11 ms·

What it’s like living in the coldest town on Earth

116 points by yla92 12y ago

cbd1984 12y ago
> people here regularly consume frozen meat Unless they eat it while it's still frozen, why is this noteworthy? Also: > Most people use outhouses, because indoor plumbing tends to freeze. This is due to their poverty, not the cold. If it was just cold there, as opposed to cold and impoverished, they could either keep water constantly running through the pipes, or, if that won't work, insulate them better, possibly with heating coils. "It's so cold, they make sure they have to go outside just to perform basic bodily functions" sounds a bit... insane? Idiotic? Poorly-written and probably badly-researched? > Cars are kept in heated garages or, if left outside, left running all the time. This isn't unusual. Block heaters also work, and might represent a fuel savings once the electricity infrastructure to plug in all of them is in place. > Crops don’t grow in the frozen ground, so people have a largely carnivorous diet—reindeer meat, raw flesh shaved from frozen fish, and ice cubes of horse blood with macaroni are a few local delicacies. This isn't so much due to the cold as it is due to poverty, and possibly local culture. > Chapple found it difficult to speak with the people he encountered, as many people were rushing as fast as possible from one oasis of warmth to another. Was he determined to do his interviews outside? I can understand him wanting to take pictures outside as much as possible, and his camera freezing wasn't something I thought modern cameras were especially prone to, but interviews don't need to be done out in the cold. Unless you're the kind of person determined to climb a radio mast to get an overview shot of a town. Maybe if you're that person, everything needs to be done in the most... dramatic way possible.
- josefresco 12y ago
  Even without "poverty" keeping plumbing from freezing in temperatures like this is still a challenge. I frequent a northern Maine camp with the amenities of a regular house, and routinely have to deal with scenarios that extreme cold brings such as freezing pipes/septic lines, ice build up etc. Also, tools like "block heaters" don't apply to the entire vehicle and all of it's inter-dependent parts. In that kind of cold, things like transmission fluid, and even door handles stop functioning normally.
- pdx 12y ago
  Block heaters in cars are not effective in extremely cold temperatures. They keep the oil warm, but the battery still gets too cold to crank. In college, I used to remove my car battery from my car and store it on my kitchen floor at night so I could start the car in the morning. Cameras will suffer similar issues. Lithium Ion batteries are only rated down to -20degC. Below that, the internal impedance of the battery rapidly increases as temperature decreases, and you get extremely shortened battery life. I once tested a product I designed, that normally works for 24 hours, and got only 2.5 hours from it at -40degC.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 12y ago
    In my anecdotal experience, a standard compact camera battery, also Li Ion, works quite poorly on a ski slope at -5 to -10C. Battery life was less than a third of usual for several days running, despite a full charge each night.
    - abakker 12y ago
      as a side note, you can put the battery back in your pocket with a hand warmer, and it comes back to life. I tend to do this on cold days with my phone also, so that the batteries stay warm in case I need to use them.
- emodendroket 12y ago
  > Unless they eat it while it's still frozen, why is this noteworthy? I'm pretty sure that's what it's saying. I also don't think keeping water constantly running through pipes is necessarily enough to keep things from freezing at 40 degrees below zero.
- ctdonath 12y ago
  Methinks you're severely overlooking the cost of maintaining temperate-lifestyle behavior in deeply frozen environments. Thawing meat takes time & energy. It may very well be more convenient to just eat it frozen, especially if you're working outside and your lunch is frozen by ambient temperatures as the norm. Keep water constantly running thru the pipes That's a LOT of water - where do you get it from? where do you put it when it's too cool to use? Remember, this is an environment where most water is frozen; liquid water is an anomaly. More importantly: you're overlooking where the septic drainage pipe is going. You don't "constantly run water thru" that pipe. It doesn't go to a community sewage system. It goes...somewhere out in the back yard. You can't keep the full length of that pipe, and where it's going, sufficiently warm. insulate [pipes] better Insulation delays thermal loss, but does not halt it. Where is the heat source? heating coils? that's more costly energy being pumped into a low-value pipe to fight extreme temperature differentials compounded by the thermal mass of water. What you're imputing should be in place will cost a lot more than you expect. We're talking an environment where dirt itself is frozen deep down, all working at sinking any heat you pump in. block heaters work Ok, the block isn't frozen then. But your tires are - literally, the rubber on your tires is rock solid - and the flat side of the tire contacting the ground doesn't flex when rotating so you get an extremely bumpy ride just for starters. Speaking of starters, your starter is frozen. And the door handles. The door hinge may not give. The battery may not start. Your wiper fluid ("works to 40 below!" and temps hit -50 last night) is a block of ice. You'll have to heat the entire car just to make it function in a tolerable manner ... easier just to get on a bike (which you can easily keep warm inside) or walk. [several imputations of blame on poverty] Consider the _relative_ poverty. Just flushing the toilet or opening the car door just went from thoughtlessly free to significant/nontrivial cost. Crops are nearly nonexistent, almost any food not local meat has to be shipped thousands of miles to a low-demand location. Suddenly EVERYTHING costs much more just because it's so blasted cold out. Your (yes, you) normal expenses just went up 10x. Want to eat? cheapest way is go hunting out your back door. Want to, er, egest? outhouse. The people there aren't necessarily "poor", it's that the cost of living - in a manner not consistent with certain realities of the environment - is very high. his camera freezing wasn't something I thought modern cameras were especially prone to Again, you underestimate how very cold it is outside there, and how pervasive that cold is. Modern cameras, generally speaking, are not built for use at seriously sub-zero temperatures. interviews don't need to be done out in the cold But talking to "the man in the street" does. He wanted to interview people he'd never met, people who were just walking by. If you're talking about serious outdoor cold, as regards to people rushing from one oasis of warmth to another, you're going to find yourself in the difficult position of trying to talk to people rushing from one oasis of warmth to another and who are uninterested in talking to strangers about how cold it is.
