It was about -40 when I landed in Yellowknife several years ago. Damn cold.

I probably won't make my winter trip up north this year chasing the Aurora like we've done the last few years, have our kid due next month...

Vapor barrier boots are what you want.  They're heavy as shit but with good socks your feet stay warm.

I wondered how the 22s would handle the cold snap we've had here in Anchorage for last couple weeks.  Answer is they handle it by staying in the hangar.  Haven't seen one out on the flight line at all.  Obviously they can get cold, it's not warm at altitude, but I guess sitting out in -20 or so is still no good for them.

How do they heat the cockpits is my question?  I'm guessing an electric heater.

Congrats on the kiddo

I was stationed in North Dakota and remember those cold times. You could really feel that cold when you breathe in

#2. 14 mo apart barely made the short trip to Anchorage last year after the first one.

I'm getting my snow here today though, brought the RC car out and having some fun.

Cool shots!

Oh, and check out this pic I took of a 90th Fighter Squadron F-15E from Elmendorf back in 2005.  Serious battle damage on the inside of the tail.  

Until I saw what you meant, I was wondering if it was the friendly fire jet from the late 80’s that took an AIM-7 up the tailpipe. Landed fine, but the rear controls and one engine were screwed.

Wild story that you mention, not sure I've heard of it but that would sure be some high pucker flying!

Sorry, no hi-res here.  That's a scanned image from a 35mm film developed shot.  

I’ll see if I can dig up the story. If memory serves the wing commander and a whole bunch of other guys (including ord who were doing their jobs) got in deep shit over it.

@JustinOK34

So it was an AIM-9M, not an AIM-7 like I thought.  Mar. 19, 1990
https://fighterjetsworld.com/historic-aircraft-and-incident/that-time-f-15-aim-9m-sidewinder-missile-accidentally-hit-another-f-15-fighter-jet/19410/


on Mar. 19, 1990 a U.S. Air Force (USAF) Elmendorf Air Force Base (AFB) F-15 Eagle accidentally hit by an AIM-9M Sidewinder missile fired from another USAF F-15.

As can be seen by looking at the photo, the missile caused extensive damage to the tail section of the aircraft and moderate damage to the left-wing and engine exhaust.

The F-15 pilot, Lt. Col. Jimmy L. Harris, said he was sure the accident was going to be counted as a Class A. He
was almost right.

The cost of repairing the aircraft was fixed at $992,058, or $7,942 short of being a Class A.

However, Maj. Gen. Francis C. Gideon Jr., then commander of the Air Force Safety Center at Kirtland Air Force
Base, N.M., said he could not determine if the service calculated the cost of the F-15 tail in the repair cost.

The pilot who ‘unintentionally’ fired the missile realized what was happening moments after he released the
heat-seeking Sidewinder at Harris and urgently radioed him, then Sgt. David Haulbrook then said.

Harris, in the second F-15, took evasive action but was unable to completely avoid the attack. He was not
injured, but his jet fighter suffered a significant amount of damage.

‘It took real good flying to get it back,’ Haulbrook said.

The accident took place on the first day of the Arctic Cover air war game exercises 150 miles west of Anchorage over the Stony military operations area. The exercise was cancelled after the mishap.

‘It’s not normal procedure to call off an exercise, but we did it in the interest of safety,’ Haulbrook said.

“Ed,” a former USAF weapon loader recalled on the authoritative website F-16.net “I was stationed at Elmendorf AFB in 1991, I walked into the hanger and saw this damaged F-15.

I was told it was shot at by an AIM-9 missile and that the aircrew flew the jet back

‘I was a weapons loader in the Air Force and I talked to a lot of people first-hand about what happened. I made TSgt and became the weapons expeditor six months after be assigned to the 54th FS. I later made MSgt and was the Assist NCOIC. I retired in 1997.

The weapons crew chief (Jeff Lang) that loaded the missile told me that there was a training AIM-9 and a live AIM-9 on the jet. The live AIM-9 was being flown to King Salmon (alert post). He said he wrote in the aircraft forms that there was a live missile and a training missile on the jet, he also told the pilot himself. The crew chief for the jet also to the pilot and the people at EOR also told the pilot.

‘After the investigation, the weapons crew was blamed for everything. The F-15 weapons T.O. also failed to say that you can’t load a training missile and a live missile on the same aircraft. I spent 15 years on the F-4C/E/G and the T.O. stated this in the general safety requirements that you couldn’t do this.

‘The aircrews for both F-15’s were cleared of any wrongdoing and the pilot that fired the missile was promoted later on to Capt. Life as a weapons load was hell, you had to write everything in the aircraft forms. What you had loaded, what station, live or inert.

‘Jeff Lang was a good crew chief and one of my go-to guys. We went on a TDY to Luke AFB and Jeff got sick and a few weeks later died of a brain aneurysm. His wife was pregnant and had a baby boy after Jeff had passed.

Photo Credits: U.S. Air Force

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Was 20 down here by the ocean today.

Smart people have a cache away from their cabin with a tent and survival gear.

I was stationed at Eielson for 4 years, sometimes I miss it and sometimes I don't. Swung wrenches on A-10's in -40 and colder temps!

Yowzas!

Cool pictures. Around here it's just cold with nothing to look at.

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@LRShooter

Former Alaskan here, be aware that "remote" means a wildly  different thing in AK vs in lower 48. In lower 48 it might mean 2 hours down a gravel road from a country store. in AK it might mean driving 6 hours from Anchorage (major airport) followed by an hour in a Cessna landing on a lake followed by to hike 1.5 days through the brush with no trail.

Regarding the squetna guy... in the photos it looks like he has a snow cave built, i assume he had a ton of firewood stashed away from his house earlier in the season(like you know MAY), as well as a wood stove burning , and the shelter he has up looks like a tent that he has insulated by shoveling snow onto it with the wood stove inside it. as far as digs it likely was well above freezing in there and dry. Water(he had a stove), pots and pans survive house fires just fine. Food would be his only concern and 22  days worth would be kinda iffy to stash outside his primary residence unless he had a cache of game he kept frozen outside his house old time trapper style( why pay for generator gas to freeze it when nature does it just fine?).

I've spent the night outside at -34 in Fairbanks, on top of murphy dome, the wind was something on the order of 30-40 mph. Not sure what the effective temp was but if you stood up above the brush line(about 3 feet) the wind hit you like a bucket of ice water in the face, went right through balaclava and parka, was best to just hunch over and try and stay out of the brunt of it. The snow was really weird, there was about a 8 inch thick "crust" that was basically solid HARD packed. We built our shelters using a wood saw and cutting slabs of it, digging out the powder underneath(which was like coarse sand), then putting the brush we harvested over the grave, then the slabs of snow, tunnel into the shelter and put a ton of brush on the floor, then go back topside and over the whole thing with 2 feet of powder from another hole. took about 2 hours i think but that night I slept in a cheap 20 ABOVE Walmart sleeping bag, long johns, and a hat. Nothing froze. Most memorable class of my undergraduate career at UAF.  

Amazing pictures. Make you feel like you're there. Thanks for sharing.

rimshot

I've been cold, but never anything like that.

Great photos OP, thanks.

Usually once a year we get a good week or so of -30 to -50 but that’s with the windchill, and not sustained for months on end

Everything on my truck squeaks and creaks and groans at -30. Sound just seems sharper in the air too.
I don't care for much below -10 myself, then I need to start putting extra layers on.  

My cabin in Salcha is in frame

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If you can go outside and die you probably shouldn’t be there.

False.

If it is -40 degrees, it is a full 105 degrees warmer than that in Austin, TX right now. That is nuts.

One year I came home on leave from Iraq got held over in Kuwait for a while. It was 124 when I left Kuwait and was -43 when I landed 15 hours later in Fairbanks, talk about bananas.

