
My Dad was stationed briefly in Minot N.D. the school used to tell parents not to send your kids to the bus until they pulled up in front of your house. -40 was a pretty regular thing. If you weren't military snow mobile suits were regular wear.
In 69 or 70, we lived on the South shore of Lake Michigan and a snow drift covered our house. I actually sledded off the roof a couple of times.
Steve Shannon
02-04-21, 22:25
My Dad was stationed briefly in Minot N.D. the school used to tell parents not to send your kids to the bus until they pulled up in front of your house. -40 was a pretty regular thing. If you weren't military snow mobile suits were regular wear.
In 69 or 70, we lived on the South shore of Lake Michigan and a snow drift covered our house. I actually sledded off the roof a couple of times.
“Why not Minot?”
“Freezin’s the reason!”
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Late September - early October 2007. I slept in a tent on a rocky shore on the Salcha river in Alaska 100 miles up-river from where it dumps into the Tanana. I had spent two weeks there moose hunting. My hunting party was kind of in and out making trips back to town via air boat. I was never without my own boat or at minimum a sat phone. But some nights I was there by myself. The very last morning I woke up in the tent it was -16 outside. I got a buddy heater going inside and about an hour later I could hear sheets of ice sliding off the tent. I guess it got to +40 inside the tent. That's the coldest weather I had ever experienced and of all times I was out IN IT. No real shelter, no electricity, and no real help had I needed it or if I ran out of resources. Looking back now, I could have been in bad shape real quick.
Even by noon (it was still negative temps) the steering cables for the rudders on the air boat were frozen stuck. I had to get a fire going to heat water up just enough to warm the steering cable lines; but not too hot that it would melt the rubber coating. I poured hot water onto rags and soaked them over the steering cables until I was able to work the rudders again. That took another couple hours.
Needless to say "I made it out"
fedupflyer
02-04-21, 23:01
I am split between the winter in Minneapolis or the summer in San Fransisco.
Leonidas24
02-04-21, 23:55
It's a toss up. First was at pre-Ranger in February 2008 in Schweinfurt, Germany. Had just done the swim test and was sent out of the indoor pool building back outside where the candidates' gear was staged while we were still soaking wet. It was in the 20s that day -- not the coldest temperatures I've experienced by a long shot but after 5 minutes of trying to get out of the wet uniform and into something dry, everyone was shivering uncontrollably. I broke my knee and tore my ACL three days later and was sent back to my unit. No tab for this guy.
Second was again in Germany. My platoon went on a klettersteig in some of the rockier hills in Bavaria as part of a mandatory fun day. It was a blast but most of us were woefully unprepared for how cold it would get that day. Highs were in the single digits and there was 8-10" of snow on the ground with more accumulating throughout the day. By the end of the day everyone was soaked in sweat, and the walk back down to the cabin where the path began was not fun.
https://i.ibb.co/FmDGvv9/IMG-0473.jpg (https://ibb.co/34CtXXw)
https://i.ibb.co/8s9b7ZZ/IMG-0471.jpg (https://ibb.co/02rKGbb)
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I caused an accident in 2011. For those who aren't from the Chicagoland area, we called that polar vortex "Snowpocalypse". This was a day after the snow, but still miserably cold. Long story short, my car couldn't stop on an icy driveway, and I got T-boned. My car was hit in the engine and shut off, and I was forced to wait in the cold for about an hour. The air temp was around 9 degrees, and the windchill was well below zero. I remember I had to write my contact info down in pencil because the ink in my pen was frozen.
A few years ago the air temp was minus 20 something, with windchills around minus 50. I remember how angry my car sounded when I started it at 5:50 am. Even though that day was much, much colder... I had heat. I was colder in 2011
1978? Upstate NY, Jan, running my trap line pulling them due to sudden warming and snow melt. That little trickling stream had become a raging little river. Well, I fell in as the bank gave way and now I'm in the middle of it, be washed downstream, closer and closer to the actual river. Luckily after about 2-300 yards, I was able to grab onto a branch and brush to get my self out. I was about 100 yards from the river and if I went in, would've bee done as it was pre flood stage. Now 1 mile from the milk barn, don't know how I made it there. My sister happened to be there and knew what I meant as I tried to point at the water hose, I couldn't speak or stand by then. We didn't know about proper warming then, but after some time with the hose to get my frozen clothes off and put on dry ones things got better, remember shivering for hours as I did my chores absent my traps and muskrats I did have--
If the barn was further or I was by myself, think I would've been done.