- trhway 12y ago
  >> people here regularly consume frozen meat >Unless they eat it while it's still frozen, why is this noteworthy? eating frozen meat is a lifestyle detail there. Note - it is high fat meat (or fatty fish) which doesn't become firm hard brick like lean meat would. Also there is no mentioning of vodka(diluted ethanol) which goes very well (and i'd suspect - just from my gut (i mean real gut :) feeling helps to digest) with those fat meat/fish slices.
- Thrymr 12y ago
  >> Most people use outhouses, because indoor plumbing tends to freeze. > This is due to their poverty, not the cold. If it was just cold there, as opposed to cold and impoverished, they could either keep water constantly running through the pipes, or, if that won't work, insulate them better, possibly with heating coils. Outhouses are common in Alaska (outside of cities) as well, and it isn't exactly "poverty", but it is a significant cost to keep pipes from freezing.
- Florin_Andrei 12y ago
  > > Most people use outhouses, because indoor plumbing tends to freeze. > This is due to their poverty, not the cold. I'm more worried about the physiologic consequences of exposing, um, private parts to minus a bajillion degrees. I'm pretty sure you have to finish in a couple minutes, max, or else all sorts of really bad things will happen.
  - mb_72 12y ago
    I can't recall the expedition or details, but on one artic adventure documentary I watched a while back one of the participants took 'too long' for a number 2 (> 30s), and his 'free hand' (sans gloves) become frostbitten so badly that he had to quit. He was kicking himself over a 'noob' mistake.
- kybernetyk 12y ago
  >and his camera freezing wasn't something I thought modern cameras were especially prone to They are. Try using your modern DSLR in even -10C for a day. You better bring some spare batteries with you. If I were to go on a photo safari in such cold I'd bring a mechanical Leica range finder camera (possibly a model completely without any electronics) and film. At least as a backup.
  - seszett 12y ago
    I found that NiCd batteries worked much better in the cold than the stock Li-ion batteries of my DSLR (but they're heavier).
api 12y ago
This place is actually colder than Mars.
- ceejayoz 12y ago
  Virtually everywhere on Earth gets colder than Mars at times. Parts of Mars reach 70 degrees F in summer at noon.
  - ochoseis 12y ago
    Actually curious, would 70F on Mars with it's low air pressure feel the same as 70F on Earth (let's assume you somehow have a space helmet but no suit)?
    - api 12y ago
      It'd "feel" like a vacuum, until you passed out. But it would mean that you wouldn't need to expend so much energy to heat your shelter, and that greenhouse-based farming is a lot easier. The important thing to note is that there are actually places on Earth that are in some peculiar respects less habitable than Mars. Overall they're not, but in terms of specifics like temperature they are. Mars settlement is achievable, assuming we can physically get there for less than the insanely high costs NASA throws around. The location of this town probably wouldn't be habitable (or barely so) without a lot of imported electric and fossil fuel energy.
    - ars 12y ago
      It would feel warmer. Without [much] air there is little conduction to draw heat from the warmer skin. You would lose heat by radiation, but that happens on earth too. Conversely something at 50F would warm up slower (i.e. it would "feel" colder to it). You could think of it as a giant vacuum thermos.
      - FreeFull 12y ago
        Evaporation would cause quite a lot of heat loss though from moist areas, such as eyes and mouth.
_nickwhite 12y ago
A year ago, The Weather Channel published some photos: http://www.weather.com/travel/news/breathtaking-photos-coldest-city-world-20140128 http://www.weather.com/travel/news/breathtaking-photos-colde...
- emodendroket 12y ago
  Those are the same photos, down to the captions being out of sync by one.
athenot 12y ago
I find it fascinating how people adapt to extreme climates. Learning how to cope with such inhospitable areas may be useful when it comes to going to places outside of our cosy blue planet.
DanBC 12y ago
-24F is -31C -58F is -50C -90F is -67C
- louthy 12y ago
  My favourite one for 'getting my bearings' is: 28C is 82F
  - flavor8 12y ago
    And -40 is -40.
    - bsder 12y ago
      The most important and useful as it makes C-to-F conversions much easier. add 40--convert (9/5 or 5/9) -- subtract 40 or, as I tend to use, add 40--convert (2 or 1/2) -- subtract 40.
      - dasil003 12y ago
        How does that crude approximation make it any easier? I am pretty fluent in conversion just by remembering that 10 Celsius degrees are equivalent to 18 Fahrenheit degrees, then practicing counting by 10s: -4°F, 14°F, 32°F, 50°F, 68°F, 86°F, 104°F Once you have those under your belt you can figure most earthly air temperatures pretty quickly and exactly.
  - dripton 12y ago
    Similarly, 16C is 61F.
Shalle 12y ago
Sounds just like the 10.000 other cities near/over the polar circle. And seriously, you don't keep your cars running 24/7 there are block heaters although this sounds like a very undeveloped place. Are you sure they're not Eskimos and ride around with their sleds? Eat what they hunt(there for frozen)? I've lived in areas where there was -30-45c for months straight and sure plumbing froze unless u let the water drip. Cars hard to start unless you use the block heater. But the rest just sounds like plain bullshit.
