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Old 14-01-19, 04:18
rob love rob love is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Shilo MB, the armpit of Canada
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce Parker View Post
The Inuit have something like 30 different names for snow depending on its characteristics.

I found that warm snow crunches, cold snow squeaks, but in the arctic really really cold snow chirps. The oddest snow I saw was the layered variety. There would be a blizzard, followed by wind which picked up exposed dirt, blizzard, dirt, blizzard dirt...the end result being snow with the consistency of dense styrofoam but really cool (sorry for the pun) layers of white and chocolate milk brown. Then there was the June snowstorms accompanied with 80 km/hr winds yet the 3/4" long mosquitos could still land on exposed skin, bite and blow away.

Yes Bruce, things are especially different in the arctic, where you hear the echoes of the ice cracking.


We were in our tent at a new location when one of the Bombers (artillery speak for a Corporal) came in to relate to us something new he had discovered about the arctic. It was extremely cold outside, but he had to relieve himself. That meant removing your arctic snot-mitts, lifting the parka somewhat, and fumbling around blindly with two layers of zippers in order to urinate. Whilst urinating, he realized he could not hear the yellow liquid hitting the ground. "Just another unique anomaly of the arctic" he thought to himself. As he redressed himself, he discovered that one of his arctic mitts, dangling from the dummy strings, was the cause of the lack of noise....he had filled his right mitt.
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