Straight Shooter
02-05-21, 07:01
1978? Upstate NY, Jan, running my trap line pulling them due to sudden warming and snow melt. That little trickling stream had become a raging little river. Well, I fell in as the bank gave way and now I'm in the middle of it, be washed downstream, closer and closer to the actual river. Luckily after about 2-300 yards, I was able to grab onto a branch and brush to get my self out. I was about 100 yards from the river and if I went in, would've bee done as it was pre flood stage. Now 1 mile from the milk barn, don't know how I made it there. My sister happened to be there and knew what I meant as I tried to point at the water hose, I couldn't speak or stand by then. We didn't know about proper warming then, but after some time with the hose to get my frozen clothes off and put on dry ones things got better, remember shivering for hours as I did my chores absent my traps and muskrats I did have--
If the barn was further or I was by myself, think I would've been done.
WOW. That had ME on the edge of my seat...just wasnt your time.
Open seat biplane, wearing every stitch of clothing I had with me. Dang that was cold !
Went out drinking one night and had to walk home because the trains and busses stopped running by the time I left the bar. It was -20F, and I was not dressed for it. Another time that same year I had to walk about a mile from the train station, into this gale force wind that came out of nowhere. Again, about -20F. Pretty sure I know exactly what it would feel like to be inside of a blast freezer.
Ah, then the times I fell in freezing water when I was a kid. Once fishing I was trying to break the ice around the bank and lost my balance and went right in. Another time I was walking around the edge of an above ground pool for reasons unknown. Lost my balance and fell right through the ice. Why it had water in it in the middle of the winter I have no idea.
Oh shit and then that new years eve when our beer was freezing faster than we could drink it. Recollecting all this is making me want to move to Hawaii asap.:lol:
Coldest I think I have been where we were dressed for the occasion, maybe 20 below.
Coldest I have been where we were not ready for the weather was the single digits/low teens.
Joint training exercise in northern Norway. Don't know what the Temps were. Only time I've ever seen piss make a pile. Kinda like little urine stalagmites.
I grew up in South Dakota, and when I was in High School, we had a young guy move in with a family and not much money. He mentioned to me that the clutch went out on his truck and he pulled the transmission but could not get it back together by himself. I don't remember if it was Dec, Jan or Feb, but it was cold when I drove over after school to help him. His 4x4 3/4 ton Ford was just sitting in front of his house and the wind never stops blowing in South Dakota. It was a miserable 2 or 3 hours putting the transmission back in the dark, a job that would have taken us 30 minutes on a summer day.
Andy
Ned Christiansen
02-05-21, 11:14
April 15th, 2012.
To mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
Think about it-- you jump off a ship into water that is actually below freezing. I thought, "gee, bet that was cold".
Along with another certain other interested party and fellow student of shipwrecks, I put two large bags of ice in the tub and filled it with cold water. The challenge was to slide down into the water so only the head was out of the water and see how long you could take it. Fully clothed of course, to simulate the real event. My projection was maybe five minutes.
The other person went first and made it 15 seconds. I was disappointed with this level of wimpiness. ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS WILL YOURSELF to stay in the cold water! It's cold water for crying out loud, not boiling acid.
I lasted five seconds.
I simply had no control-- I didn't get out of the water, my body did! My mind, my will power (apparently lacking), had no say in the matter. My body bounced out of that water all of its own accord. Of course this water was not at 28 degrees like it was on that "Night to Remember". It probably wasn't even down to 34. I dunno, tapwater plus ice, maybe 40, high 30's? The sensation wasn't even that of "cold" so much as it was a million needles poking the skin over every single square inch.
A very unpleasant but informative and memorable experience.