- soperj 12y ago
  Considering that they actually included pictures from yakutsk by the same photographer (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2548176/Feeling-cold-Share-thought-residents-coldest-city-earth-currently-MINUS-50C.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2548176/Feeling-cold...) It seems like they really took the time to cross all their i's and dot all their t's. Also as someone who's grown up in winters that regularily hit -40 and -50, it can't have been that cold otherwise you wouldn't have pictures of people without a toque on, or a scarf/neckwarmer.
grecy 12y ago
I live in Whitehorse, Yukon. Last week it was -37C for a few days, I rode my bike/walked to work every day. I've been out Caribou hunting in -48C snowshoeing around right near the Arctic Circle. Snag is just down the road, where it was once -63.9C (-83F) - the coldest temp ever recorded in North America.[1] I'm originally from Australia, so this kind of thing is Alien to me, and I think I do a decent job of explaining what it's like. AMA if you're curious about anything. (clothes, cars, etc.) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snag,_Yukon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snag,_Yukon
- brational 12y ago
  Well for starters, what brought you there/ why do you live there? Mining/logging company?
  - grecy 12y ago
    I was on a grand road trip[1] and spent a couple of weeks in Whitehorse and met some really awesome people. We went White Water Canoeing, hiking, camping, etc. The wilderness and opportunities for adventure had me captivated, and I knew I'd have to come back. When I was in Argentina, I touched base with my friends up here and they helped me get a job with the local Telco, Northwestel. It's extremely common to meet people here that say "I came for one summer...20 years ago" because it's so beautiful and the massive array of outdoor activities make it very hard to leave. [1] Alaska->Argentina http://theroadhcoseme.com http://theroadhcoseme.com
    - wink 12y ago
      I'm pretty sure I read a chunk of your blog a few years ago, was pretty interesting. This is a nice follow up :)
- pokpokpok 12y ago
  do you hate walking? or not mind it after proper preparation?
  - 12y ago
sixQuarks 12y ago
The author failed to answer the most important question: Why do those people live there?
- JeremyMorgan 12y ago
  Their ancestors had to live there (exiled). They spent generations adapting and really it probably isn't that bad to them. If you grow up having tigers outside your door you learn to to avoid the tigers. The human mind is a funny thing. When you're born and grow up somewhere it feels very intuitive to live there. The same reason most people don't live BFE North Dakota for the small cost of bus ticket. It just feels like home and most people don't give it much of a thought.
mhomde 12y ago
We have a saying in Scandinavia: "There's no bad weather, only bad kleather (clothes)" :)
- dalke 12y ago
  That's because tornadoes in Scandinavia are rare. :)
- vacri 12y ago
  Visit us in summer in Australia, when in some of the cities the temperature during the day often exceeds human body temperature. There's only so many clothes you can remove :)
  - dalke 12y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioned_clothing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioned_clothing ?
  - mhomde 12y ago
    In Australia they have another saying. "It's never too hot, you're just too far away from the ocean" ;) I've actually been in Sydney when it was like 46 degrees (record year or something). People just started walking into the Ocean
nevi-me 12y ago
I was in Regina SK, Canada this time last year, and for a South African who'd only ever experienced ~-10 degrees C, it was a humbling experience. The coldest day when I was there was below -50C, and on one day I missed my bus and walked to work on -42C. I did adapt after a while, but I don't think I'd be able to live in Oymyakon. About 15 years ago I remember reading an article on a magazine about the coldest town on Earth, I was most fascinated by people having to walk backwards, and boiling water freezing mid-air, something I forgot to try while in Canada.
- bch 12y ago
  I tried this in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory on a cold winter day -- it doesn't freeze, it vaporizes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKMNSvpB9dY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKMNSvpB9dY
- tonyarkles 12y ago
  I live in Saskatoon, a few hours north of Regina. We've had it pretty bad the last two winters. It's a pretty nice day today, only -16C (3F), but there's been a lot of days recently where we've been pretty high up on this list: http://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes http://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes I'm not sure if we're just unlucky, but there's usually a lot of places much further north than us that are warmer.
flyrain 12y ago
Why they didn't build their houses underground or at least half underground? That will be much easier to keep warm.
- taybin 12y ago
  The ground is frozen solid.
- slowwriter 12y ago
  They have to keep a bonfire running for days to bury a body. What do you think it takes to dig a hole for a house then?
  - Someone1234 12y ago
    You could build a home, live in it for a year, and eventually the heat from that home will act like the bonfire. You then remove the top soil (until you re-hit frozen), and then wait another year and rinse/repeat. Year upon year you dig down, until eventually you have another floor's worth of space, then the original house becomes the top/second floor, and the new "basement" becomes a new area. I would add that I wouldn't want soil to be literally the walls of the lower level, as frozen soil conducts away heat from the air extremely effectively. So what you'd likely want to do is set up an insulated layer between the soil and the living space. It is also worth noting that heat rises, so you'll still lose a lot of heat if the new basement doesn't have a VERY well insulated roof. Then you could just pop out the front of the old house, add doors, and now you have a garage for the car. It isn't that crazy of an idea. But it would take several years (minimum 3-4) and cost you a few thousand just for insolation (both new roof and new walls), and also for new structural supports if you want to do the house-to-garage thing (to hold the car's weight).
