doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Why I like being Canadian

It's not cold....its 'fresh'. Love the seasons....just when you get tired of the 'freshness'.....summmer rolls along! However....I do prefer -40c over +40c any day....and snow over beach sand.

-40 is really cold and dangerous. I would think a face mask is in order to keep from losing one's nose. Too cold for me!

You are right. Cold and dangerous. But manageable. Every year I lived in Winnipeg during the aughts, at least one or two mornings per winter I would get up to take the dogs on their morning hour long walk around 7:00 am and it would be minus 40 (without windchill). With the right clothes and boots and if the wind wasn't howling, combined with vigorous walking with the dogs, no mask required.

But it fast becomes a problem if you are unprepared. BTW, my setters thought it was just fine. Only when they got old did they want to shorten the walk because of cold temps.

And before anyone get's PO'd. No ill intended!


A man in a Florida supermarket tried to buy half a head of lettuce.

The very young produce assistant told him that they sell only whole
heads of lettuce.

The man persisted and asked to see the manager.

The boy said he'd ask his manager about it.

Walking into the back room, the boy said to his manager: 'Some *******
wants to buy half a head of lettuce.'

As he finished his sentence, he turned to find the man standing right
behind him, so he added, 'And this gentleman has kindly offered to buy
the other half.'

The manager approved the deal, and the man went on his way.

Later the manager said to the boy, 'I was impressed with the way you
got yourself out of that situation earlier. We like people who think
on their feet here. Where are you from, son?'

�Canada, sir,' the boy replied.

'Well, why did you leave Canada?'the manager asked.

The boy said, 'Sir, there's nothing but whores and hockey players up there.'

�Really?' said the manager. 'My wife is from Canada.'

�No shit?' replied the boy.
'Who'd she play for?'

Skiing, the worse I ever got into near minus 30C, but the activity of skiing kept me warm plus the sun feels warmer at altitude and I never tried to take on the cold when there was a high wind. I feel like a real rookie and don't know how to dress for cold weather particularly so with all the new cold weather products that are now on the market. Getting good cold weather gear is next to impossible here in warm Texas.

I have always used silk under wear, under socks and glove liners. Then a layer or two of wool, then a jacket with or without a liner and a synthetic material on the outside of the jacket that could behave as a wind break. Good gloves or mittens, wool watch cap, full mask and ski mask. Now there are so many synthetics out I don't know which is best to replace the silk and wool. The trouble with wool is it can be attacked by moths and is hard to keep clean. Silk is easy to care for but I have always felt the first layer was the most important and wondered how it might be done differently

I would be interested to hear how you Canadians dress for cold weather. I sometimes think you have just grown to the cold. Particularly so when I see northern people jump into freezing water as recreation.

Ken, I laughed out loud at that one...Geo

Ken.....that's so funny...laughed out load!

What CB said about the - 40c. One thing about the cold is that you can always dress warmer! layer, layer then layer some more! Was at 20,000 feet once...-30c. most of the other climbers, new to the game, had $1000 jackets and $200 mitts....and froze. I had 5 layers and a final wind breaker shell. 2 inner layer mitts with an outer shell...very toasty.

Fleese, fleese and more fleese. A good layer of 'Thinsulate' will do wonders. Wearing a helmet while skiing is good to keep the heat in in also. For me...as long as the back of my neck is warm...i'm good. So thick turtle necks and high collard fleese pull overs. A 'dicky' is a must also, to protect one's face. Easy to pull up or down when needed.


Hot and a ton of black flies and mosquitoes at the cottage yesterday....can't wait till September!

52 years in the real North, ...you get acclimated soon!
A story I wrote a few years back,
"It was February, 1967, somewhere between Schefferville and Lac Bienvelle, QC. We were doing a Government run topo survey(which eventually led to the Quebec power project in the 70�s), ���9 men trying to survive in tents. Moving camp every second day as we progressed. I was mechanic and team leader so, when we awoke to high winds and severe cold (normal was minus 35-40), it was decided that the day would be a no work, no travel day.

This meant that the 5 stoves would need extra wood if everyone was staying in camp. First item was to get a chainsaw thawed out and running. Second was to get a Snowbug(made in Sudbury, similar to a ski-doo with one ski) up and going. This involved a blowtorch to heat the engine to a point it would start, warm up, and remain running. We had some old burn not far away, maybe a quarter mile from camp, so the trees were available to cut and haul.

Eventually both the saw and Snowbug were running, so 2 of us donned a second balaclava and second parka and off we went. It was cumbersome with all the clothes and snowshoes, but we would manage to get maybe a dozen slim trees down at a time and get them back to camp. There two others would cut them up into stove-size pieces. Meanwhile we�d thaw out a bit and go back for more trees to be cut up. It was bitter work, but we needed the heat to survive. We continued throughout the day in order to have night-time wood.

By the next morning, the wind had died, so we decided to move camp. This meant thawing out 5 Snowbugs and getting them all running continuously, no mean feat as every time two were running, another would stop. But eventually all were running and on their way with the gear, plowing through six foot banks of solid, windpacked snow, and crashing down over the sharp sides. Skis and steering gear broke off, and in order to make camp and get it set up, some toboggans were abandoned until later.

We had a huge thermometer, about 18� long, government issued. It showed a low temperature of minus 84 degrees! With the wind factored in, the wind chill was well over minus 100!

We thought we had a new official record for Canadian cold, but the folks in Ottawa said we required the next bigger thermometer to establish the record!!! ����.typical of government then and now!!!

Living in the NWT for 43 years I�ve seen some severe cold days to work in, but that was my coldest day to work!!!!!!!!!!!"

That's what blows me away about cold, there are so many things that won't work or needs special handling. A person has to have cold weather experience to even survive. I worked a couple of years up in Chicago and had my eyes opened. I know you Canuks think Chicago is like living in the tropics, but I thought it was really cold and could be pretty tough. One of my best friends got hit by a car while using his snow blower. Getting out of your driveway can be dangerous in really cold weather.

My wife was working as an art rep there, carrying those big art portfolios. She barely broke a hundred pounds. She would get hit by that wind coming down State Street and I kept expecting her to end up in Kansas.

I do miss cross country skiing, enjoyed bundling up by a fire and always wanted to go ice fishing.

Arctic,
You certsinly have my respect!
Karl