A Cold Never experienced before

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I heard it was around 40 degrees in Sydney, Australia, a few days back. A huge 70 degree (Celsius) difference between us and home.

Yes that’s right guys and gals, it was - (minus) 30 degrees, a cold that I have never experienced before, a cold that when you remove your gloves to take a picture, 10 seconds later you lose the feeling in the hands, a cold that gives you a constant brain freeze. The weather channel called it an Artic Dry event. There was no wind chill, a still day at -30c was just C.O.L.D.

We took the girls up the Gondola, and after a little snowboarding, Alissa stated that she doesn’t do chairlifts and she certainly doesn’t do - 30 degrees, she did end up mastering the chairlift but I don’t think any of us mastered the bitter cold. :>

So Daz and I took the chair to the very top, the highest peak in Whistler. 2,200 meters, it was so cold that the trees were pure icicles (see picture), there were a few powder sections but most of the mountain was a sheer sheet of solid ice. Darren’s balaclava froze into ball of ice which exposed the skin on his chin and neck. He was freezing and couldn’t cover it. We snowboarded 5.5km in distance and dropped over 1.5km in 30 mins. I was having trouble keeping up with him as he flew down the mountain and wondered why he was going so quick. I soon found out why.

We dropped our boards off at the base of the mountain and went into the nearest pub and ordered a few drinks. Daz heads off to the men’s room and the next thing I know, the waitress comes and says to me “Your mates just collapsed and we have called the paramedics”.

A quick ambulance ride to the hospital and I was quite worried. It ended up old Daz had Hyperventilation and a mild case of hyperthermia. So the nurse shoved a large heater hose up into his bed to warm him up and after a few hours we headed home.

So we decided not to go boarding the next day as we were leaving anyway for Vancouver and it was supposed to be even colder on the mountain.


Also, you can check Daz’s blog at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/daz78

Keep the comments comming,

L8R.

Rohan

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Comments

[Megz]

Living the high life!
Hey Roh, Great to see that you are having such a great time - your decision was quite obviously the right one - travel travel travel. Yes, lovely 35 - 40 degree days, swimming heaps, getting ready for school, playin with Jemma. Aren't I boring in comparison - snowboarding, fine food (crab - yum!!!!), hospital visits (there's nothing like having a warm hose shoved up your blanket!!!) Disneyland.....keep it up! Lovin the photos and the fact that you took the laptop - great decision. Megz

[The Nomad]

Bloody hell!
You know the saying "When Hell freezes over" well it appears it did in Whistler. -30 there, 40 in Oz, Looks like I'm the only normal one with a mild British winter of around 8 everyday. The worst we had was about -5 the week leading up to Christmas. Good to see you're all doin OK (Some better than others, tell Daz to take it easy) Have a good one, can't wait to have a few Pints with you guys here in England... PEACE CAMO!!!