    - dalke 12y ago
      It isn't so easy. Oymyakon is on permafrost. The heat from the building melts the permafrost and destabilizes the building. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permafrost#Construction_on_permafrost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permafrost#Construction_on_perm... for some pictures and info. Eg, "Modern buildings in permafrost zones may be built on piles to avoid permafrost-thaw foundation failure from the heat of the building." and shows the building above the ground. That's what documents like http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/eeh/HCM-00754.pdf http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/eeh/HCM... say: > Make every attempt to keep the soil beneath the building frozen and the permafrost stable. The strategy for alleviating the engineering risks of building on permafrost sites is to build the structure on piles or an elevated foundation, taking special care to insulate the ground and prevent thawing.
ilija139 12y ago
Where is the original story? Is it this http://www.boredpanda.com/coldest-village-oymyakon-amos-chapple/ http://www.boredpanda.com/coldest-village-oymyakon-amos-chap... or http://www.weather.com/travel/news/breathtaking-photos-coldest-city-world-20140128 http://www.weather.com/travel/news/breathtaking-photos-colde... Why there are two different authors on boredpanda and wired.com. Did wired.com steal this article? I'm confused..
- ars 12y ago
  The photographer sold his photos to multiple outlets. I guess when you spend that much time and effort for pictures you want to recoup that as best as possible.
paul9290 12y ago
Interesting video about this town... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTcrIGFUq_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTcrIGFUq_c
ptaipale 12y ago
>ymyakon earned its title as the coldest place on Earth when the mercury plunged to -90. Mercury doesn't plunge to -90 (C or F) because mercury has a melting point at -37.9 °F or -38.8 °C. This is a fairly common fallacy from people who aren't thinking through. Thermometers used in cold places usually have coloured alcohol as liquid, not mercury. I think most Western countries have actually got rid of mercury thermometers altogether, because it's poisonous and also because it's a too nice material to make bomb detonators.
- skj 12y ago
  While the factoid is appreciated, I don't think it's fair to call it a fallacy: 'the mercury' is a common metaphor for temperature these days, whether the element mercury is involved in the process or not.
- joevandyk 12y ago
  Be right back, going to Xerox some papers. Pass me the Kleenex? Give the Tesla some gas, let's go man!
  - dalke 12y ago
    Someone's cell rang while I was watching the film.
    - aragot 12y ago
      Dalke, care to explain this one to us non-natives? Sounds funny, is it like "film", "cell" and "watching" should be replaced by "movie", "mobile" and "netflixing"?
      - gwern 12y ago
        You missed 'rang' as well - cellphones don't have bells, they have speakers or other things which are skeuomorphs.
        12y ago
cmillard 12y ago
I went to University in Fairbanks, AK. It's a pretty unique place, probably one of the largest population centers where it routinely goes below -50F. Practical things I've learned: 1. Running outside is pretty comfortable with the proper equipment until about -20F, but is possible down to around -40s as long as you wrap something around your face and/or have clothing to "pre-warm" your air. At around -60F breathing deeply (and not into your coat) becomes painful and dangerous. 2. Metal "burns" and blisters your hands from -20F and below. The fast transfer of heat from your hands from things like snow can make them numb and inoperable in seconds. 3. The triple combination of battery blanket/oil pan heater/block heater is usually winning, but nothing beats a garage. The worst part about living off campus was walking a half mile from class AND THEN sitting in your car for 15 minutes waiting for it to become drivable. 4. It's amazing what humans can adapt to. If it was a 5 minute walk I would usually just have a big and avoid the time-consuming, but best way to stay warm (parka + layering). Also I'd usually wear jeans. When it would bump up to 20F people would be wearing shorts outside. (From comments) - We have never had problems (I was only there six years, anecdotal) with weather interfering with internet/cell service. Some jack-ass clipped a fiber cable once, but that's all I can remember. (From comments) - A lot of our buildings go 2-3 floors underground. We still have tunnels linking buildings together, but they are no longer accessible by the students. As far as work goes the pipeline runs through Fairbanks, but the main centers of employment I saw were the University and the Military Base.
ashark 12y ago
There's a site run by some well-travelled Russian photo-blogger that I once ended up on thanks to a link someone posted on HN. Good stuff. Takes a while to get used to the author's obsession with traffic signs and trash cans, but it's good. Here's part one of his trip to this region: http://tema.ru/eng/travel/yakutetnoexp-1/ http://tema.ru/eng/travel/yakutetnoexp-1/ The site's hard to navigate. You may have to hit "english" at the top right (assuming you don't want the Russian version) since it may not retain language state through links. The "veni, vidi" link on the top left will take you back to the master list, so you can find the other parts of the trip if you're interested. Photos with little squares on the top right are actually little galleries. Click the other squares to change the image. Unrelated insights gained from the site: * The smaller touristy Pacific islands are typically covered in garbage. * Former British colonies are usually OK, former French colonies are usually awful. * Ethiopia looks like a pretty cool place to visit.

