+Mudinyeri Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Just wondering how many of you cache in "extreme" cold. Today, in Nebraska, the high was about 8 degrees Farenheit. (I've forgotten how to convert to Celcius.) A new cache showed up and the FTF must have been out when it was below zero. When I made it to the cache, the temp was about 6 degrees with -15 windchille (give or take). What's your coldest cache? Quote Link to comment
+clearpath Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 When I made it to the cache, the temp was about 6 degrees with -15 windchille (give or take). I've heard of cold hard cash ... but you have taken it to a new level. Quote Link to comment
+ChileHead Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 8 degrees? That's balmy! I was out a few days ago when it was about 0F, with a much, much, MUCH colder wind chill. It's never too cold when going for a FTF! Quote Link to comment
+Team Tigger International Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Will your car start? Then it's warm enough to cache<g> Polar fleece and 100MPH suits are great things to have, and you don't have to worry about muggles. Figure most LEOs will think you're crazy, but prolly won't bother you since it's warm in the car<g> Wulf Quote Link to comment
+RichardMoore Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 There are 13 caches in Antarctica. Quote Link to comment
robertlipe Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 If you look at the actual engineering specs on most of our units, they usually really aren't rated to work well in those temps. I've cached in the low single digits with wind chills (which don't matter to electronics) well into the negatives. The LCD's get really squirreley and battery life gets bad, so it's worth some effort to try to kee pthe internal temp of your unit as warm as you can by keeping it in an inner pocket, making a careful bearing, returning it to your pocket, and then walking as far as you can before repeating. Quote Link to comment
+McMurdo1 Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I can attest to the "keep the GPSr warm". It took 4 different tries to get a stable reading at my only cache hide. I think that adds to the 5 difficulty. The hide site never sees temperatures above 0° F. It was hidden at -40° F or C doesn't matter at that temp. Cone_Z Mac Quote Link to comment
+TotemLake Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I wouldn't recommend caching in the nude at that level. It would not be a pretty sight. Quote Link to comment
+nfa Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I went caching last weekend, and it was 17 below zero in the morning, although it warmed up to a tropical 20 degrees by the afternoon. nfa-jamie Quote Link to comment
+Camo-crazed Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I wouldn't recommend caching in the nude at that level. It would not be a pretty sight. Caching nude at any temp is rude Merry Christmas Quote Link to comment
+TeamK-9 Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 As long as the car takes us to where we need to go, and there's not a horrible ammount of snow, I'm fine. But I'd actually prefer two feet of snow to really cold weather. Quote Link to comment
+TotemLake Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I wouldn't recommend caching in the nude at that level. It would not be a pretty sight. Caching nude at any temp is rude Merry Christmas Now now... be careful about putting your value system on top of somebody else's. Merry Christmas back atcha! Quote Link to comment
+clan_Barron Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 What's your coldest cache? Living in Florida, we've cached in brutally cold 50°F weather sometimes during the winter Quote Link to comment
+Camo-crazed Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 (edited) I wouldn't recommend caching in the nude at that level. It would not be a pretty sight. Caching nude at any temp is rude Merry Christmas Now now... be careful about putting your value system on top of somebody else's. Merry Christmas back atcha! If you're a nudist, you don't have any pockets to put a GPS in and I live in Ottawa so at this time of year there would be some very cold nudesicles outside in the woods. of course it just finished raining during a sunny spell in January very odd weather we're having right now. Merry Christmas (again) Edited December 24, 2004 by camo-crazed Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I'm a skier and have yet to encounter a day that it was too cold to ski. I've been on the slopes in -20 degree weather where the windchill was off the charts. As long as you're dressed for the weather it really doesn't matter. I've also backpacked in single digit temps and because I had the proper equipment it wasn't a big deal. Geocaching is no different. Dress for the conditions and the temp doesn't matter. Probably the coldest day I ever geocached it was 3 degrees when we started out. We even stopped for lunch after we found the cache. My iced tea was frozen solid though. Quote Link to comment
kayaker22589 Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 It was 30 out today but i didn't cache. Quote Link to comment
