the threshold of too cold ?

[Benny Profane]

Car battery business must be going nuts.

[neufox47]

Skied several days at Jay when real temp was -10 with howling winds. Toured on MTW with similar conditions. I still skinned in with a light long sleeve shirt until we were above treeline and exposed to 50 mph winds, when I added a shell. Amazing the amount of heat you can generate walking / skinning uphill.

Hottronics, mittens and face coverage were key. Vapor barriers are really useful at those temps too. Especially on the hands. When touring in extreme cold I keep a pair of storm mittens near the top of the pack. I put hand warmers in them ahead of time so if needed I have 2 hand ovens. They have saved me and partners from frostbite and allowed us to work on stuff that otherwise would have been impossible.

[mogul5480]

How is sleet possible at 35 below wind chill?

You’re from the East Coast - you’ve seen it.

Also possible it was just blowing so hard that it was just snow coming out of the trees. 20+ yrs ago so memory is hazy.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Webcams show 90%+ empty chairs at Sugarbush and MRG. Gondola at Stowe on wind hold with 40 mph gusts. Around -5 to -18 base to summits. No desire to drive an hour for frostbite and old wind blown snow. As Peruvian said, I don't tour at these temps as the risk is too high for bad shit to happen if something or somebody breaks.

Looks like a window of warmth Wed./Thurs.

[Benny Profane]

Then, bam, the coldest temps yet for the weekend. Next week looks almost balmy. Hopefully, that's it. Time for the January thaw!

[t-the-east]

Looks like a window of warmth Wed./Thurs.

And then Friday and Saturday HIGHS are -9 and -13 (Fahrencelsius)

[Benny Profane]

You’re from the East Coast - you’ve seen it.

Also possible it was just blowing so hard that it was just snow coming out of the trees. 20+ yrs ago so memory is hazy.

No, I have never seen sleet at those temps. Your second theory sounds better. The wind was blowing so hard, and it was so cold, that blowing snow/ice felt like sleet.

[Vt-Freeheel]

And then Friday and Saturday HIGHS are -9 and -13 (Fahrencelsius)

No daytrippers, book now for short/no lifeline and fresh corrugated culvert groomers.

[Greenstateofmind]

As Peruvian said, I don't tour at these temps as the risk is too high for bad shit to happen if something or somebody breaks.

And yet I'm going to go tour. It's becoming more likely I'm going to die from a well placed frying pan first

[nutmegchoi]

They say 2018 NYE was the second coldest there on record and coldest in 100 years.
We did a small experiment.

https://youtu.be/sI6uPi5MH_0

[old goat]

Who skis naked? So STF up about wind chill, one of the stupidest numbers ever to come out of weather.com. yeah, wind makes it colder, buy any half decent jacket negates that.

That all said, -20F at the top of Chair 1 at Mammoth is my coldest day. Could only do 2-3 runs before having to take a break to warm up. Coldest touring was in Jackson at -8F, but once up and out of the inversion it was balmy and in the teens. Booting up at the TH was rough.

First of all you know damn well that plenty of people around here ski naked. And what about idiots like these guys?

And it is a useful warning not to leave any exposed skin. You can frostbite your face even if the rest of you is warm. I've done it. --40 on top of the Aiguille du Midi with a lot of wind.

Second, wind layers aren't perfect.

And third, basically you're right. Having skied twice at --40, I can attest to the fact that --40 calm is a lot colder than --40 wind chill.

[Harry]

. There's never any powder at those temps, it just doesn't snow when it's so cold.

You obviously ski in a different part of the country than me. Cold temps can definitely make powder. 2 weeks ago we had a 6-8 inch dump with temps around +25-+30F. Big wet bumps formed. That night it got down to -10. No new snow. The cold sucked all the moisture out of the snow and turned the wet bumps into little powder piles. You just skied right thru them and poof they disappeared.

To answer OP, there is no minimum temp for me. I grew up in cold temps, I just put more clothes on. Mittens are key, so are boot gloves with hotronics heaters inside.

[Benny Profane]

You obviously ski in a different part of the country than me. Cold temps can definitely make powder. 2 weeks ago we had a 6-8 inch dump with temps around +25-+30F. Big wet bumps formed. That night it got down to -10. No new snow. The cold sucked all the moisture out of the snow and turned the wet bumps into little powder piles. You just skied right thru them and poof they disappeared.

To answer OP, there is no minimum temp for me. I grew up in cold temps, I just put more clothes on. Mittens are key, so are boot gloves with hotronics heaters inside.

You validate me. It snowed at fairly high temps. Yeah, duh, overnight cold sucks moisture out of snow. But, "dumps" just don't happen at these extreme temps.

Of course, it's the east, so, the next storm can be a particular eastern form of snow called rain. I've seen it happen more than once. One day it's 10 below, the next day it rains.

Sent from my SM-G900V using TGR Forums mobile app

[MyNameIsAugustWest]

Ask the people that live downwind from Lake Ontario...I've seen whiteout conditions for days at -10 near Syracuse.

