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Comment by grecy | Hacker News Reader

I live in Whitehorse, Yukon. Last week it was -37C for a few days, I rode my bike/walked to work every day.

I've been out Caribou hunting in -48C snowshoeing around right near the Arctic Circle.

Snag is just down the road, where it was once -63.9C (-83F) - the coldest temp ever recorded in North America.[1]

I'm originally from Australia, so this kind of thing is Alien to me, and I think I do a decent job of explaining what it's like.

AMA if you're curious about anything. (clothes, cars, etc.)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snag,_Yukon

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Well for starters, what brought you there/ why do you live there? Mining/logging company?

I was on a grand road trip[1] and spent a couple of weeks in Whitehorse and met some really awesome people. We went White Water Canoeing, hiking, camping, etc. The wilderness and opportunities for adventure had me captivated, and I knew I'd have to come back. When I was in Argentina, I touched base with my friends up here and they helped me get a job with the local Telco, Northwestel.

It's extremely common to meet people here that say "I came for one summer...20 years ago" because it's so beautiful and the massive array of outdoor activities make it very hard to leave.

[1] Alaska->Argentina http://theroadhcoseme.com

I'm pretty sure I read a chunk of your blog a few years ago, was pretty interesting. This is a nice follow up :)

What do you use to cover your nose when biking? Do you also wear glasses to prevent dry/frozen eyes?

It's a tricky one. Mine was not covered enough last week and it hurt. Most people use some kind of face mask like for skiiing. https://www.google.ca/search?q=ski+face+mask

I don't wear glasses and don't have a problem with dry eyes, though sometimes my eyelashes start to freeze together - it kind of depends how hard you're breathing and how much condensation is building up on your face. Some people wear ski goggles when it gets really cold - but mine are dark and no good when the sun is not up :)

Do you have engine block heaters in cars in Yukon? In Scandinavia we have electric heaters installed to engine blocks for people who keep their cars outside. The heaters are typically in the 500 W range and keeping it on for an hour before starting up the car in the morning makes the starting a lot easier.

We also have cabin heaters for cars (typically in the 1000 W range) but they are more for the convenience (but also safety, car windows are clear when you drive off, and vapor from breath doesn't condense and freeze to the insides of the windows).

Every car here has 3 heaters actually.

Block Heater: Like you mention, in the 500W range and heats the coolant (basically a kettle element)

Oil Pan Heater: A stick-on heater that goes on the underside of the oil pan, usually in the 200-500W range. It heats the oil, because past about -35C oil has the consistency of butter, even synthetic will do that past about -40C. If you have a big vehicle, you stick more than one on.

Battery Blanket: Like an electric heating blanket for the battery. If the battery freezes, it's done for, so you don't want that. You'll also get a lot more current out of a warm battery, which is critical when you turn the key at -40C and have to spin all that cold oil.

Everyone also puts cardboard or whatever in front of their radiator for the winter so when you drive on the highway the vehicle can actually get up to running temperature.

Interesting. My dad has a "Webasto" system, which is essentially a tiny, diesel(or petrol,if your car uses petrol) powered heater, which heats up the coolant - when you turn it on(it has a remote) it also turns the fans on, warming up the engine and the interior. And it uses the fuel from your tank(it has its own fuel pump), so it doesn't deplete your battery to heat up the interior.

Yes we have many of those here as well. But they actually do deplete the battery somewhat, because the heater needs to run the fuel and water pumps and interior fans on battery.

Absolutely, but I imagine you can run a pump and a fan much longer off battery than you could a 1500W heating system. Or do they require plugging into mains?

Block heaters are always in the mains of course, a battery wouldn't do any good there.

I live in Alberta (south of Yukon) and it's the law here that all new vehicles be sold with a block heater. I imagine it's the same there. We don't see -60 usually, but -40 once or twice a year is normal.

Cool (sic). We don't have them mandatory in new cars - presumably because it would be a trade barrier within EU to require them only here, and we're too small to force the Mediterranians have them.