BangBang77
02-05-21, 13:05
I used to teach Wilderness Search & Rescue (NASAR) in NW Arkansas, including rope technician level and swiftwater technician level. I was also a technical rescue team leader on our county team as well as the state FEMA USAR Team
On Oct 31, 2010 around 11pm, I got a county page to deploy swiftwater teams for a rescue. A local outdoor recreation area with cabins and tent camping was under water due to the recent rains. We got over 12 inches of rain in 8 hours and the campground was flooded and 30 people, kids included, were trapped on the roof of a bathhouse.
At the time, my county didn't have a Zodiac or Avon, so Game & Fish had a rigid hull boat on scene. We didn't have drysuits on scene but water was rising, so me and another swimmer along with a Wildlife officer saddled up and got his boat deployed. Wetsuits, PFDs, helmets and booties and a rigid hull boat in 50F water that is 20-25 above flood stage. The water was moving with enough volume and power that cabins, fifthwheel campers, 1 ton trucks, etc were suspended in the river and washing downstream. The absolute scariest flood water I've ever seen and I've paddled class 4/5 and greater whitwater all over the planet. In the dead of night. On Halloween.
Now, 50F seems fairly tame temp-wise but moving water pulls heat away from the body 25 times faster than air, so it doesn't take too long to get in trouble at 60F, 70F, etc.
Boat deploys and we made it about 80 ft across, angling the boat to use the current to help push us across. 70hp Merc, open prop.
BOOM. A log or tree trunk hits the open prop. Engine dies and the boat starts to rotate perpendicular to the current. I look downstream and see some large trees (strainers) and want nothing to do with a rigid hull boat in that water so I bail out into the drink. Immediately went into the self rescue position and started ferrying as good as I could to avoid large obstacles and strainers. Once I was oriented, I started trying to find something to climb out on. Missed the first major tree limb but grabbed another a few hundred meters downstream.
Doubled my Prussik slings and threw a wrap around the trunk and clipped into my rescue PFD with a carabiner. Over the course of the next 4hrs, I was wedged on the upstream side of that tree and rode it out until the storm lifted enough that we could then be rescued.
I was treated for major hyperthermia and a broken left foot (a tree had slammed into me at some point during the night and pinned my foot).
That's the absolute coldest I've ever been. Period. All I wanted was a dip of Copenhagen and a drink of water (of all things). Never again did I go in the water without 2 cans of Cope and a water bottle on my PFD.
I presented the scenario and AAR at the NASAR National Conference for the following few years about the dangers of cold water, poor gear selection, and risk mitigation. Prior to the event, I was a hotshot rescue swimmer full of piss and vinegar, but took that lesson in humility to become a better instructor and rescue tech. I was also instrumental in getting funding from the Arkansas governor for Zodiac boats for county rescue teams, AR State Police, Fire Depts, and Game & Fish. Became a Zodiac instructor and taught swiftwater and whitewater boat operations rescue at schools, fire academies, conferences, and LEO academies all over the nation.
I retired from it back in 2015 and sold my half of the company.
Still do a little hiking and paddling but have pulled a rescue in years.
Joint training exercise in northern Norway. Don't know what the Temps were. Only time I've ever seen piss make a pile. Kinda like little urine stalagmites.
Same here. USMC Mountain Warfare/Cold Weather Training. Specifically, one night where my team was pulling an Ahkio through a little village up there. It was past 22:00 with clear skies and the actual temps in the -30's (later I found out the wind chill was -74). We arrived at the designated rendezvous point on time, but the Amtracs wound up being 3 hours late. We holed up using an old shell of a building as cover from the wind. We got in our sleeping bags fully clothed as it was way to cold to strip down. One of the guys on my team was from SoCal and he had quite a lot to say on the subject! LOL
Its funny, its actually -7 with windchill right now. I just came in from clearing the end of my driveway after the snow plow came through. My fleece OR gloves don't quite cut it anymore and I'm going to have to go digging for my insulated hunting gloves.