Oh, I get it.  Snow machine access only in the winter, or perhaps by aircraft.  Although I fly, I don't foresee an aircraft on floats or skis in my future.  My internet searches for land usually are limited to ID, MT or WY, which if I can ever pull it off financially, is where I'll probably end up buying.  I much prefer being able to drive a truck down a dirt road, even if it's only seasonal.   And it being only several hours to a day or so drive from where I'm at now makes it a lot easier to go look at things.

A buddy's kid, it was only 30 below though, and the parking lot is about 300 yards away...still a cold bitch...

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You ride a open river canyon thru a ridge into some premo riding...but the river is fed by a hot spring so its open and you have to keep crossing it all the way in...But the riding once in is sweet....

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I dig the one with the .mils on patrol dragging the sled.  Great pic.

Question: Does an AR need special prep/lube for operating reliably in super cold?

I just use ATF for lube in the winter..Haven't taken an AR out much in the winter, but the few times I have it has worked fine...

I've shot ARs in the low teens maybe, but that's not the same as -30.  Yikes.

nope

LAW

Lubricant Arctic Weather

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Most would die. Most do die. Some have eaten a bullet.

If you want a good read on this kind of thing, the last frontiersman is a good book. Written about Heimo Korth and his experiences, the books also has a few parts in it from old timers speaking of such things
This kind of life is hard though, and I'd never do it alone, goddamn that would be miserable.

Central Oregon here - we had a cold snap a few years ago where it dipped down to -34 at one point.  I had to go out to get water to the animals in -20 and came to this realization: -20 and +15 feel the exact same . . . except that bare fingers start to turn stiff and go numb after about a minute.  Your brain doesn't automatically think "hey, it's cold enough to kill you", you have to consciously think about how cold it is and what you need to do to protect yourself.

Cool pics, OP!

Looks chilly.

Was stationed at Eielson from 10-13. Glad I got stationed there and was able to experience it. But I'm pretty well done with the idea of going back to AK because of those winters.

@NorthPolar

I am headed up to Fort Greely the end of February - beginning of March for work....

Can you tell me what temps I should expect and provide some tips of what clothing I should buy. I suspect my activity will be mostly sedentary with brief periods of moderate work.

TDY at Wainwright in the summer was great. No desire to go when just being outside can kill you.

Air that comes off the APU or last engine compression stage.  Throw in some additional compressors, turbines, heat exchangers, valves and water separators to do some goldilocks stuff.

ETA:
Or … just leave the CIPs powered up via support equipment.

Great Pics!!  Not as cold but down here in Kodiak we have had LOTS of snow this year so roads and building look about the same.  That pic of NPPD was cool but it looked a bit like he was taking a piss and wound up like the dog on page one. Couldnt see the face but it didnt look like Chief Dutra

Expect decent winds for sure, that’s pretty much a constant for the Delta Junction area. It could be -20 before windchill in late February and 30f with no wind in March. It’s a toss up for the area honestly.

Layers are your friend clothes wise. I’m assuming you aren’t going TDY and getting issued gear then?

A windstopper layer for sure, lots of layers, including lots of polar fleece..no cotton, wool works, turtle fur balaclava, I like the single thickness medium thickness and a thicker neck band if more is needed..Turtle fur soaking wet will still keep you warm and comfortable..no other will...Bunny boots if you have to sit/stand in the cold..nothing else comes close, but they are freaking big/heavy...I avoid down, allergic to it, but also if it gets wet it may not keep you warm at all, Quality snowmachine gear is the best cold weather gear I have found(we use lots of Klim products, including for layers), plus the good stuff is both wind proof and warm, with lots of zippers to regulate temps...mittens are warmer then gloves, but gloves are normally needed....And finally hand warmers(chemical) are always a good thing to have on you if needed..they will keep you warm if fingers or toes get cold...one by the kidneys will also help core temps...

Send some of that down here, I'm fucking sick of 60-70 degrees in fucking december/january

I need to move.

He's got his arms in front.