116 points by yla92 12y ago

cbd1984 12y ago

> people here regularly consume frozen meat Unless they eat it while it's still frozen, why is this noteworthy? Also: > Most people use outhouses, because indoor plumbing tends to freeze. This is due to their poverty, not the cold. If it was just cold there, as opposed to cold and impoverished, they could either keep water constantly running through the pipes, or, if that won't work, insulate them better, possibly with heating coils. "It's so cold, they make sure they have to go outside just to perform basic bodily functions" sounds a bit... insane? Idiotic? Poorly-written and probably badly-researched? > Cars are kept in heated garages or, if left outside, left running all the time. This isn't unusual. Block heaters also work, and might represent a fuel savings once the electricity infrastructure to plug in all of them is in place. > Crops don’t grow in the frozen ground, so people have a largely carnivorous diet—reindeer meat, raw flesh shaved from frozen fish, and ice cubes of horse blood with macaroni are a few local delicacies. This isn't so much due to the cold as it is due to poverty, and possibly local culture. > Chapple found it difficult to speak with the people he encountered, as many people were rushing as fast as possible from one oasis of warmth to another. Was he determined to do his interviews outside? I can understand him wanting to take pictures outside as much as possible, and his camera freezing wasn't something I thought modern cameras were especially prone to, but interviews don't need to be done out in the cold. Unless you're the kind of person determined to climb a radio mast to get an overview shot of a town. Maybe if you're that person, everything needs to be done in the most... dramatic way possible.

josefresco 12y ago
Even without "poverty" keeping plumbing from freezing in temperatures like this is still a challenge. I frequent a northern Maine camp with the amenities of a regular house, and routinely have to deal with scenarios that extreme cold brings such as freezing pipes/septic lines, ice build up etc. Also, tools like "block heaters" don't apply to the entire vehicle and all of it's inter-dependent parts. In that kind of cold, things like transmission fluid, and even door handles stop functioning normally.
pdx 12y ago
Block heaters in cars are not effective in extremely cold temperatures. They keep the oil warm, but the battery still gets too cold to crank. In college, I used to remove my car battery from my car and store it on my kitchen floor at night so I could start the car in the morning. Cameras will suffer similar issues. Lithium Ion batteries are only rated down to -20degC. Below that, the internal impedance of the battery rapidly increases as temperature decreases, and you get extremely shortened battery life. I once tested a product I designed, that normally works for 24 hours, and got only 2.5 hours from it at -40degC.
- SideburnsOfDoom 12y ago
  In my anecdotal experience, a standard compact camera battery, also Li Ion, works quite poorly on a ski slope at -5 to -10C. Battery life was less than a third of usual for several days running, despite a full charge each night.
  - abakker 12y ago
    as a side note, you can put the battery back in your pocket with a hand warmer, and it comes back to life. I tend to do this on cold days with my phone also, so that the batteries stay warm in case I need to use them.
emodendroket 12y ago
> Unless they eat it while it's still frozen, why is this noteworthy? I'm pretty sure that's what it's saying. I also don't think keeping water constantly running through pipes is necessarily enough to keep things from freezing at 40 degrees below zero.
ctdonath 12y ago
Methinks you're severely overlooking the cost of maintaining temperate-lifestyle behavior in deeply frozen environments. Thawing meat takes time & energy. It may very well be more convenient to just eat it frozen, especially if you're working outside and your lunch is frozen by ambient temperatures as the norm. Keep water constantly running thru the pipes That's a LOT of water - where do you get it from? where do you put it when it's too cool to use? Remember, this is an environment where most water is frozen; liquid water is an anomaly. More importantly: you're overlooking where the septic drainage pipe is going. You don't "constantly run water thru" that pipe. It doesn't go to a community sewage system. It goes...somewhere out in the back yard. You can't keep the full length of that pipe, and where it's going, sufficiently warm. insulate [pipes] better Insulation delays thermal loss, but does not halt it. Where is the heat source? heating coils? that's more costly energy being pumped into a low-value pipe to fight extreme temperature differentials compounded by the thermal mass of water. What you're imputing should be in place will cost a lot more than you expect. We're talking an environment where dirt itself is frozen deep down, all working at sinking any heat you pump in. block heaters work Ok, the block isn't frozen then. But your tires are - literally, the rubber on your tires is rock solid - and the flat side of the tire contacting the ground doesn't flex when rotating so you get an extremely bumpy ride just for starters. Speaking of starters, your starter is frozen. And the door handles. The door hinge may not give. The battery may not start. Your wiper fluid ("works to 40 below!" and temps hit -50 last night) is a block of ice. You'll have to heat the entire car just to make it function in a tolerable manner ... easier just to get on a bike (which you can easily keep warm inside) or walk. [several imputations of blame on poverty] Consider the _relative_ poverty. Just flushing the toilet or opening the car door just went from thoughtlessly free to significant/nontrivial cost. Crops are nearly nonexistent, almost any food not local meat has to be shipped thousands of miles to a low-demand location. Suddenly EVERYTHING costs much more just because it's so blasted cold out. Your (yes, you) normal expenses just went up 10x. Want to eat? cheapest way is go hunting out your back door. Want to, er, egest? outhouse. The people there aren't necessarily "poor", it's that the cost of living - in a manner not consistent with certain realities of the environment - is very high. his camera freezing wasn't something I thought modern cameras were especially prone to Again, you underestimate how very cold it is outside there, and how pervasive that cold is. Modern cameras, generally speaking, are not built for use at seriously sub-zero temperatures. interviews don't need to be done out in the cold But talking to "the man in the street" does. He wanted to interview people he'd never met, people who were just walking by. If you're talking about serious outdoor cold, as regards to people rushing from one oasis of warmth to another, you're going to find yourself in the difficult position of trying to talk to people rushing from one oasis of warmth to another and who are uninterested in talking to strangers about how cold it is.
trhway 12y ago
>> people here regularly consume frozen meat >Unless they eat it while it's still frozen, why is this noteworthy? eating frozen meat is a lifestyle detail there. Note - it is high fat meat (or fatty fish) which doesn't become firm hard brick like lean meat would. Also there is no mentioning of vodka(diluted ethanol) which goes very well (and i'd suspect - just from my gut (i mean real gut :) feeling helps to digest) with those fat meat/fish slices.
Thrymr 12y ago
>> Most people use outhouses, because indoor plumbing tends to freeze. > This is due to their poverty, not the cold. If it was just cold there, as opposed to cold and impoverished, they could either keep water constantly running through the pipes, or, if that won't work, insulate them better, possibly with heating coils. Outhouses are common in Alaska (outside of cities) as well, and it isn't exactly "poverty", but it is a significant cost to keep pipes from freezing.
Florin_Andrei 12y ago
> > Most people use outhouses, because indoor plumbing tends to freeze. > This is due to their poverty, not the cold. I'm more worried about the physiologic consequences of exposing, um, private parts to minus a bajillion degrees. I'm pretty sure you have to finish in a couple minutes, max, or else all sorts of really bad things will happen.
- mb_72 12y ago
  I can't recall the expedition or details, but on one artic adventure documentary I watched a while back one of the participants took 'too long' for a number 2 (> 30s), and his 'free hand' (sans gloves) become frostbitten so badly that he had to quit. He was kicking himself over a 'noob' mistake.
kybernetyk 12y ago
>and his camera freezing wasn't something I thought modern cameras were especially prone to They are. Try using your modern DSLR in even -10C for a day. You better bring some spare batteries with you. If I were to go on a photo safari in such cold I'd bring a mechanical Leica range finder camera (possibly a model completely without any electronics) and film. At least as a backup.
- seszett 12y ago
  I found that NiCd batteries worked much better in the cold than the stock Li-ion batteries of my DSLR (but they're heavier).

api 12y ago

This place is actually colder than Mars.

ceejayoz 12y ago
Virtually everywhere on Earth gets colder than Mars at times. Parts of Mars reach 70 degrees F in summer at noon.
- ochoseis 12y ago
  Actually curious, would 70F on Mars with it's low air pressure feel the same as 70F on Earth (let's assume you somehow have a space helmet but no suit)?
  - api 12y ago
    It'd "feel" like a vacuum, until you passed out. But it would mean that you wouldn't need to expend so much energy to heat your shelter, and that greenhouse-based farming is a lot easier. The important thing to note is that there are actually places on Earth that are in some peculiar respects less habitable than Mars. Overall they're not, but in terms of specifics like temperature they are. Mars settlement is achievable, assuming we can physically get there for less than the insanely high costs NASA throws around. The location of this town probably wouldn't be habitable (or barely so) without a lot of imported electric and fossil fuel energy.
  - ars 12y ago
    It would feel warmer. Without [much] air there is little conduction to draw heat from the warmer skin. You would lose heat by radiation, but that happens on earth too. Conversely something at 50F would warm up slower (i.e. it would "feel" colder to it). You could think of it as a giant vacuum thermos.
    - FreeFull 12y ago
      Evaporation would cause quite a lot of heat loss though from moist areas, such as eyes and mouth.

_nickwhite 12y ago

A year ago, The Weather Channel published some photos: http://www.weather.com/travel/news/breathtaking-photos-coldest-city-world-20140128 http://www.weather.com/travel/news/breathtaking-photos-colde...

emodendroket 12y ago
Those are the same photos, down to the captions being out of sync by one.

athenot 12y ago

I find it fascinating how people adapt to extreme climates. Learning how to cope with such inhospitable areas may be useful when it comes to going to places outside of our cosy blue planet.

DanBC 12y ago

-24F is -31C -58F is -50C -90F is -67C

louthy 12y ago
My favourite one for 'getting my bearings' is: 28C is 82F
- flavor8 12y ago
  And -40 is -40.
  - bsder 12y ago
    The most important and useful as it makes C-to-F conversions much easier. add 40--convert (9/5 or 5/9) -- subtract 40 or, as I tend to use, add 40--convert (2 or 1/2) -- subtract 40.
    - dasil003 12y ago
      How does that crude approximation make it any easier? I am pretty fluent in conversion just by remembering that 10 Celsius degrees are equivalent to 18 Fahrenheit degrees, then practicing counting by 10s: -4°F, 14°F, 32°F, 50°F, 68°F, 86°F, 104°F Once you have those under your belt you can figure most earthly air temperatures pretty quickly and exactly.
- dripton 12y ago
  Similarly, 16C is 61F.