Same here. USMC Mountain Warfare/Cold Weather Training. Specifically, one night where my team was pulling an Ahkio through a little village up there. It was past 22:00 with clear skies and the actual temps in the -30's (later I found out the wind chill was -74). We arrived at the designated rendezvous point on time, but the Amtracs wound up being 3 hours late. We holed up using an old shell of a building as cover from the wind. We got in our sleeping bags fully clothed as it was way to cold to strip down. One of the guys on my team was from SoCal and he had quite a lot to say on the subject! LOL
I was colder in the Sierra Nevada's (Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center) than I was in Alaska (well, it was Kodiak) and Norway. But yeah, Norway was cold.
The one I remember was flying a sortie over the Korean peninsula in an old -135 that didn't have the greatest environmental system. It was probably not "that" cold in jet, but we'd launched out of Kadena AB and wasn't at all dressed for winter weather, and had worked up a sweat on the ground. I remember my feet being so cold it felt like they were being smashed between a couple of anvils. I think that one sits with me because it's a really weird experience to go from 90 degree tropical weather, to up in the air and refrigerator temps, to back on the ground in the pacific sauna.
I was colder in the Sierra Nevada's (Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center) than I was in Alaska (well, it was Kodiak) and Norway. But yeah, Norway was cold.
There were some cold nights at MMWTC, but I remember skiing during the day in t-shirts. It wasn't as nice at Ft. McCoy and definitely cold af in Norway!
It wasn't the ambient temperature. I managed to capsize my sailboat which then turtled on me. Turtling is when the mast points straight at the bottom of the lake. I spent almost an hour trying to right the boat in the water with the help of a couple of good guys in a bass boat. The water temperature was in the low 60's and I was one shaking and chattering robot when I finally got to the dock. I had to take off my PFD so I could go under water to loosen the mainsheet so the sail wouldn't pool water and was scared to not be able to get it back on later.
This was my first time to sail that boat :(
High school in Bismarck ND. School was not canceled despite -40 ambient temp with wind chills dipping below -70f. Walking 50y from car to bldg the tears trying desperately to protect my eyes had frozen in my lashes abd I couldn’t blink when I got inside. Tearcicles kept my eyes from closing until they quickly melted.
They canceled school about 90 minutes after we all arrived but we couldn’t use the main doors to leave because they were frozen shut. Snow blew against the doors and escaping building heat melted it and then it refroze. Supposedly the ice was 2”+ thick.
My old 1966 Coronet wasn’t happy trying to get started, but with enough pumping of the gas pedal it started.
Afghanistan in February 2009. Doing a level 1 mission with minimal snivel gear on to be able to move. Opening the doors on the Blackhawk for the last few minutes before hitting the LZ....... :blink:
I was so cold that I thought that my legs broke off and shattered when I hit the ground.........
I did some rescue training out on a glacier on Mt Rainier. Ambient temp + wind chill made it about 30 below. Was out there for a few hours. Was a great experience but I don't think I'd be out in weather like that again voluntarily.
I was colder in the Sierra Nevada's (Marine Mountain Warfare Training Center) than I was in Alaska (well, it was Kodiak) and Norway. But yeah, Norway was cold.
I don't remember ever being as cold at Pickel as I was in Norway. Maybe I got lucky.
Pennsylvania doesn’t get super cold, and I generally don’t mind the cold. That being said, one time I passed out drunk on my front porch after a company Christmas party and came to around 6am. It was a good thing my blood alcohol was pretty close to antifreeze...
Did a job in Des Moines in December and January. Temps dropped a little below zero a few times, but usually in the teens during the day and single digits at night. I brought the right gear, and had no problem. I never felt cold and adjusted just fine. A couple of years later, I was headed to another job in Pittsburg in October. Temps were supposed to get near freezing over night, but thats it. Brought my same snow gear that kept me warm outside in Des Moines all day when it was below zero. Temps that first night dropped to about 35. I have NEVER been so cold in my life. It was explained to me that it was a damp cold blowing in off the lakes. The breeze reached right in through all my snow gear and took the heat right away from me. It was only 35, but I was shivering convulsively and had to be out in it all night. Miserable. Coldest I've ever felt in my life, even though I've been outside in much colder temperatures many times.
