Cold air...warm cabin

The late morning light reflects in the window of Moose Cr Cabin

It was a chilly weekend in Fairbanks with temperatures hovering between 20 and 30 below zero F. An invigorating bite to the air, the eternal frost covering the landscape, and the subtle pastels of the mid-winter sky made it all too alluring for me to head out of town to a cozy cabin tucked back in the White Mountains north of Fairbanks. Dan, Sky and I skied out under a star filled sky Fri evening with our headlamps illuminating our way.

A dog musher headed deeper into the wilderness passes us on the trail.

Dan and Sky are ready to hit the trail. With only a few layers on we remained comfortably warm if we kept moving but the moment we stopped to stuff food into our mouths our core body temperature would instantly plummet. So we maintained a pace that was just intense enough to keep us warm but not hard enough to get really sweaty.

At these temperatures vehicles don't like to work unless they are plugged in or resting in a warm garage. So it took us about 45 minutes to heat up the engine block using a propane fired weed burner torch and a stove pipe.