Shalle 12y ago

Sounds just like the 10.000 other cities near/over the polar circle. And seriously, you don't keep your cars running 24/7 there are block heaters although this sounds like a very undeveloped place. Are you sure they're not Eskimos and ride around with their sleds? Eat what they hunt(there for frozen)? I've lived in areas where there was -30-45c for months straight and sure plumbing froze unless u let the water drip. Cars hard to start unless you use the block heater. But the rest just sounds like plain bullshit.

soperj 12y ago
Considering that they actually included pictures from yakutsk by the same photographer (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2548176/Feeling-cold-Share-thought-residents-coldest-city-earth-currently-MINUS-50C.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2548176/Feeling-cold...) It seems like they really took the time to cross all their i's and dot all their t's. Also as someone who's grown up in winters that regularily hit -40 and -50, it can't have been that cold otherwise you wouldn't have pictures of people without a toque on, or a scarf/neckwarmer.

grecy 12y ago

I live in Whitehorse, Yukon. Last week it was -37C for a few days, I rode my bike/walked to work every day. I've been out Caribou hunting in -48C snowshoeing around right near the Arctic Circle. Snag is just down the road, where it was once -63.9C (-83F) - the coldest temp ever recorded in North America.[1] I'm originally from Australia, so this kind of thing is Alien to me, and I think I do a decent job of explaining what it's like. AMA if you're curious about anything. (clothes, cars, etc.) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snag,_Yukon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snag,_Yukon

brational 12y ago
Well for starters, what brought you there/ why do you live there? Mining/logging company?
- grecy 12y ago
  I was on a grand road trip[1] and spent a couple of weeks in Whitehorse and met some really awesome people. We went White Water Canoeing, hiking, camping, etc. The wilderness and opportunities for adventure had me captivated, and I knew I'd have to come back. When I was in Argentina, I touched base with my friends up here and they helped me get a job with the local Telco, Northwestel. It's extremely common to meet people here that say "I came for one summer...20 years ago" because it's so beautiful and the massive array of outdoor activities make it very hard to leave. [1] Alaska->Argentina http://theroadhcoseme.com http://theroadhcoseme.com
  - wink 12y ago
    I'm pretty sure I read a chunk of your blog a few years ago, was pretty interesting. This is a nice follow up :)
pokpokpok 12y ago
do you hate walking? or not mind it after proper preparation?
- 12y ago

sixQuarks 12y ago

The author failed to answer the most important question: Why do those people live there?

JeremyMorgan 12y ago
Their ancestors had to live there (exiled). They spent generations adapting and really it probably isn't that bad to them. If you grow up having tigers outside your door you learn to to avoid the tigers. The human mind is a funny thing. When you're born and grow up somewhere it feels very intuitive to live there. The same reason most people don't live BFE North Dakota for the small cost of bus ticket. It just feels like home and most people don't give it much of a thought.

mhomde 12y ago

We have a saying in Scandinavia: "There's no bad weather, only bad kleather (clothes)" :)

dalke 12y ago
That's because tornadoes in Scandinavia are rare. :)
vacri 12y ago
Visit us in summer in Australia, when in some of the cities the temperature during the day often exceeds human body temperature. There's only so many clothes you can remove :)
- dalke 12y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioned_clothing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioned_clothing ?
- mhomde 12y ago
  In Australia they have another saying. "It's never too hot, you're just too far away from the ocean" ;) I've actually been in Sydney when it was like 46 degrees (record year or something). People just started walking into the Ocean

nevi-me 12y ago

I was in Regina SK, Canada this time last year, and for a South African who'd only ever experienced ~-10 degrees C, it was a humbling experience. The coldest day when I was there was below -50C, and on one day I missed my bus and walked to work on -42C. I did adapt after a while, but I don't think I'd be able to live in Oymyakon. About 15 years ago I remember reading an article on a magazine about the coldest town on Earth, I was most fascinated by people having to walk backwards, and boiling water freezing mid-air, something I forgot to try while in Canada.

bch 12y ago
I tried this in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory on a cold winter day -- it doesn't freeze, it vaporizes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKMNSvpB9dY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKMNSvpB9dY
tonyarkles 12y ago
I live in Saskatoon, a few hours north of Regina. We've had it pretty bad the last two winters. It's a pretty nice day today, only -16C (3F), but there's been a lot of days recently where we've been pretty high up on this list: http://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes http://www.wx-now.com/Weather/WxExtremes I'm not sure if we're just unlucky, but there's usually a lot of places much further north than us that are warmer.

flyrain 12y ago

Why they didn't build their houses underground or at least half underground? That will be much easier to keep warm.

