I went out to the drilling site in the morning and it was really windy. How windy was it? It was so windy that Andrew had to hold on to me to keep me from hitting the ground. I was literally knocked down by the wind twice and had to grab onto large rocks. When I got to the drilling site, I had to sit behind a large rock and hold on to keep from being blown away.It amazes me that the team can work under these conditions. I moved around to keep the circulation in my hands and feet, but the wind chill made things really cold. I even had the hand warmers in my gloves and boots. The drillers jump up and down and do push ups when they get cold. After lunch I told Dave that I would not go back out to the drill site. It was too cold and windy to even remove my gloves and take a photo so not much was getting accomplished.
It was hard to do anything but try to stay warm. I didn't feel like eating and the team kept telling me that they were watching me and I needed to eat. All I wanted to do was drink hot water and curl up in my sleeping bag that was lined with hand warmers.
That night the wind howled and the tent and cot shook so badly it was hard to sleep. Dave estimated that the wind chill factor was -100. Sometimes it is hard to tell if he is joking, but my body certainly felt like he was correct.
This is the head of Beacon Valley with no wind.
This is the head of Beacon Valley with high winds.
The next day (November 20) proved to be the coldest and windiest of all. I was wondering how long the wind and I could last. The drilling was really slow because of the weather and the terrain. I wanted to show some photos to Dave that night and just going back to my tent to get the computer took a lot of energy because of the cold and the wind. This was my window of opportunity to get some time with him so I braved the elements.
After he identified some key features on my photos, I asked him how he could deal with the cold, because he and the team were clearly as cold as I was. He looked at me with his piercing blue eyes, pointed to his head, and said, "Jackie, it is all mental. The cold is all in your head". Ok, now Dave is getting a little scary. Is this the "hardcore" Dave emerging that I was warned about? Is there another person beneath the gracious demeanor and smile who emerges in extreme weather conditions? He tells me that he doesn't even hear the wind and when he does it is soothing and puts him to sleep. The wind seemed so loud to me that night that I was ready to scream. How much longer will this go on?
Listen to an audio sample of the winds below: