Tough Enough To Take Bitter Cold - by Lisa Ballard

Normally, when the weather forecast calls for below-zero nights and single-digits days, torpor sets in. I curl up by our fireplace, boots and pack dormant by the door, until the temperature rises to a more humane level. Yet this past October, I was outside in that kind of crazy cold, hiking in Montana’s Snowcrest Mountains in search of an elk.

I’m not a weather wimp, but I have a healthy fear of frostbiting my feet. After my last bout, my doctor drew a line in the snow. “Freeze ‘em again, and you’ll lose a few parts,” he said.

While my well-used feet aren’t aesthetically pleasing, I do like them fully intact, so I broke out my new  LOWA Tibet Superwarm GTX boots.

With 400 grams of PrimaLoft insulation, they were my best chance for toasty toes, good support and trustworthy traction tromping off-trail.

The next day was equally arctic. The day topped out at 4 degrees. What’s more, my husband discovered mountain lion tracks. Had a lion pushed elk out of the area? That night a pack of wolves howled close by, also unwelcoming to wapiti.

On day three, I left our camp an hour before sunrise and hiked a couple miles to a sagebrush meadow to see if an elk appeared. Warm from the effort, I watched the first tendrils of light break above the mountains. Soon the sunrise painted the surrounding snow-covered peaks cranberry red. The red melted to pink and then to gold as the sun climbed higher. I marveled at the magnitude of the rugged land all around me, but with daybreak brought a creeping cold. I needed to move again.

I returned to camp, packed and headed home. There would be other, warmer chances to harvest an elk.

But I wasn’t disappointed. My feet had survived three frosty days, and I got to spend time in one of my favorite mountain ranges.