Skied and snowmobiled as low -20, but coldest I have ever been was a qualification swim in open ocean when it was just under 60.
Oh yeah, someone mentioned Montana, we did some training up in the Bob Marshall area, and it was in the spring and there's still a crap load of snow. That was pretty cold, but I'll remember the temperature.
I do know this. I know the older I get the less tolerant I am of temperature extremes. Now I know why old people move to warmer areas and temperate climate.
MC_Oper8or
02-06-21, 11:30
-22 in Northern Vermont in the 90s
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Western NE for work. -16 degrees F before factoring in windchill. Absolutely insane.
TheAlsatian
02-06-21, 13:09
Oh yeah, someone mentioned Montana, we did some training up in the Bob Marshall area, and it was in the spring and there's still a crap load of snow. That was pretty cold, but I'll remember the temperature.
I do know this. I know the older I get the less tolerant I am of temperature extremes. Now I know why old people move to warmer areas and temperate climate.
Been in the Bob many times...
-5
Went to AK in med school for kicks. Walked from the host house to the hospital, probably 1/3 a mile or so across a frozen lake. Had been living in MI for 2 years, but that was the coldest I've been. Was wearing ECWCS base layer (Gen 1), fleece lined jeans, Tshirt, wool sweater and a Carhartt jacket, along with mittens and gloves. Had my backpack with my stuff. Was cold, but not horrid. That month I also walked around the town and onto the frozen winter, temps were between -5 and 10 or so. Same outfit, more or less.
of course, it's forecast to be -13 tonight and I work tomorrow morning, so I plan to shortly beat that. Wind chill to the -20s, which I try not to count in my "personal best." I know it's not that cold, but I grew up in SoCal, just have lived in 8 states by now.
For all you grunts, I'm actually just about an hour outside Ft. McCoy. I need to sign up for their winter course, but part of me keeps thinking "Meh, I'll just walk outside." Granted ... I don't spend the night outside for the week ;)
P2Vaircrewman
02-07-21, 09:15
Skied and snowmobiled as low -20, but coldest I have ever been was a qualification swim in open ocean when it was just under 60.
Been a scuba diver most of my life but I hate cold water, even in a dry suit. No way I would ever survive UDT/SEAL buds hell week
daddyusmaximus
02-07-21, 10:27
West Germany winter of 1982-83, driving around in a M60A3 that didn't have a heater. Then they pulled me, and made me the TC of a scout track (M901 ITV) for a couple months... Yup, you guessed it. No heater. No idea what the temp was, but it was painful how cold I was. Deep down painful.
Got emersion foot on one FTX when it decided to warm up, and everything was wet...
Coldest temps for me was a good 10+ below zero at a friend’s cabin in northern NH, next stop Canada. Have also hunted out of out Winter muzzleloading tent camp when it was 4-8 degrees each morning and never got above 16 during the day. But it was a ‘dry cold’ in those cases.
Personally I feel the cold more in damp cold weather with winds, say temps just above freezing, that chills me to the bone for some reason.
Been a scuba diver most of my life but I hate cold water, even in a dry suit. No way I would ever survive UDT/SEAL buds hell week
Back in the day the Navy had scuba/MC combat diver in 4 (I think) locations, I did scuba in San Diego, and I did FMSS at Pendleton. The Pacific was cold. Cold. I couldn't get back to the east coast fast enough.
Dr. Bullseye
02-07-21, 22:31
I am a California boy but have lived in the mountains for 30 years. Once, it got down to -10 and I had to work outside so I got a good taste of -10. But that was nothing. Once I had to pick up someone who lost power and propane in the winter on the northeast side of Mt. Shasta. I got off Interstate 5 and it was in the teens. But after driving around the mountain to the eastern slope it was much colder. I got out of the truck with a tee shirt, sweat shirt with a hood and my Swedish Amy jacket, hat, hood and walked about 15 feet to the door. By the time I reached the door my hands almost froze and I had them in my pockets but still, it was so, so, so much colder than -10 that I grabbed this person, told him no time to do anything but evacuate immediately, and got back in the truck (which was still running). It was at least -20 and I would not be surprised if it was much colder than that. I never want to repeat that experience.
