Learning The Cold Way: A Weekend Warrior’s Lesson in The Yukon

Tucked away in the Northwest of Canada, The Yukon is a territory with a majority subarctic environment, meaning the winters are cold and long, and daylight is a precious rarity in mid-winter. George and Caroline, two members of The Mountain People community, living in the territory’s capital Whitehorse, get a taste of what it takes to endure an overnight ski and camp trip in Canada’s North.

It was mid-January and Saturday morning in Whitehorse, the end of the working week was behind us and now two days to make the most of the good forecast. Low winds and a warm -10°C is an opportunity not to be missed in a place known for the cold and biting wind. With our Sirac backpacks filled with all of our warmest clothing and camping equipment, we packed the car with our skis and set off out of the city.

First came the tedious long slog up the track on skis. Had we bitten off more than we can chew? Did we have enough food? Had I locked the car? I clipped into my skis, slung my pack on my shoulders and all those worries flew away. Neither myself or Caroline had much experience with uphill skiing, or skinning, before this weekend, and to do it with fully laden packs added to the difficulty of balancing exertion and pace. We tapped into lessons we had learned during the cold snap of -40°C a few weeks ago, that sweat freezes instantly and can become a danger. Slow and steady it is.

The trundle to the crest and the highest point of our tour gave way to beautiful twilight. Breathe. Soak it in. Direct sunlight hit our faces for the first time in over a month. Daylight only lasts for a few hours mid-winter, yet the transition between day and night feels almost eternal. The race to get to our camp before pitch darkness can wait for just a few more moments. We let the magic of the ice crystals floating past and lighting up the sky encapsulate us before dropping back down into the mountain's shadow.

The fleeting joy and giddiness of feeling truly free from our weekly routine quickly gave way to a humbling realisation of our situation. We were in the wild. We were only a few kilometres from the city but we were truly alone. All signs of human existence were hidden by a thick blanket of snow. Nobody had been this way for weeks, if not months. Darkness was coming and we were alone. There was no turning back now. We put on the head torches and made haste down to the frozen lakes. A further 2km of skimming across the ice on the skis and we’ll be at camp.

-10°C? Definitely not. -20°C was more likely. We’ve been out in the Yukon in winter long enough to know that ten below is easily manageable on our extremities and warm pockets and gloves will bring the feeling back in no time. But ten degrees colder, that’s when we learn not to touch anything with bare hands! The cold sneaks through any gaps in your clothing and bites hard. Setting up camp was a challenge. With every item pulled from the bag, our fingers grew colder. With every opening of the tent door, fresh snow flew inside. With every step around camp, my feet sunk further into the snow. Now the rush wasn’t to get to camp, but to create a cosy den to shelter us from the harsh outside.

After a warm meal and the presentation of a hot water bottle, we hunkered down for the night, wrapped up in thick down sleeping bags and with our hats firmly on our heads, the only reminder that we were in the cold would come with the chill air up our noses with a deep breath. The air was still. Silence. I hadn’t heard silence like that for months.

Then it came. An almighty, thunderous boom. We both sat bolt upright. “You heard that?” Caroline questioned whether she had dreamt that. Again, BOOM. The ice on the lake we had camped on the shore of was cracking with the differing temperature of the night. We struggled to sleep once that started.

What we woke up to the following morning was just pure bliss. It was a relaxed start as the sun wouldn’t rise until 10:30. We took it all in and let the time just slip by. Moments like that are why I go camping. Unaware of the city life and responsibilities, just looking across a frozen lake and watching dawn light up the mountains. I felt reconnected with nature again.

Down came the tent, the bags got packed and away we went. Other than footprints and dispersed snow, there was no trace of our existence. We joined a snowmobile track a little way up the bank that took us winding back down the hill to Fish Lake, our final but long stretch of the excursion.

It was cold, but it sure was worth it. The views were incredible. The sun shone across the lake, giving us long shadows and we were even treated to a rare anthelion, a rainbow-like phenomenon that Caroline aptly called a “snowbow”. I called it a “suncat” as it wasn’t a sundog.

The last hour was the hardest. We knew that the car and easy-won warmth was just beyond the horizon, yet the fatigue and the sore, cold feet made us both just want to sit down and wait for a snowmobile to come and take us the last kilometre. We just had to keep digging in and not let the cold beat us down at the last hurdle.

I got to the car and opened the door. Yup, I had forgotten to lock the car the day before. Don’t tell Caroline. The thermometer read -18°C. Yup, it was colder than we expected. But we were warm, and we felt we accomplished something. What was that, exactly? A successful tour into unfamiliar terrain and conditions with a new understanding of how to enjoy the outdoors in any season. And a new appreciation of the beauty of a winter landscape on our doorstep.

Kit we used:

George

• Rab Ascent 1100 XL sleeping bag

• Lowe Alpine Sirac 65L trekking backpack

• Rab Ascendor Pants

• Rab Photon Insulated Pants

• Rab Vapour-Rise Summit Jacket

• Rab FlatIron Logo Cap

• Rab Power Stretch Pro Glove

Caroline

• Rab Women’s Ascent 1100 sleeping bag

• Lowe Alpine Women’s Sirac 50L trekking backpack

• Rab Women’s Ascendor Pants

• Rab Photon Insulated Pants

• Rab Women’s Nexus Jacket

• Rab Vapour-Rise Summit Jacket

• Rab Women’s Neutrino Pro Jacket

• Rab Women’s Vapour-Rise Gloves

• Rab Knitted Logo Headband

Words by: George

Photos by: Caroline and George