I have never been very adept at dealing with the cold. For most of my life this hasn’t been a problem, since North Carolina gets approximately 4 weeks of “cold” weather per year, and it’s possible to just suffer through it without developing any kind of strategy.
After a trip to Vermont with my college roommates in 2005, I returned home triumphantly and told my parents I’d discovered the secret of the North: you just dress for the weather. However, even that knowledge did not change my general attitude toward the cold, and knowing how to dress for the weather in an abstract sense did not mean that I knew how to do it practically speaking, or that I had a good aesthetic.
Dressing for the weather. Burlington, VT, 2005.
A couple of examples of my fraught relationship with cold:
- During my year in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, my roommates and I observed “No Energy Tuesday.” This was particularly difficult during the long Pacific Northwest winter. My typical Tuesdays were as follows — 6:00am: wake up in a 52-degree-house. 6:30am: go to the YMCA to workout and shower (it was okay if we used other peoples’ electricity). 9:00am: go to work in the dark. 5:30pm: come home in the dark. 6:00pm: eat a salad. 7:00pm: go to bed, turn on my contraband electric blanket, and call my boyfriend (Gavin) to complain. (Alternatively, we sang songs around the Christmas tree, so it wasn’t all bad.)
No Energy Tuesday. Yakima, WA, 2006.
- When Gavin was applying for faculty positions, he told me that the general strategy was to apply everywhere that you could conceivably get hired, and let your partner veto a couple of locations. Apparently I cast too wide a net by initially vetoing anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line and South Carolina.* Luckily, USNA fit those criteria anyway.
Sometimes this happens though. Annapolis, MD, 2015.
- Despite full information about the weather, I set off for our 2014 vacation in Iceland without a coat.
Zero coat. Iceland, 2014.
So, now I live in Norway. And despite my history and abstract knowledge about the weather AND an honest-to-God attempt at packing, I still failed to bring warm clothes to the fjords. I was pretty cold.
Underdressed. Hardangerfjord, 2017.
Luckily, the fjords have a lot of things going for them, not least of which is that they are stunningly beautiful. The pictures below are from our third hike, from Ulvik to Solsævatnet.
After the hiking portion of our trip was over, I decided that I needed a new, more aggressive strategy toward the cold. You’ll be happy to hear that I’ve purchased two sweaters, one additional jacket, and Andrew is bringing a second jacket when he comes to visit next week. So, I’m feeling more prepared — or at least prepared to handle the rest of the summer.
Friends, what are your strategies for dealing with the cold?
We’ve had some warm days too.
*Obviously way worse than North Carolina.
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Put boiling water in a nalgene and take it with you. You’d be shocked at how long it stays warm and you can just snuggle it now and then for warmth. (This is most helpful in a sleeping bag when winter camping, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t translate for a day hike) I also recommend eating fatty foods and staying well hydrated (which can be hard to do when you’re cold, but it actually helps your body burn energy I’ve heard) – ex. nuts, cheese, chocolate, and generally just more quantity than you think you’ll want. I dislike being cold and I loooove eating so this has worked extremely well for me in the past 🙂 Enjoy!
Nice! Thanks for the suggestions Susan.