[edit] BTW there is a legend here that in Siberia people actually keep a fire under engines to warm it up. I even found a photograph of lorries to support this: http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/art/photography/workers...

Not sure if I would do it with gasoline engines. With diesel engines it's quite understandable, particularly if you have summer-grade diesel fuel that starts to congeal in -15C.

If I had to guess, the reason why block heaters aren't mandatory is because they are rarely necessary, especially with petrol engines. Helpful perhaps, but not necessary. (Yet I do have a petrol-operated heater to help reduce harmful emissions and possibly engine stress -- if only I remembered to use it those rare occasions I store the car in the cold. I've yet to come across a situation where a car wouldn't start because of temperature here.)

These areas, in Siberia and northern NA are much colder at times, even when they aren't within the Arctic Circle, so their situation might be considerably different.

Yes, I think it has to do with most of the Scandinavian population being in areas that just don't get cold enough to need a block heater. Many people have one anyway, but a modern car doesn't really need a heater until it gets below about -20 C. And the biggest Scandinavian cities (Stockholm, Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Oslo, Aarhus, Bergen, Malmö) rarely get that cold. A typical winter day in those cities is gray, hovering within a few degrees of freezing, and covered in a light mist of rain or sleet.

Now if you live in Kiruna or Luleå or so, things are a bit different...

You're right. I was a bit sloppy, I'm from Finland which is not geographically Scandinavia, and it's somewhat colder here than in Scandinavian population centers which are south of 60°N. Though the Golf stream helps us too, it's much warmer here than in Alaska at same latitudes.

[edit] It is true that modern cars don't need a block heater to start up successfully, but heating the engine before starting reduces fuel consumption and emissions radically.

I'm pretty sure that's still sometimes done in the military.

How good is your Internet connection and cell phone coverage? Do you see weather-related interruptions of service frequently?

To add to what's been said, another problem is currently our only fibre link to southern Canada is via the Alaska highway, which gets accidentally cut about once a year or so by a construction company.[0] We have microwave that it will fall back to, but that's extremely limited bandwidth.

[0]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/internet-slowdown-led-to...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/northwestel-restoring-ph...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/internet-outages-frustra...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/northwestel-trying-to-re...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-n-w-t-phone-intern...

In Whitehorse we have cable internet and TV, and you can get 100Mbps Cable for $140/mo with a 300GB usage cap.

All the internet is capped, which is the worst part.

As soon as you're out of town, you can only get DSL, up to a maximum of 15Mbps, though most people top out at 5Mbps due to distance from exchange. Checkout the only provider for more prices http://www.nwtel.ca/personal/internet/packages (I work for them...)

Cell phones are good now - 3G in pretty much every town, though basically nothing between towns. It's normal to do a 6 hour drive and only have coverage for 30 mins of that.

In the bigger cities there are rarely weather related interruptions - as must stuff is on fiber, though once you start getting out things change. Of course, if you're in a town of 100 people in or very near the Arctic Circle you have to expect you're not getting 100Mbps internet with no interruptions.... it's all about expectations.

do you hate walking? or not mind it after proper preparation?

I love being outside, and walking (hiking) is actually one of my favorite activities. I actually have two cars right now, so I could drive to work if I wanted to, I prefer to walk. And it would kill my cars if I drove them every day as I have no place to plug them in at work (have to pay) and daily starting past -30C without plugin is going to drastically shorten the life of a vehicle.

One of the reasons I moved up here was to be outside in the environment, so it's enjoyable to throw on my jacket and gloves and get out there in it and watch the seasons/daylight/weather change day-to-day.

Remember too that in summer the days are ~20 hours long and I'm surrounded by beautiful mountains...

Recommend a brand of winter wear?

Marino wool against your skin is absolutely the most important. Throw out all your cotten - it's completely useless in the cold. Also a high quality wool toque (beanie).

I can walk around in -20C wearing a marino base layer and my "light" down jacket no problem, while people wearing 4 layers of cotton freeze their asses off.

This advice is very much appreciated. I'll help spread it. Thanks!

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