It's Really Cold

If you are living in Minnesota right now, you will know that it is fr-fr-fr-freezing outside. I mean, not your typical I-Live-In-A-Frozen-Tundra cold; a I-Will-Get-Frostbite-In-Two-Minutes cold. If you are anywhere else in the country, yeah, I get that there is a cold front, but check this out:

CH'YEAH!

This weekend, I went to the North Shore with my dear friend for our annual weekend ski trip. We skied at Lutsen and stayed at Grand Marais and it was, if you can imagine, pretty cold. Grand Marais is all the way up on the northeast tip of Minnesota, less than 30 miles from the Canadian border. It looks like this:

Well, ok, that's just at sunset looking over the harbor but still--freaking gorgeous!

Yesterday when we woke up an the car wouldn't start, it was a balmy -24 degrees. That's without windchill. With windchill, it was close to -40. It was significantly less cold when we were actually skiing but it was still pretty chilly. The biggest difference is that when skiing, we were totally outfitted for the weather. We wore our long underwear (NO COTTON EVER), mid-layers, and element-proof shells along with totally skin-obscuring accessories. And you know what? It was pretty OK. Sure, the winds were so bad on Saturday that we had to ride in a Cat back to the main lodge because the lifts were closed. And sure, we totally got windburn on our noses on Sunday. But all-in-all, the weather did NOT stop us from enjoying our sub-arctic adventure!

Here's the lesson: don't let the weather control your plans; just modify yourself/your clothing for the weather.

...we'll see if this still stands up when I have a hike planned during monsoon season in Asia!