Far North Rambles #40: It Is Cold Outside
I am a firm believer in the genetic predisposition to cold.
My normal winter wear for the Far North was: a) t-shirt; b) regular shirt; c) pleated flannelette shirt over those; d) down vest or red windbreaker over those; e) parka; e) warm-up pants over top regular jeans; f) boots good to -50C; g) light weight wool gloves under felted animal skin leather mitts (warmest mitts I have); and h) wool toque unless it was really cold, in which case I wore my beaver fur trimmed animal skin hat (warmest hat I have; Photo 1). I always packed my winter uniform not because I get cold easily, but because I walked everywhere in the Far North communities and you never knew if you would end up in the bush or on the frozen lake. Better to be prepared than be cold!
Photo 1: Me, Andy Fyon, wearing my beaver trim, animal skin hat - the warmest hat I own. Also visible are the four base layers that I wear under my parka: a) T-shirt; b) jean shirt; c) down vest; d) red pleated flannelette shirt. Photo composed by Jack Parker (Ontario Geological Survey, Senior Manager at the time), in the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry forward fire attack base, on Cat Lake reserve, home land of the Cat Lake First Nation, Dec. 10/13.
Xavier Sagutch appeared to have quite the opposite response to cold. He lead several land-related projects for Eabametoong First Nation (EFN), out of Fort Hope, Ontario. “Mr X”, as he was affectionately called, is an excellent photographer (Photo 2) and set about to document the animals, plants, insects, and many land features in the EFN traditional territory.
Photo 2: Xavier Sagutch (Eabametoong First Nation), in his office, in the Band Office, Fort Hope. Xavier is an excellent photographer and some of his photos are illustrated in the wall poster behind him. Xavier is committed to documenting the land and all life on the land, and restoring damaged land in the traditional area of Eabametoong First Nation to its original state. Xavier was a joy to work with. Image by Andy Fyon, Dec. 8/09.
Back on November 24, 2013, while walking through the community, I bumped into Xavier on the streets of Fort Hope. Although only late November, it was a cold. "How cold was it?". That morning it was -28C! The wind blew the airport windsock straight out, horizontally, so the windchill was even colder. I was wearing my one-level-below maximum winter uniform. I did not wear my beaver hat (Photo 3). I was shocked to see Xavier dressed in his jean jacket, no hat or mitts, carrying a plastic gas container (Photo 4). He was headed out into the bush on his snow machine.
Photo 3: Me, Andy Fyon, wearing my winter uniform, minus the beaver fur hat, on the streets of Fort Hope, Ontario, in the homeland of Eabametoong First Nation. The temperature was a cool -24C that morning. Photo composed by Xavier Sagutch, Saturday morning, Fort Hope, Nov. 23/13.
Photo 4: Xavier Sagutch, also known as “Mr. X”, on the street of Fort Hope, in the homeland of Eabametoong First Nation, Ontario. Despite the cold, Xavier was content to wear his jean jacket, no mitts, and no hat. He was carrying a plastic gas container because he was headed out into the bush on his snow machine. Talk about cold tolerance! Image by Andy Fyon, Nov. 23/13.
We both laughed at the difference in the way we dressed. Xavier asked why I was all dressed up. I said it was cold. He reminded me that the weather was nice and warm and that his jean jacket was good for a few weeks yet until the weather turned cold, meaning -45C!
I have no idea how Xavier tolerated the cold, but I recall when I first shared this story a few years ago, Sid Okees, also of EFN, described Xavier as “old school”. “Old school” or not, Xavier Sagutch is a cool person, committed to documenting the land and restoring damaged land to its natural state. He is a person whose cold tolerance amazes me to this day.
Clearly, Xavier’s cold tolerance far exceeds mine. Perhaps he is a candidate for cold-tolerance research at University of Manitoba led by Professor Popsicle (Dr.Giesbrecht: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH29uzBvR1s...). Clearly, I am not.
Andy Fyon, Oct 30, 2020 (Facebook, Oct 20, 2020).