It's all down to whether you're wearing the right gear or not IMO. I've felt colder and probably been more at risk of hypothermia, etc just being outside in the UK not dressed sensibly than when, for example, caught in a blizzard up a mountain in the Alps.
I know what you mean though, much prefer cold places/holidays to hot. Going on a Nordic cruise early next year, should be fun!
Did you go in the summer? it was -38 at night when we went!
I don't remember how cold it was outside at night. Hard to breath cold for sure.
I went to Chicago - with the wind chill it was in the -30's. The local police were arresting people who lived on the street to make sure that they had a warm room (a cell) for the night. I believe that the lake / river were frozen over - I have never been that cold, it makes Buxton positively tropical
Barrow - i still get shivers down my spine.
minneapolis where the wind chill took it down to -75.
But bright blue skies and a beautiful place if you like the flatland and endless skies.
I've been to Aldershot.
I used to work in a frozen food warehouse. -28.
Went snowboarding in Banff over new year a few years ago, warmest it got was -22. It didn't actually change much at night though, maybe -28. It did drop to -37 one day, with windchill, and being outside for any more than a couple of hours, whilst active, started letting the cold in. You certainly didn't appreciate the chair lift stopping halfway up! Had to wear balaclavas and goggles all the time on that day, and got some frost burn on my face where I had a gap.
Nice town with outdoor saunas, ice lake sculptures etc, but probably only for a day or two if your not skiing/boarding.
AS others have said Aberta especially the North is proper cold. Been there at -36 and there were still some dick head wondering around in T-shirts walking between the shops.
Hardanger plateau (not sure of spelling) in Norway. Balmy -15 when we dug our snow hole. Toasty inside but in the morning we climbed out into -29. That was a shock to the system.
I was in west Greenland about 20km inland from Illulisaat studying ice stream bedforms - It was a Uni trip with a couple of the lecturers and 7 other students - full on wild camping, flew in by helicopter, stuff dropped in crates etc... Amazing times.
GB
Lapland
Val Thorens in January
Top of Cairngorm in a blizzard
Industrial freezer
Moscow in January
Alberta or even NWT for proper cold. Others have already posted some nice stories but my own cold story was falling through a supposedly frozen river into the water underneath at -20C and then running (literally running) towards the camp feeling my legs starting to freeze. My friend had to use his ice axe to chop away part of my boots so I could get my feet out and by the fire.
Having said that I find -5C in Norway now feels much worse than -15C in Canada due to the relative humidity.
Bratislava -23, and in typical Brit abroad fashion walked the 30 mins from the old town to the hotel in a long sleeved shirt. Good night though. Only noticed how cold it was on the roadside digital thermometer. Come to think of it, it was quite chilly that night.
-30 something in canada didnt shake properly and froze to the inside of my trouser leg.
I went from abu dhabi in july, straight to the Falklands in the middle of their winter, it was a bit of a shock
Not as cold as some have said, but Les Deux Alpes 2009 was pretty nippy. -28 with windchill during the day and windy it certainly was. We didn't venture out at night, but I suspect it was a fair bit colder than that.
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Ton - I've spent a lot of time in Finland (my family's from there). For city and cold you could easily spend a few days in Helsinki, a lovely city in my opinion with trams, museums, restuarants, an old prison on an island, fish markets, then fly up to Lapland for a few days of proper winter fun.
Same here, BC and Alberta in Canada. Kind of feels like anything below -20 is the same thing to me.
Also Sweden, where I live .
I too would love to do some proper cold - Canada, Scandinavia or Russia somewhere.
Best I have experienced has been Scotland in 09/10 winter. A good few -10/15 days and a couple of -20 nights...
This was -18 dawn, and some similar days/nights.
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/4233131705/ ]New Year[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/matt_outandabout/ ]matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/4271762129/ ]P1010818[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/matt_outandabout/ ]matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/4233910680/ ]New Year[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/matt_outandabout/ ]matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr
This was one of the days that just *felt* darn cold as the sun set - and the next morning from memory was one of the -20 ones on the car...
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/4193570200/ ]Ben More from Glen Dochart[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/matt_outandabout/ ]matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr
And an 'ordinary' -10 or so day on the way to work...on a road that was ploughed or gritted once a week...Winter tyres FTW.
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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_outandabout/4330212197/ ]More snow.... :)[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/matt_outandabout/ ]matt_outandabout[/url], on Flickr
Oh, and a colleague who had written a couple of arctic photography books reckons the coldest he has ever been, as not been the day he lost a toe to frostbite, but chucking out time on Buxton high street...
Canadia. Depending what you like, there's skiing (downhill and cross-country), dog-sledding, skating, winter camping, ice hotels and so on, from Quebec City across to the Rockies. Generally it hits around -20 outside the cities; it can get to -40ish if you go somewhere nuts like Winnipeg. But as they always say, it's 'dry' cold, so you don't feel it as much...
I've been over 20,000 feet in Alaska and it got bit chilly. I had five layers on my feet - liner socks, vapour barrier socks, thick socks, plastic mountaineering boots and neoprene over boots.
I'd wave my willy but it fell off.
Middle of Iceland (not supermarket) for me ... it hurts.
Banff Alberta was -35 during my last season. Froze my eyes shut.
We stayed in a place called 'Golden' in Canada. It was so cold that the lorries and some vehicles plug their engines into sockets in nearby buildings to stop the engine and diesel freezing up.
Coldest for me was skiing in Whistler, -28 in the wind chill, found it hard to function properly and just had to get down the hill.
many people in Britain exaggerate the temperatures on really cold days. It makes me chuckle. Although I was once at a bus stop in the centre of Stockport when it was -7 and many locals were dressed as though it were a normal spring day.
iceland rekyavic -20 brilliant fun
I'm up in Gallivare, Kiruna & Sodankyla for work quite frequently...
It can get a bit chilly when the wind is blowing. Makes the fingers hurt when working outdoors.
About -30 Deg C in Levi (Lapish Finland). Not as bad as you would think but you can feel the snot freeze in your nostril!
We have the facility to test down to -60 Deg C at work for products that are sold into Siberia/Alaska/Canada. It is amazing how many products we sell for -40 Deg C applications and we also sell a reasonable amount for -50 and -60 Deg C locations.
I have put my bare hand into a test chamber at -60 and you can feel the tips starting to freeze in seconds.
We got to the magic -40 in Canada on a roadtrip, early 90s, the ice bridge at Niagra is phenomenal when there's a big ice bridge and then a storm, even more of a spectacle than summer imo. Don't know if they still let you wander about on the ice these days though. My camera battery gave up but it was a completely mechanical Pentax MX so I managed a few shots, I'll have to have a rummage, pre digital so in boxes under a bed. Got the car sideways a few times on the trip south through the Poconos in northern Pennysylvania.
Due a winter trip to my wife's home town of Bialystok, which is close to the Poland/Belarus border. Can get to -30, but she genuinely thinks it feels colder here due to the humidity.
I used to do rotation work around various places in Norway, the coldest experienced in Harstad was about -25. By far the coldest ever was in Deadhorse near Prudoe Bay Alaska, which regularly drops below -40. In these environments you need to be really really careful.
Lived in Finland for a year, we had -40 for two nights and we were still cycling. It was regularly -25 to -30. As long as you are dressed for it it's no problem.
I lived in Helsinki for about 15 months. There were three kinds of weather mostly. -3 to -8 or so, where it might snow; -10 to -14, snow less likely, thne a snap of -20 to -25 with clear skies which was lovely 🙂
Not much actual weatherin generally really, no gales, snowstorms or anything interesting, just gentle snow now and then, which never melted, got up to about 50cm deep then started to pack down as fast as it accumulated. The snow evolved through the winter, it was fascinating. I walked to work mostly, through a wooded park. At -25 it was a bit like being in a sauna but in reverse - tingly and breathtaking but lovely. I miss it, it was just fantastic.
XC skiing (although not in those temps) through the snowy forest was really profound, for me. Really special, in a different way to MTBing. And you can get home and get straight into a sauna too.. I can't describe how brilliant that is 🙂
I've also been to Wisconsin a few times although not in a deep cold snap. They have more weather there though; -15 and 30mph steady wind, that was bitter 🙂 Took the dog out to chase a ball, we stood there wrapped up to the hilt and he was running around like a mad thing in just his thin fur, drool freezing onto his face!
Can get to -30, but she genuinely thinks it feels colder here due to the humidity.
My wife (who's from Wisconsin) grew up with -35 odd in the winter, and she thinks that the UK when it's +1C with wind and sleet is just about the most unpleasant weather going. She thinks nothing of -15C but has to wrap up here when it's near freezing.
Norway in January. -30 with wind chill. Was excellent though!
Ton, if you want to sight see and mooch about, I'm not sure if I'd go to Tromso in the middle of winter. I went in May this year, and it's quite a nice little city, couple of nice bars, but I'm not sure whether it's much of a destination. The thing that really makes it is the scenery, the mountains and fjords nearby are beautiful, and the views from the plane in and out are fantastic. You won't get any of that if it's dark, though. I wasn't there long, though, so I might have missed the good bits in town!
But if you want to get on the sauce and go crazy with the locals, that's a different thing. There might be better places than Tromso, though. Hammerfest, like someone else mentioned?
Or the Lofoten Islands which are stunning.
Got to about -25degc when I visited Riga with a few friends for New Year's Eve - it snowed but was almost like sand - really dry - we had a great time and would recommend it for a trip
Or maybe Tallinn -went for my 30th bit that was in the middle f summer but obv you'll get below -20 in winter - the party crowd from Helsinki get the ferry over on a Friday night which makes for a good time
I've been to aberdeen a few times
I've been in -40C in Canada. It didn't feel as cold as some of the winter weather I've been in in Scotland though.
Porsanger very North Norway Minus 55 degC our rubber cover on the LandRover Shatered, and then Artic Warfare training in Skjold where it was minus 32 deg C when I did Ice Breaking drills, so thats the coldest I've been, I wouldnt recomend it for holiday day
Yeah, when everything's well below zero snow is just another powdery substance. I watched it snow on the road outside my house and it just got pulverized by passing cars and get blown away.
I always thought people talking about squeaking footsteps on snow meant that sort of crump noise.. turns out below -20 ish it's like walking on powdered class and it really does squeak.
Forgot my ski jeans years ago on a day trip to the Kitsteinhorn. So just wore normal jeans to snowboard.
Won't be doing that again.
another vote for sweden for me. not that we'll be doing it this year as family all away to thailand as it's too cold..
Matt22
Ice breaking drills. Oh dear mother of god. Port was worth it though.
Apart from Matt22, everybody else has been talking about it being slightly parky.
For real cold try Fairbanks Alaska in winter. -55 and running bare foot through the snow to jump into the hot springs - bizarre!! One day it warmed up to -35 and folk were wandering around in shorts, it just seemed to be so much warmer 🙂
Be warned though, most folk are friendly enough, but we met some who had a touch of cabin fever and were best avoided, especially as they all tend to carry guns.