+flask Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 i've never seen a day that was too cold to cache. i have seen just one day that was too cold to ski. it was so cold and windy that it was difficult to move downhill. the snow was very crunchy and the wind was blowing upslope. do you know that feeling like you're standing on a piece of cardboard and trying to jump a little to push it forward? it was like that. usually i like it when it's brutally cold and sunny, because auslanders coem and buy lift tickets and then stay off the slopes, out of the liftlines, and they spend plenty-o-money in the snack bar and other peripheral businesses. i know which side my tax base is buttered on. cold? fine. more runs for me. that one day was too much, though. i HAVE appropriate clothing. what i NEEDED was some additional gravity. Quote Link to comment
+Ma & Pa Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Our log from one of our first finds: Centennial Creek Great day for a walk in Centennial Park. Temperature minus 25 C and wind chill minus 45. We were bundled up and spent 2 hours looking for the caches in the Park. The cold weather did not bother us but it froze the moisture on my eyeglasses and played havoc with the GPS batteries and affected the readings. The hard packed snow on the main trails supported us pretty well and the exercise kept us warm. Quote Link to comment
+Lemon Fresh Dog Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 I just recieved a log entry for one of my caches -- they found the cache, it was fozen into the ground, the lid was still exposed, so they were able to log it!. We're heading to -26 (celsius) as a HIGH this week and for me - that's COLD. Quote Link to comment
+Ladybug Kids Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Up here in Fairbanks, Alaska, summer is just six months of bad skiing and mushing . I've hidden five caches in the past six weeks in below 0° F temperatures and two of them have already been found, so there are a few hardy souls out and about up here. Like prior posts stated, it doesn't really matter how cold it is as long as one dresses for it. I've mushed my dogs at -37° F, though it wasn't much fun for me or the dogs because they don't make a ski/sled runner wax that works to provide glide below -20° F, so it's like mushing on the beach. Darkness and snow cover are probably the biggest challenges up here. The sun was up for a meager 3 hours and 10 minutes today , so my headlamp has been getting a lot of use. My Magellan SporTrak has been holding its own. I wear a bicycling vest with pockets in the back as my outermost or next to outermost layer. It stays warm in the pocket, yet still generally gets good enough signal to track our route. I also carry spare batteries in an inner front pocket. Go on out and cache whatever the winter weather...the mental and physical exercise are great ways to help overcome seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Quote Link to comment
+1stimestar Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Up here in Fairbanks, Alaska, summer is just six months of bad skiing and mushing . I've hidden five caches in the past six weeks in below 0° F temperatures and two of them have already been found, so there are a few hardy souls out and about up here. *Raising Hand* I think I have decided that -10F is about my limit. That's the temp that my nostril hairs freeze and I just don't enjoy it lol. I would have gotten your other ones but my brain is frozen and it would take too much energy that I don't have right now to figure out your clever caches! Today (Christmas Eve) I have been here a year! WHOO HOO! And I still don't have good enough winter wear. I have my ski suit that was fine for skiing in Colorado but not warm enough for here. So I am hoping to hit some after Christmas sales. Quote Link to comment
+Ed Rad Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 As long as the vehicle starts and the GPS doesn't freeze then it's a go for me. I LOVE caching in the winter. It's the best time of year. Quote Link to comment
+G'n,G Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Mine was probably yesterday. It was about 15 degrees out (F). The coldest it would have to get to stop everyone from caching is absolute zero degrees Kelvin. btw: 100th post Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 60 something below 0 would be about the limit for me. I no longer own the cold weather geat because I don't live there anymore but, colds not the issue for humans. At some temperature your rig's and your GPS are not gonig to be up to the trip. Quote Link to comment
+ibycus Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 The coldest it would have to get to stop everyone from caching is absolute zero degrees Kelvin. I don't know about you, but I tend to get pretty sluggish around 77K, 0K is just way too cold Quote Link to comment
+SerenityNow Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Old Johnny Carson monolog joke: Johnny: It was so cold out today! Ed: How cold was it? Johnny: It was so cold... I saw a witch wearing a thermal bra! Ed: Heyyyohhh! We've been out in close to 0 farenheit. When you get that geocaching itch, you just gotta scratch. Quote Link to comment