taybin 12y ago
The ground is frozen solid.
slowwriter 12y ago
They have to keep a bonfire running for days to bury a body. What do you think it takes to dig a hole for a house then?
- Someone1234 12y ago
  You could build a home, live in it for a year, and eventually the heat from that home will act like the bonfire. You then remove the top soil (until you re-hit frozen), and then wait another year and rinse/repeat. Year upon year you dig down, until eventually you have another floor's worth of space, then the original house becomes the top/second floor, and the new "basement" becomes a new area. I would add that I wouldn't want soil to be literally the walls of the lower level, as frozen soil conducts away heat from the air extremely effectively. So what you'd likely want to do is set up an insulated layer between the soil and the living space. It is also worth noting that heat rises, so you'll still lose a lot of heat if the new basement doesn't have a VERY well insulated roof. Then you could just pop out the front of the old house, add doors, and now you have a garage for the car. It isn't that crazy of an idea. But it would take several years (minimum 3-4) and cost you a few thousand just for insolation (both new roof and new walls), and also for new structural supports if you want to do the house-to-garage thing (to hold the car's weight).
  - dalke 12y ago
    It isn't so easy. Oymyakon is on permafrost. The heat from the building melts the permafrost and destabilizes the building. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permafrost#Construction_on_permafrost http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permafrost#Construction_on_perm... for some pictures and info. Eg, "Modern buildings in permafrost zones may be built on piles to avoid permafrost-thaw foundation failure from the heat of the building." and shows the building above the ground. That's what documents like http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/eeh/HCM-00754.pdf http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/eeh/HCM... say: > Make every attempt to keep the soil beneath the building frozen and the permafrost stable. The strategy for alleviating the engineering risks of building on permafrost sites is to build the structure on piles or an elevated foundation, taking special care to insulate the ground and prevent thawing.

ilija139 12y ago

Where is the original story? Is it this http://www.boredpanda.com/coldest-village-oymyakon-amos-chapple/ http://www.boredpanda.com/coldest-village-oymyakon-amos-chap... or http://www.weather.com/travel/news/breathtaking-photos-coldest-city-world-20140128 http://www.weather.com/travel/news/breathtaking-photos-colde... Why there are two different authors on boredpanda and wired.com. Did wired.com steal this article? I'm confused..

ars 12y ago
The photographer sold his photos to multiple outlets. I guess when you spend that much time and effort for pictures you want to recoup that as best as possible.

paul9290 12y ago

Interesting video about this town... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTcrIGFUq_c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTcrIGFUq_c

ptaipale 12y ago

>ymyakon earned its title as the coldest place on Earth when the mercury plunged to -90. Mercury doesn't plunge to -90 (C or F) because mercury has a melting point at -37.9 °F or -38.8 °C. This is a fairly common fallacy from people who aren't thinking through. Thermometers used in cold places usually have coloured alcohol as liquid, not mercury. I think most Western countries have actually got rid of mercury thermometers altogether, because it's poisonous and also because it's a too nice material to make bomb detonators.

skj 12y ago
While the factoid is appreciated, I don't think it's fair to call it a fallacy: 'the mercury' is a common metaphor for temperature these days, whether the element mercury is involved in the process or not.
joevandyk 12y ago
Be right back, going to Xerox some papers. Pass me the Kleenex? Give the Tesla some gas, let's go man!
- dalke 12y ago
  Someone's cell rang while I was watching the film.
  - aragot 12y ago
    Dalke, care to explain this one to us non-natives? Sounds funny, is it like "film", "cell" and "watching" should be replaced by "movie", "mobile" and "netflixing"?
    - gwern 12y ago
      You missed 'rang' as well - cellphones don't have bells, they have speakers or other things which are skeuomorphs.
      - 12y ago

cmillard 12y ago

I went to University in Fairbanks, AK. It's a pretty unique place, probably one of the largest population centers where it routinely goes below -50F. Practical things I've learned: 1. Running outside is pretty comfortable with the proper equipment until about -20F, but is possible down to around -40s as long as you wrap something around your face and/or have clothing to "pre-warm" your air. At around -60F breathing deeply (and not into your coat) becomes painful and dangerous. 2. Metal "burns" and blisters your hands from -20F and below. The fast transfer of heat from your hands from things like snow can make them numb and inoperable in seconds. 3. The triple combination of battery blanket/oil pan heater/block heater is usually winning, but nothing beats a garage. The worst part about living off campus was walking a half mile from class AND THEN sitting in your car for 15 minutes waiting for it to become drivable. 4. It's amazing what humans can adapt to. If it was a 5 minute walk I would usually just have a big and avoid the time-consuming, but best way to stay warm (parka + layering). Also I'd usually wear jeans. When it would bump up to 20F people would be wearing shorts outside. (From comments) - We have never had problems (I was only there six years, anecdotal) with weather interfering with internet/cell service. Some jack-ass clipped a fiber cable once, but that's all I can remember. (From comments) - A lot of our buildings go 2-3 floors underground. We still have tunnels linking buildings together, but they are no longer accessible by the students. As far as work goes the pipeline runs through Fairbanks, but the main centers of employment I saw were the University and the Military Base.

ashark 12y ago

There's a site run by some well-travelled Russian photo-blogger that I once ended up on thanks to a link someone posted on HN. Good stuff. Takes a while to get used to the author's obsession with traffic signs and trash cans, but it's good. Here's part one of his trip to this region: http://tema.ru/eng/travel/yakutetnoexp-1/ http://tema.ru/eng/travel/yakutetnoexp-1/ The site's hard to navigate. You may have to hit "english" at the top right (assuming you don't want the Russian version) since it may not retain language state through links. The "veni, vidi" link on the top left will take you back to the master list, so you can find the other parts of the trip if you're interested. Photos with little squares on the top right are actually little galleries. Click the other squares to change the image. Unrelated insights gained from the site: * The smaller touristy Pacific islands are typically covered in garbage. * Former British colonies are usually OK, former French colonies are usually awful. * Ethiopia looks like a pretty cool place to visit.