Skiing in -14 sub-freezing antarctic conditions

I knew I wasn’t in the city anymore. Not only because it’s -14 up here in VT where we’re skiing, but because I saw a dog jogging up a snow-covered road. Just nonchalantly headed wherever he was going. WITHOUT BOOTIES. 

Skiing in -14 requires some wardrobe tricks which I haven’t quite figured out yet. 

• I get the part where you open up 7 sets of hand-warmers and strategically line your long underwear with them. 
• Then there's the part where you smear of this greasy stuff on your nose that’s allegedly supposed to prevent frostbite.
• Last comes the real battle: how to not lose your nose to frostbite while not fogging up your glasses. If you cover your nose, your glasses fog up. If you don’t cover your nose, you can’t feel your face after about 8 minutes but at least you can see where you’re going. It’s a tough choice. You can avoid this dilemma by remembering to pack contact lenses.

Pop forewent the glasses. We were standing at the bottom of a hill waiting for him and whooosh- he blows past. At an odd angle. “You would not believe it! My eyelashes froze together and I couldn’t see anything!"

One further note: If you’re not going to wear glasses, stick a hand-warmer in your hat or something so your eyes don’t freeze shut.

Dave L said he was skiing along and passed a guy. This is a big deal because Dave never passes anybody. So he was feeling pretty good— maybe sub-freezing temperatures are his special competitive advantage. Somewhere along the way, the guy catches up to Dave and mentions he had outpatient surgery yesterday. This dimmed the achievement somewhat, Dave said. 

On the way back from VT, we met up with Michelle and David for brunch. They had just come back from dog sledding. Those dogs didn’t have booties either. Or little sweaters. I saw the pictures to prove it.