Do a solo backpacking trip somewhere for a month this is a great way to test your mental fortitude at minimal cost.
My wife and I do 2 week backpacking trips like this. For me anything more than that, the trip starts to lose its charm. The elements can really kick your ass.Trying to survive in subzero conditions especially -40c sounds miserable to impossible.

Yeah, my wife and I have talked about this, life's gotten in the way so far but hopefully next year. And I agree, the extreme temps would be the most difficult part, not to mention the results of those sub-zero temps--minimal wildlife and vegetation so limited food options.

At least it's not -40F

Good one :-)


The process of freezing to death:
https://www.outsideonline.com/1926316/freezing-persons-recollect-snow%E2%80%94first-chill%E2%80%94then-stupor%E2%80%94then-letting-go


It can happen pretty fast. Living in So.Cal. all my life I think I would go quickly.
As the article states for people with less body fat your bout with the cold not even freezing temps. could be lets say short-lived.

Hey, at least you go insane so the most miserable parts aren't that bad.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

Funny I just read The Little Match Girl to my kids last night. Hans Christian Anderson nailed it.

Damn, that's a great article, thanks for linking!

Pretty remarkable what the human body can sustain, I especially liked delving into the Tibetan monks, Inuit hunters and the like, the adaptiveness of our skin, organs, entire bodies to the elements.

That said, the cold SUCKS. It was 2 degrees F this morning, -14 wind chill and I had to take the dog out for his morning ritual. I couldn't fathom sleeping out in that kind of weather, LIVING for months in that kind of climate, no shelter but whatever I've built, no heat but whatever my body produces and I'm able to cobble together from the land. Leaving all politics and science out of it, I don't mind a little global warming because there'd be less of the earth that's damn-near uninhabitable and a literal death-knell for people caught out in the wrong place for too long.