Up until one night in Wisconsin, the coldest this Nebraska raised boy had been was a breezy 30 degrees, at Courthouse Bay, Camp LeJuene, the moisture in the air took the cold right to my bone marrow, maybe it seemed cold because a week before I had been at Pendleton. Then one night, six or seven years later, during winter training in Wisconsin, we used a Huey for a night jump onto Badger DZ, dayum that was a cold ride, I thought I would likely break when I hit the ground.
Beautiful sunny January day. Buddies and I are visiting friends in Mass and decide to go out surfing. We did a lot of winter surfing back in the day. Good swells on the East Coast and it is never crowded. Stayed out for several hours in the sun just enjoying a really nice swell and having it all to ourselves. Feeling chilly out in the water and had some sense that we were sort of pushing it too long but when we hit the beach and got fully out into the air it hit like a ton of bricks. Everyone rode home in our rubber and warmed up with showers and hot liquids indoors. It was far from the coldest day we were ever out and it was sunny but I was cold all the way through that day and took forever to warm up and be able to think clearly. Water does an incredible job of pulling heat from you.
I'm 6-4, blood haired and blue eyes, of Danish and Norwegian descent.My people are made for the cold.
I think temperature wise for me it would have been October 2002. I was a high school junior and we had an away game in Eastern Idaho. The temp at kick-off was 5* minus the wind that ran end zone to end zone. By the end of the game it had dumped to -15 with the windchill driving it down further. I remember switching from my cleats to my running shoes because the field was frozen solid. Our coach, an old school what doesn't kill you makes you stronger type, refused to bring outdoor heaters for us. Water bottles froze and everyone but the coaches showed signs of hypothermia. I still hate that guy. The other team had parkas, heaters, warm water and were prepared. Should have been a clue when there was a tractor scraping snow and ice off the field. One of the busses had the air lines freeze while driving down the freeway. That day sucked.
I went to college in North Idaho, see avatar, where winters were regularly bitterly cold with snow and daytime highs in the single digits. In the fraternities, we had "sleeping porches" which were basically bunk rooms in the house and we kept the windows open due to some BS school rule. I woke up many times with snow on the floor and frost on my pile of blankets. Heated blankets were for survival. The wind on the Palouse never actually stops. One of my best friends in college and today is an Eagle Scout, he introduced me to the joy that is snow camping with proper gear.
I moved the Spokane/CdA area for 7 years and dealt with the same cold, windy winters and hot summers. Now I live near Seattle and if it gets below 35* my North Face parka comes out and I put the sleeves back on my jumpsuit on patrol with UA Cold Gear underneath. That cold humidity is horrible. BTW, body armor doesn't keep you warm in the winter. It just gets hard and sucks the heat from you.
I flew a resupply mission to McMurdo ice station in Antarctica. This was in a C-141. I was a flying crew chief, so while the rest of the crew was inside getting warm, I was outside managing the heaters keeping the engines warm so we could restart when the time came. Wind chill was about -70*. I broke my mustache.
Achilles11B
02-11-21, 14:45
I flew a resupply mission to McMurdo ice station in Antarctica. This was in a C-141. I was a flying crew chief, so while the rest of the crew was inside getting warm, I was outside managing the heaters keeping the engines warm so we could restart when the time came. Wind chill was about -70*. I broke my mustache.
Well, I was going to tell a story about being cold in Germany during my Army days but -70 makes -15 downright tropical. I think l you win, sir.
Well, I was going to tell a story about being cold in Germany during my Army days but -70 makes -15 downright tropical. I think l you win, sir.
That was part of operation Deep Freeze. So aptly named.
Believe me when I say there was no win in that experience. Except maybe passing through Christchurch. The women were quite nice!
Mountains of South Korea during winter. Helicopter came in for a resupply and blew away our GP medium tent. We were throwing hot coffee up in the air and watching it freeze, we stopped doing that because it was too depressing and a waste of coffee. First time I had every used "mickey mouse" cold weather boots, still feel the chill in my bones, lol.
Broke ice on a high mountain Utah lake one year to do the qualifier swim at a weeklong scout camp. You had to swim qualify before you could take the camp boats on the lake, and it snowed the night before our swim was scheduled. We broke ice and did our qualifier swims in nothing but swimsuits, and most of us got hypothermia. I couldn't even put a t shirt on for 40 minutes because my limbs wouldn't move. That water and air was extremely cold.
Mauser KAR98K
02-11-21, 16:32
Currently hauling oil in -13 here in ND. Windchill about-30.
Coldest was when it dropped in the teens at a Boy Scout camp function in MO when I was 11.
Casper,WY right now -13. Went outside to write my name in the snow. Couldn't get it out, and said "screw it". That's what toilets are for!
Mauser KAR98K
02-11-21, 22:23
Casper,WY right now -13. Went outside to write my name in the snow. Couldn't get it out, and said "screw it". That's what toilets are for!
I did that once, but wrote a guy I hated in High School's name and said he sucked.
It really passed him off when he noticed it was his girlfriend's handwriting.
I did that once, but wrote a guy I hated in High School's name and said he sucked.
It really passed him off when he noticed it was his girlfriend's handwriting.
Now that's Funny! :lol:
I was transferred to Alaska from San Antonio in December 1974. I was assigned to a missile base on top of a mountain outside of ft. Richardson. (B Btry Site Summit) We had to walk around the missile sections 24/7. As a new guy I was assigned to the 12 hour night shift. Every night I walked around those buildings 2 hours at a time, 6 hours for the night. One night it was almost 40 below with a strong wind. At the end of every 2 hours I was absolutely cold to the bone even with all my winter gear on. It was a miserable long winter with a very short summer.
Devildawg2531
02-14-21, 10:50
Marine MCT in Camp Geiger NC in October 1992. Our class went through just before the issue date of cold weather gear.. so we had no cold weather gear. The weather turned unseasonably cold and we were all sleeping in shelter-halves and freezing our asses off day and the nights were miserable. Marines were making little mini-fires from their MRE matches to get some warmth.
Texpatriate
02-16-21, 22:43
Technically, the coldest I’ve ever been was the time I took the trash out to the dumpster in St. Louis the night it got down to like -12. I did it in just jeans and a t-shirt just to see what it felt like. It was chilly to say the least. But the coldest I’ve ever FELT was the football game I played in HS when it was about 35* and raining. I rained the entire game and there was standing water on the field. We were soaked from head to toe, and colder than a witch’s titty. I started at left tackle, and every time I got down in my three point stance I put my hand down into a freezing puddle, but made it my goal to make sure the guy across from me was the one down on the ground (the mud) at the end of the play instead of me. Talk about motivation. How we didn’t all get hypothermia I’ll never know. Today they would have cancelled the game with a light mist and 40*, but back then it was like a macho “prove you’re a man” thing with Texas HS football coaches.
So little update, hit -20 here this weekend, -39 windchill. I did a mile lap in various gear just to see if it worked. Also did a few snow shoe trails... maybe 3-5 degrees?
A level 1, 2 and wind shirt was surprisingly good up top.
Leonidas24
02-18-21, 00:07
I'd like to revise my previous submission to this past Sunday. -8F air temp in the morning, -26 wind chill, 4.5" of snow. Like Caduceus above I took some gear out for testing to one of my favorite hiking spots. The terrain isn't rough by any stretch, but the brush is thick enough that it makes movement difficult in places and the open fields allowed the brutal wind to cut through every piece of loose clothing and exposed skin. 4.6 miles on Saturday, 5.3 on Sunday.
https://i.ibb.co/qgV06YM/cold-1.jpg (https://ibb.co/3FQfKmy)
https://i.ibb.co/D9TqpFY/cold-2.jpg (https://ibb.co/6HLdBS8)
https://i.ibb.co/RTksWrt/cold-3.jpg (https://ibb.co/m5V27Zd)
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