The Toughest Kids I Know

Growing up, snow days were probably the best days of the year. Sometimes you would wake-up only to turn on the radio and hear that school was cancelled. Other days, your Mom would sneak in and whisper "school's cancelled". As a kid, sweeter words were never spoken.

These days, snow days are harder to come by on the east coast. Some genius came up with the idea to open schools, but to leave it up to parents to determine how to get their kids there. I mean, the roads are bad enough that a bus carrying 40 kids can't make it, but let's clog up the slushy streets with 40 frantic parents trying to get their cranky-ass kid to school and still make it to work on time. That there's a brilliant idea.

Now, what amazes me about the north is that school here never closes. Never. We sort of avoid the whole messiness that the east coast gets with slush, freezing rain, high winds and all that loveliness. Yellowknife goes from summer to winter overnight. So six straight months of winter make people pretty hearty.

The people that amaze me most are the kids. A few weeks ago Brent and I were driving to work. Our route takes us right past an elementary school. It was 8:30am, pitch black outside, -42 degrees, and there were kids swinging on the playground. This particular school happens to be right across the street from where I work, and every day at lunch time the kids go outside to play. Everyday, all winter long. And winter her means the temperature is below  zero for six straight months. Imagine telling a teacher in Nova Scotia that they had outdoor lunch duty on a day when the temperature was -40.

Ugly, yet functional

The difference is that people here have the gear to survive the outdoors in winter. The right clothing, hats, mitts, boots and all that. But with the proper clothing comes two hefty price tags: your sense of style, and the literal price tag. Outdoor gear is freaking expensive ($600 for the right jacket) and ugly as hell. It is not uncommon to see Yellowknifers go to a fancy restaurant, and strip off their snow pants right at their table.

Check out this website for more pics of people venturing out in the freezing cold (-49): http://lifeintheknife.com/yellowknife-and-the-dettah-ice-road-in-february/