-40 is for the Penguins. Old man winter hit in full force up here in northern Alberta with the temperature bottoming around -42 for a few days. Working in these temps was a humdinger and it took its toll. Since the cold snap hit, one saw has yet to return to life and my powerhouse Arctic Cat 650 quad is acting like a sick three legged kitten. 
The quad had been a lemon since I got it and it is now officially a full certified Lemon. It has this thing called “limp” mode, which causes the quad to function at 1/8th power and 10 km/hr. The other day it went into limp mode at the back end of the job and was unable to get us back up a steep hill which we came down earlier on in the day. We soon found out that the winch on the quad was also a lemon and built for a little kids tricycle, not a 600 lb quad. This equated to a stranded couple of slashers building a fire and waiting for a rescue squad.
Other than that work has been unreal. What was suppose to be a 10-12 day work stint has now reached 21 days. It is tough to leave up here as we have a nice little routine going and the people up here are great, definatly nothing much like the stereotypical rigger’s I have heard so much about. Money is just money though and the rad bike race season I have lined up could be put into jeopardy soon if I keep swinging a chainsaw instead of spinning the bike pedals.
Tommorow it is off to Jasper to decompress for a few days before starting up a 3 week training stint to get ready for The Kona 24 hrs In the Old Pueblo down in Tucson Arizona. The whole Kona XC team is coming down for this one with the other boys (Sneddon, Paxson, Wicks and Babcock) taking part in the team comp and myself rolling solo. This sounds like an unreal way to kick off what is going to be an unforgettable 2012!
Over and out.