Comparatively Tropical

This morning was a little bit chilly. Checking my thermometer before I left home I saw that it was around – 14 (that is in Centigrade, so as not to confuse my Fahrenheit-loving American readership).

In most circumstances minus 14 would be really quite cold and a little unpleasant. I would be searching for my thickest jacket and putting on a few extra layers.

However I opted for t-shirt, hoodie and a regular down jacket.

You see today was comparatively tropical weather. Last weekend, and therefore only a few days ago, I was in Trysil. I headed up to the mountains with three old University mates and my dog for a weekend of downhill skiing and Adventures. You may well have seen some of the dog photos over the course of the weekend.

As always the mountains were stunning, and much fun was had. But it was -25!

That is a whole different ballpark of cold, even for someone who is a former Ski Instructor.

To compound this extreme Trysil cold, as we only had three days with which to ski, we stopped for barely 20 minutes for a coffee on each day.

It is hard to explain quite how cold your fingers, toes and face can become in these conditions, whether sitting still on a chair lift or skiing at pretty high speeds down a mountain. The opportunity to warm up never comes.

So back to the tropical cold of today…. And whenever I felt my hands getting chilly, I summoned the recent memory of the weekend ….. And suddenly they just didn’t feel so cold.

Using memory and mental tricks to overcome weather, tiredness, aches, etc is nothing new…. But definitely a good skill to learn

Doggies: Balto, Ibsen and Isak