[Gepeto]

^^^ our very own anti-jinx - don't nobody be worried

*

-72F degrees (with wind chill) in a 2 man tent for 28 days of a deployment. Temp was always reported with wind chill. Wind would be consistent for 60/70 hours at a time. Ambient was in the -20’s. When the wind stopped there’d be a line at the latrines. Hardest thing to do (besides sleep) is eat.

Cold to remember:

-25 at Whiteface on the old wooden single chair. Man could that thing creep. With the wind coming over on to the lee side; felt like you were standing still for most of the ride.

No one who has ridden the k-chair from single digits to the minus’ ever forgets. They used to hand out wool army blankets bitd

-22 inversion downtown Jackson. Surprised me that pipes bursting was a hot topic.

-30 in the Nakusp hot springs after a day above the Selkirks. 3% humidity – long sleeve cotton shirt, a pullover fleece and a fart bag. Brings new meaning to a day at the beach.

Dress for Success – no cold is to kold fer de white

Get the Red One

[BigDaddy]

Having skied twice at --40, I can attest to the fact that --40 calm is a lot colder than --40 wind chill.

Celsius or Fahrenheit?...

[Gepeto]

Celsius or Fahrenheit?...

see post #37

[Goniff]

This was in the parking lot at Lake Louise January 2005. It was a clear day with no wind and a big inversion. Amazing how cold temp feel is relative. -20F at the peak felt balmy. The snow was like talcum powder. Every turn made a contrail of sparkling mist.

[Primasativa]

-58C at the top of Tremblant with the wind chill a few years ago...gondola froze for a while 3 from the top...scrapped off a bit of frost and could see the chair was frozen as well...was glad not to be those poor bastards.
The ride down froze my nuts if I moved my hand away.

[Benny Profane]

Ask the people that live downwind from Lake Ontario...I've seen whiteout conditions for days at -10 near Syracuse.

That's called lake effect. Different. Plus, the tragedy of all that is it falls on........Syracuse.

[Boreas]

-25f in an open bivy with a stiff wind on a north facing peak, it was a brutal night.

-39f is the coldest ambient that I’ve ever spent anytime outdoors for any sustained period of time.

Weirdest was an inversion where the base temp was -20 something and the summit was 25f, instant brain freeze when you passed into the cold zone.

Worst sleep was -14f in a tent in gulf of slides on Mt Washington with 140+ winds on the summit. You’d hear a train overhead and then the tent would flatten.

Nice job Nutmeg with the exploding snow, I do it almost everytime it goes below 0f.

[stuckathuntermtn]

For me, it's my toes. The rest of me does fine in the cold, but tight boots and repeat frostbite = getting to know the Ski Patrol dudes at the top warming hut/patrol shack

[old goat]

Ice climbing in Huntington Ravine, got a late start, pitched out Damnation, soaked by the water under the ice, pinned down by the wind at the top. We tried to make it to Lion's Head trail or the Exit Hatch but I was blown 15 feet through the air clear of the ground. Huddled behind a rock all night and hiked down in the morning after the wind died down. --10F High, --30F low, wind 100 MPH, gusts to 140.

[MakersTeleMark]

Why didn't you just rap?

[From_the_NEK]

-30 here this morning.
I've skied at Jay in the -30's (ambient). It wasn't bad although I don't own wax that can make snow that is that cold slippery. Lapping the trees keeps you warm (and out of any wind). However, the Green Mtn Flyer (aka the Freezer) definitely enhances its reputation on days like that.

At Burke the other day. It started out around -20 and warmed up to -10. They had the summit quad shut down due to extreme wind chills (-50 range) above 2500'. They were running the T-Bar 3/4th of the way up. There were only a handful of paying clients and a bunch of racers from various schools. I think the mountain management was worried about the overall safety of clientele but also employees who would have to deal with the extreme cold. The lift evac scenario was mentioned earlier. I could certainly see that as being a concern since the potential for mechanical breakdown is higher in extreme temps. Trying to evac a quad would put both clients and patrol in a dangerous position.

Those racers and coaches are hard core
The racers had their faces taped up where ever there was exposed skin as the wind chill they were generating by their forward motion was dangerous to anything exposed. I know I ran a couple hot laps on the groomers and found every spot the cold air was leaking in pretty quickly. The rest of the time I skied a few bump runs and some trees and actually got a little overheated.
Of course I had to stop and get a few photos of these nuts
Racer7 by Tim_NEK, on Flickr

One other thing someone mentioned is the dryness of the air in New England vs the Rockies. The current cold weather we are having here has VERY dry air. The dew points have actually been in the -30s which pretty much means that there is a negligible amount of moisture in the air. I think what makes -30 in New England feel colder than -30 in the Rockies is the air density. Here in NE you are typically below 3000' meaning you are close to sea level and the air is just more dense. During extreme cold, it is even heavier and almost feels thick. Up high in the Rockies, above 8000' the air is naturally thinner. The density of the air makes the closer to sea level air more effective a transferring heat away from your body (more molecules to pick up your heat).
The thing is, I find this kind of dry cold easier to deal with than the 27 degrees and raining crap we have to deal with here. In that type of weather, the moisture in the air enhances that heat transfer effect and chills you to the bone.

Edit to add that schools are cancelled today here due to diesel fuel gelling resulting in no buses that can run.