When Life Gives You Freezing Ass Lemons

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade...or that's what they say anyways. Although it'd be more like an ice block of lemonade.

Winter has finally decided to show up. It's cold, it's snowing and did I mention it's fucking cold?!

Winter outdoor enthusiasts are loving the snow, it's great to have all that fresh powder to play in. They'd love it more if the temperature would rise just a little as it's hard to enjoy being outside for very long when your skin is burning!

Despite the freezing cold conditions it doesn't stop the northern lights. They shine when they want. They don't check the weather forecast and worry about if it's so cold that your shutter or tripod head may freeze. They don't worry about the fact that skin exposure time for frostbite is literally down to minutes. They shine brightly, or at least they did that night!

In the midst of a polar vortex, where brutal, cold artic air had settled in on most of Canada we were treated with an amazing show. I've spent a lot of time in the dark by myself, not always chasing the lights. Sometimes I'm out there doing chores, feeding livestock, checking water bowls, putting extra bedding out, plugging in vehicles and equipment so they'll start in the morning. So it's fair to say I've seen some cold weather. This cold snap was particularly brutal because of the mild winter we've had so far. I didn't let it stop me though. They were forecasting a good night of aurora so I made sure to get all my chores done in the daylight hours, put out extra feed as the cold is tough on the critters.

I set out early that night, had extra camera batteries charged, multiple layers of warm clothes, extra gloves and a heavy winter coat thrown in my vehicle. With my gear packed and a couple

freshly brewed smoking hot coffees in my cup holder I left my yard to seek the lights. They were quiet at first, only a thin green line at the bottom of the sky, below them a cloud bank, above them the huge, dark, northern prairie sky full of stars. I wasn't loving the location. Yes it was wide open, yes it had minimal light pollution, but I wasn't feeling it. I spent most of my time there staying warm in my vehicle watching the sky and wondering if this was it. Was this the big show they forecasted? If it was, this was shit and a lunch bag let down.

I decided to pack it up and move locations. Give my gear a chance to warm up a bit. I took off down the road and low and behold I saw something in my rear view, I needed to pull over and fast. Things were starting to heat up and the sky was changing quickly. The cloud bank was gone and the thin green line was no longer thin. It had morphed in giant bands of colour illuminating the sky. These bands erupted into one of the best light shows I've seen in a while!

When the lights are glowing you don't notice the cold. You stand there in awe. It's not until the lights fade that you realize you've been standing out there for 20 minutes, your hands, face and feet are numb, your shutter is lagging and your tripod feels about as fluid as a block of ice. Time for a warm up and a possible location relocation. Maybe they're finished for the night, maybe they're not. If you pack it in, you'll never know. I didn't pack it in. I couldn't pack it in. Even though it was cold as hell, my camera felt over worked and under paid and the air hurt my face, the night didn't feel over and it wasn't.

The cold is hard on your body, your camera equipment and your vehicle, and it's also a bitch on

batteries and your bladder! I'm not shy about dropping trou on the side of the road, when you gotta go you gotta go. But when the ambient temps are -42C with a wind chill of feels like -54C you really have to muster up the balls to want to let your ass hang out in the breeze. All that nice hot coffee didn't really help the situation either. Luckily, I have heated seats, which I may or may not have had turned on high after literally freezing my ass off. Note to self, the extra layers will keep you super warm against the biting cold, they'll also be a hindrance should and when you need to pee!

What started out as a night where I might be out for an hour or 2 (that's what I told my family anyways) turned into a solid 8 hour shift. I drank multiple coffees, used my vehicle as a wind break, which thankfully no one else was on the roads that night so I could park wherever I needed or wanted to. I froze my ass off, literally and figuratively. If given the chance to do it all over again, I would in a heartbeat!