+Mudinyeri Posted December 27, 2004 Author Share Posted December 27, 2004 Thanks for all the replies! I had no idea this would be such a popular topic. Although the cache I mentioned above was my coldest so far I'm not averse to the cold. At 8 degrees I didn't even have my jacket/coat zipped or a hat on! Sounds like GPSr's, like many electronic, battery-powered devices start to struggle as the temps drop. I often carry mine in a pants pocket until I get really close, only checking it occasionally to ensure that I'm on track. I wonder if glove/hand warmers would help the batteries and performance at more extreme temps.... Keep your "cold cache" stories coming! Quote Link to comment
dantonac Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Right around freezing is too cold for me. I would do a quickie cache in colder weather where I knew I wouldn't be more than a 10th of a mile from the car at any point, but for longer or multicaches right around freezing is my limit. It is also a practical limit for my camera and GPS too so it seems pointless to be out in colder weather. I agree one could sport extreme weather gear and be fine, I am just not that hardcore. Quote Link to comment
+Kitch Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 January 21 by Marsha and Silent Bob (817 found)#266 -- 1 of 1 for tonight. FTF! -7 degrees, -25 with the windchill... Here I am in Blackhawk Park with my beard frozen, my gloves crusted with ice, my nose feeling like it was going to break off, and my maglight stuck to my tongue (thank god I have an Aurora headlamp now). Here I am "enjoying" the cache that Kitch put out for my quarter-century birthday while he is yelling at me that I better hurry up because HE's cold! I was actually hoping that the longer I held out against the cold the more hints I would get It didn't work too well Start to finish was about an hour and more wandering around searching than hiking between waypoints The park is open until 11pm so you night crawlers can get out there and do some legal night caching The final was stocked full of goodies including RJ's infamous missing hat!!! I was glad that Old Chicago in Eagan was so close by... I needed something to warm up afterwards Thanks to Kitch for a killer birthday bash cache! TNLN, TFTC, Silent Bob Quote Link to comment
+Team Perrito Blanco Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 I'll definitely be caching this winter. I've only just started. I was out a few days ago in 25°+- breezy weather. I probably won't go out in any really cold/windy weather. Those cold winds cut right through you. Too much snow would be a deterrent too, seeing as the cache would prooly be covered. Quote Link to comment
+carleenp Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 I love to snow cache. I am just waiting for a good snow! Without snow, I am willing to go in the cold, although when it gets down near zero, I generally would rather stay home where it is warm. Quote Link to comment
+mozartman Posted December 27, 2004 Share Posted December 27, 2004 Here in Phoenix, I don't really like to go caching in temps below about 50 degrees or so. That's just too darn cold. please, nobody throw snowballs at me! (hey, I lived in Colorado, Northern Idaho, and Maryland, among other places, so I know what cold weather is like. I'm very happy to be here!) Quote Link to comment
+GPSKitty Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 What's your coldest cache? Living in Florida, we've cached in brutally cold 50°F weather sometimes during the winter Yep, 50 degrees is about my limit. Luckily it doesn't get much colder than that here. Quote Link to comment
+Team Perrito Blanco Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Wimps. Quote Link to comment
+robert Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Wimps. I was thinking the same thing! As long as you dress warm, and if there's snow on the ground, dry, I have no problems with the cold. Last year we did a bunch in bitter cold with about 8" of snow on the ground. We went to mostly smaller parks, with 1-3 caches in them and no long hikes. Higher DNF percentage that day but oh well, that's fine. It was a great time and I can't wait to do it again this year. Quote Link to comment
+Bionico Posted December 28, 2004 Share Posted December 28, 2004 Although I didn't find the Cache because it was too dark (d'oh) I went Caching this morning and it was 45 degrees and I live in Phoenix. Quote Link to comment
+SerenityNow Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 Here's two of our favorite winter cache finds JacksonBog/Tour de Force and East Reservoir Island. As long as you're dressed warm, winter caching is great. Quote Link to comment
missmod88 Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 the temps here are in the -30C area,, much too cold for my gps!! is it not?? I have had it out a few times, and boy, does it drain the batteries fast!! That's why I was thinking of getting serious about 'geocaching' in the spring, when it's warmer on not only the gps, but my little fingers!! LOL and NO! I am not a whimp!! missmod Quote Link to comment
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