Iceland - Hunting the Northern Lights

After all the Northern Lights alerts I received/heard of, it would have been wrong not to go out, so I did:

http://pixmin.org/photos/Iceland/2012/NorthernLights/

Some great photos thier, we are in north east Scotland,it was too cloudy to see any in the last few days, but we do get to see them in the winter.

roamingman wrote:

Some great photos thier, we are in north east Scotland,it was too cloudy to see any in the last few days, but we do get to see them in the winter.

Thanks Yes, it was mostly cloudy here too so you would only get to see them for a few seconds at a time (minutes at best). Still, it was nice to be out

Fantastic!

I was due to go out there last April for 3 weks with the Arctic Tours but had to cancel due to finance problems with my friend who was sharing the cost. Bloody shame, but did make a profit on the re-sell - went in less than 3 hours on good old ebay

Some great piccies there. Looked super cold setting up that tent in the snow, were you okay overnight?

maadmaan10 wrote:

I was due to go out there last April for 3 weks with the Arctic Tours but had to cancel due to finance problems with my friend who was sharing the cost. Bloody shame, but did make a profit on the re-sell - went in less than 3 hours on good old ebay

Thanks I hope you'll get another chance to go, it's quite something

Tom Mc wrote:

Some great piccies there. Looked super cold setting up that tent in the snow, were you okay overnight?

Thanks It was just below zero, maybe -5c, so once you're protected from the wind and dry, it's just fine, the trick when sleeping on snow is to make sure you have really good insulation from the ground otherwise it will suck up all your heat and you're in for a short bad night... I slept in the tent because I was too tired to build a shelter or a snow cave. The tent was easy and fast to setup

Good insulation ... -5c? I'm afraid I'd be a right girlie and have an electric blanket on all night. Brrrrr!!!!

Don't do coldness, give me heat any day.

Tom Mc wrote:

Good insulation ... -5c? I'm afraid I'd be a right girlie and have an electric blanket on all night. Brrrrr!!!!

Don't do coldness, give me heat any day.

COLD is okay so long as you are dry!!

maadmaan10 wrote:

Tom Mc wrote:

Good insulation ... -5c? I'm afraid I'd be a right girlie and have an electric blanket on all night. Brrrrr!!!!

Don't do coldness, give me heat any day.

COLD is okay so long as you are dry!!

Absolutely, I would take any weather below -5c than anything between -5c and 5c or even 10c. 10c in the rain, with a strong wind, is way colder than -10c, at least to me.

I have a good sleeping bag, rated for -29C comfort, although that was years ago and it has been used a LOT, it's probably more a -5c comfort now

There is also another big factor to consider, which affects how you can handle the cold, it's acclimation, that plays a huge part in how "comfortable" you will be in the cold (or not).

pixmin wrote:

maadmaan10 wrote:

Tom Mc wrote:

Good insulation ... -5c? I'm afraid I'd be a right girlie and have an electric blanket on all night. Brrrrr!!!!

Don't do coldness, give me heat any day.

COLD is okay so long as you are dry!!

There is also another big factor to consider, which affects how you can handle the cold, it's acclimation, that plays a huge part in how "comfortable" you will be in the cold (or not).

You are quite right there - I understand Tom's comment - I am the opposite - love the cold but absolutely hate the heat. I usually fell like poop all summer long and when I did Africa a hundred or so years ago in the Army, it was HELL for me. I was much more comfortable a few weeks later in the Balkans! We are all different!

It was just below zero, maybe -5c, so once you're protected from the wind and dry, it's just fine, the trick when sleeping on snow is to make sure you have really good insulation from the ground otherwise it will suck up all your heat and you're in for a short bad night... I slept in the tent because I was too tired to build a shelter or a snow cave. The tent was easy and fast to setup [/quote]

When walking the West Highland way a few years ago in the winter we spent many nights in minus temps like said as long as your isolated from the ground it's not much of a chore although that said my nose was always bl**dy cold in the morning.

As the old saying goes "it's easier to keep warm than it is to get warm"