Originally Posted by
DarkSideMoon
Not XJT, but ORD based.
For this particular frozen hell, I did a thermal baselayer under the pants, thick wool socks, thermal baselayer undershirt, balaclava, hat, winter coat, company trench, and ski goggles.
I would never bring that much normally but -50 wind chill can cause corneal frostbite, and regular frostbite in under 2 minutes. I know some people would make fun of me for this, but you cannot do an effective preflight in 2 minutes freezing your ass off the entire time. When you’re looking at temps that low just do what you need to do to keep from hurting yourself while allowing you to do your job.
This^^ and good point on the ski goggles
I have worked in such environment, but not at a ramper. Here is what you do.
1. Get those big puffies that are rated for that temperature range (Mine is from RAB, but The North Face or any leading outdoor gear brand makes those too). You know puffies are not made the same, some are thinner and some make you look like a giant marshmallow but they are warm.
2. Earmuffs and hat.
3. Buy insulated snowboots. There are many different kinds, some with more insulation than others (usually go by weight. For that temperature range 400 grams is fine) There are hunting boots that have like 1000 grams of insulation but that is too much. They are good if you are sitting and waiting to snipe, but not for walking around. Too much insulation and you sweat in your boots , no bueno.
4. Buy battery heated glove liners, throw on some mitts on top of those, and if those mitts have pockets for hand warmers then add handwarmers.
This is guaranteed to keep you warm, but speaking of eyeballs and eyelashes there are really no way around it. All you can do is take a break in between/limit the amount of time spent on the ramp.
A CP at my previous shop is very understanding about deviating from the uniform policy in this situation. When winter decides to be nasty, he is ok with us doing anything we need to do to survive. Sometimes it get so bad we need to shut the operation down for a day or two.