It's been about 10 to 12 degrees BELOW normal temperatures for this time of year for weeks now, and you can imagine my excitement over breaking so many cold temperature records.
Apparently, last winter WAS abnormally "warm."
So, the lakes are frozen, the snow behaves oddly in the cold temperature:
snow below -20 behaves like cold sand, it squeaks, and it doesn't get removed from the roads, so snow tires really are a necessity.
On Saturday, it was cold, and both Eli and his buddy, Barry, were off and eager to go on a long snowmobile ride... the first of the season. The girls and I went shopping.
They left around 10:00 am and planned to be back around 3:00 pm, not-so-coincidentally coinciding with the only daylight hours we have right now.
Eli was back home by 3:00 pm, and had a warm-up shower before I got back from shopping.
Once I brought my shopping bags inside, Eli casually said,
"So, Barry fell through the ice today."
I believe my first reaction was: "WHAT?!?! Is he okay?!"
Eli assured me that Barry was, in fact, fine. Cold, but fine.
No freakin' kidding.
They always travel together, one on each snowmobile, for safety.
Last year, Eli's snowmobile broke down, and had to be pulled back about 30 km by another sled.
In the North, travelling in packs is advisable for all, not just the wolves.
On Saturday, the boys travelled about 25 km south of Yellowknife itself to the North Arm of Great Slave Lake, also known as the Big Lake up here.
They stopped in a familiar location where they had seen moose beds in the fall (with the boat), so they put on their snowshoes and went looking for signs of moose.
They took a few steps, and on about the 10th step, Barry went right through the ice, up to his thighs.
Eli called out to him, and Barry was alright, but having some trouble getting up on the ice with his big ol' snowshoes on.
Luckily, they were very close to land (it was near some reeds), and relatively shallow.
Eli cautiously walked over with his snowshoes on, but the ice began to crack when he had a hold of Barry's hands, so he had to let go and back away.
No point in two human popsicles.
Or cracking the ice and losing one or both snowmobiles.
Eli said that he was thinking about unhooking his skimmer, a long sled he pulls on the back of the snowmobile, to pull Barry out, but Barry managed to get up on the ice and away from the hole.
Eli immediately began to build a large fire on the land, out of the wind, and Barry stomped around like a crazy person collecting wood and trying not to think about how cold he was.
Barry's boots were, not surprisingly, completely frozen to his feet.
And his pants.
Instafrozen!
There is Barry smiling in the face of extreme coldness.
They thawed Barry and his clothing as much as possible, and were lucky not to have too much wind on Saturday,
but no matter how you look at it, it WAS about -32, and went as cold as -38 with the windchill during the day.
It went down to -4freakin'8 that night... and yes, that's a number... how else would you say it?
Eli said that it was a VERY cold ride home for Barry that afternoon.
I bet home never seemed so good!
We are very grateful that nothing more happened on the outing and that Barry is keeping all of his toes.
Luckily, both Barry and Eli travel prepared and have excellent extreme weather and wilderness training and preparedness, but you know, even they learned some things from their expedition:
Don't step near the reeds, no matter how cold it has been for no matter how long.
Swimming at -30 anything is not advisable in snowshoes.
Oh, and apparently frozen lake water STINKS.
1 comment:
Thank God everything worked out for the best. Dad and I always worry when Eli goes out on the lake... I guess it's natural for parents to worry about their families and that will never stop. Tell Barry that we are so glad to hear that he's okay. Can't wait for you guys to move to a much warmer part of Canada... xo. Mom.
Post a Comment