Baby It’s Cold Outside
Snowboarding isn’t for wimps, which means that you do need to put up with some cold. In fact, you just might have thought a ponderous “duh” as you read that last sentence. After all, how can you have snow without cold?
Well, there’s cold, and then there’s cold.
What defines “cold” is relative, of course. A relative of mine who travels from south Florida to Michigan during August packs a sweater with her. To me, the perfect temperature for snowboarding is somewhere around 24 degrees
Today I went snowboarding. Temperature: 3 degrees. With 15 mile-per-hour winds.
I like to remind my friends who complain about 24-degree air “There’s no such thing as too cold, just inadequately dressed.”
After today, I’ll amend that remark, just a little. You’ve also got to be adequately prepared by having your stuff in the right place.
You see, I’ve had cold, a sinus infection, or something like that, for about a month. Sometimes it’s bad, sometimes not so much.
But when I was out on the hill today, the combination of cold temperature and warm air (breathing through my neck gaiter) got the old nose to running something fierce. I had been careful to pack some tissue with me, but I had buried it underneath three layers of clothing, in a zipped-up pocket.
The wind chill was strong enough that rooting through my clothes with bare hands was unwise, so it was off to the lodge to find it. And then a moment of temporary stupidity, I neglected to move the tissue to an outside pocket.
Never mind, though, making an indoor stop was useful for warming up my fingers, which got cold even with hand warmers. Must be time for new gloves.
January 4, 2009 @ 10:09 pm
Hope you feel better soon!
January 5, 2009 @ 7:35 pm
It’s been freeeeeezing here lately! It almost never snows in Vancouver. And for the past 2 weeks, we’ve had a foot of snow on the ground!
Shoveling shoveling and MORE shoveling! Sounds like you’re finding a way to enjoy the cold though 😉
It was -26 C for us when snowboarding a week ago. BRRRRR!
January 5, 2009 @ 8:55 pm
We had -24C the a couple weeks ago. Then again, that was at night. I think the time I wrote about above (0 F, -18C) is the about the coldest I’ve ever been riding in.
Then again, my second lesson, ever, on a board was probably a few degrees colder than that.
Anyway, I’d say you should be happy to get that much snow, but then again, if it’s in the city it doesn’t do you much good. Then it’s just a lot of work to deal with.
Shay, thanks for the well wishes.