Spring in Vancouver?

I’m not even sure why I packed my parka.

Since we came to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics, the weather has been very… well, unwinter-like. We’ve had sun, we’ve had rain, we’ve had wind. It’s been almost like a James Taylor song… except for the fire part.

Our first day here it was almost 60 degrees. That’s Fahrenheit by the way. Here in Canada they use Celsius. One morning the guy on the radio said it was “minus-6”. I was standing outside on the balcony, and I thought, either that guy’s thermometer is whacked, or we don’t speak the same temperature-eese (yes, I just made up that word).
Two days ago it rained on us. The day before that, it rained and blew on us. But, it’s hardly been below freezing. Actually, it’s been just like any typical early September day in Anchorage.

A friend of mine e-mailed me and said it looked cold during one of my live shots. Let me tell you, I’ve been in cold before, and this, is not it.

Back in 2000, while covering the Yukon Quest, we did a live shot in Circle, and it was 50 below zero (and I’m talking Fahrenheit my friends, Celsius doesn’t even have a number for that kind of cold). In 1991 covering the Iditarod, I remember standing a few miles out of Elim, waiting for Susan Butcher to come by. My photographer figured that with the wind chill factor, it was 81 below. By the time Butcher did pass by, our camera was frozen solid. Didn’t get one smidge of video. Basically, all we got from that experience was frostbite, and a wave from Susan.

One year covering the Iditarod we were camping in Cripple in 60 below. And at 60 below camping consists of sitting in your campfire, and praying not to die. So when it comes to cold, Vancouver’s weather doesn’t even register.

I just wish I had known that, before I paid fifty bucks for that extra suitcase full of my winter gear.

-Carp