Important things for the Arctic...

I'm from Wyoming. I know cold, even bitter freezing -40F with wind cold. I've done it, lived through it, but never dealt with it being sustained for very long periods of time like I'm going to face in Iqaluit.

Being familiar with brutal cold I've always layered in the cold. The norm while plumbing in Laramie, Wyoming was a tank top under long underwear under t-shirt under hoodie under heavy insulated coat (a combination of all, or stripped down moving back and forth indoors). I usually wore long underwear under jeans and thick socks, and if I was going to be in sustained wind I wore insulated bib-overalls for my legs. I always wore waterproof work boots, NO steel toes (its like having ice on your toes all day).

But that's Wyoming. And in Wyoming a -10F cold snap may last a few weeks but usually hovers in the 20's a lot. In Iqaluit I here it hovers in the -10F range and snaps down to -40F for weeks or months at a time. So the wife and I have been buying more cold appropriate gear. You might note the pictures above. Those are Cabela's TransAlaskan II pac boots, which are ridiculously well insulated and "rated" to -100F. I'm 2 inches taller in them, rounding me up to 6'5". I doubt I'll be wearing them all the time, but these should be a great addition. Apparently a multiple Ididatrod champion helped them design them.

And the coat is my new favorite coat of all time. North Face Steep Tech work jacket. I had to wait for over a month to get it in the 3X size so the sleeves and chest were the right lentgh and size (37" sleeves and a 50" chest) but it was worth the wait. It's a technical shell designed for people who work in Alpine slopes and mountaineering. With kevlar shoulders and seems, heavy duty nylon as tough and thick as 10 oz Carharrt duck cloth, fully seem sealed and wind/water proof and highly mobile with well articulated shoulders this is the jewel of my survival in Iqaluit.

Other than that it's all balaclavas, well insulated gloves, wool socks, Under Armor base layers, ski goggles, heavily insulated Wolverine hunting boots for "warmer" weather, and lots of good fatty food to keep the mitochondria at full speed.

Let's go!