[quote=AKSARJerry mentioned the book "Hunters of the Northern Ice". It is a great book, which talks about the traditional ways of the Iņupiat of Alaska. The author, Richard K. Nelson, is an anthropologist who studied the indigenous people of Alaska, and their relationships with the natural world. I also like Nelson's "Shadow of the Hunter" which follows the life of the Iņupiat through the seasons. Another book of his, "Hunters of the Northern Forest", focuses on the Athabaskans of interior Alaska.

Great books, all.
[/quote]

Absolutely great books! Anyone who is trying to live in colder (below freezing) weather should read them.

For the purposes of this thread, Nelson was an anthropologist who was paid by the Air Force to live with native Americans in the far north (one year each with the Inupiat and the Athabaskans) to learn their methods of living and working in the cold before the skills were lost to modern society. All for the purposes of bettering the AF survival knowledge.

I think he was a little hard on the Athabaskans in "Forest". After a year further north ("Ice") he had gained so much respect for the Inupiat (which I understand) he had gained their attitude toward the Athabaskans, which is not exactly one of reverence.

ILBob,

I would disagree, I think -20 begins to solve the cold problems (water is almost not a problem and clothing is easier to live with). IMHO it is easier to stay warm at that temp than the teens and twenty's above. The coldest I have ever been is twenty above in freezing rain. -40 is cold but manageable, -60 and below becomes somewhat difficult. Not too bad with no wind, gets bad quickly with a breeze (as described above by AKSAR). I was told by the meterologist at Plateau Station in the Antarctic (not there in the winter it was only -65 when I was there) that -120 is manageable if there is NO wind and absolutely unmanageable if there is. Wind is the overriding criteria in all the above.

Respectfully,

Jerry