cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

How do I prepare my 7D for extreme cold temperatures (South Pole -40 F)

microhunter
Contributor

My son is taking my 7D with him on his attempt to be the first to bike to the South Pole.  What do I need to do to prepare the 7D for extreme cold?

35 REPLIES 35

Just got an update from Union Glacier.  Here it is:

 

 

Jan 23 -- Final Day's Recap and Back at Union Glacier Camp

 
Final Day's Recap

Okay, I'm finally getting sleepy. I have completely lost track of time and days. It could be said that it is still the same day that it was when I arrived here back in November, as the sun has not set once since I've been here. But to me, though, the last few days, I can't tell how many they were and what was what day.

After I ran out of food, Hannah from ALE came to my rescue with new food. I then set up my tent and went through the food. I said in my blog entry that I got some sleep while my clothes were drying. I really wanted to sleep, but it just wouldn't come to me, so I headed south. After about six miles, I reached the top of a hill and I could see the South Pole Station. I broke down in emotional joy. I then went for a short distance, and for some reason it became very difficult to move forward. It took me a while to realize that the rear tire had gone completely flat. I quickly changed the flat. After all, it was so cold that it froze a Coke that Hannah gave me from a warm state to slush in less time than it took to get the bottle open and to my mouth. I was only able to get three-quarters of it out of the bottle.

I then proceeded to the South Pole. The South Pole camp had been taken down the day before I arrived, so there was nobody there and my actual finish felt very anti-climactic. I sat around in my tent eating and maybe getting a bit of a nap. Then my new best friend, Vesa Luomala (solo ski, from Finland), arrived. A little after that, we visited the South Pole Station, took pictures of each other at the pole, and I gathered up as many snowmen as I could. I packed up my tent and we flew back to the Union Glacier base camp.

Everything is in cleanup mode here. I took so long that Vesa and I are the last two non-ALE people left. I have been hanging around doing anything besides setting up my tent yet again. To get this blog entry sent, and to try to send a few pictures, I have to leave this dining tent, since the insulation is also a radio shield. It has been a long journey.

The next flight out of Antarctica is on January 27, so I am here for a few more days.

** Sorry, but I can't seem to get any pictures sent. The batteries don't like having been frozen, and they simply aren't charging. I will keep trying to get something sent.

Awesome & amazing. You must be so proud & he must feel like "king of the mountain" as such. It's not something many would attempt let alone complete. I look forward to updates & even while on vacation I have full internet access & use it every day.

"A skill is developed through constant practice with a passion to improve, not bought."

Daniel is now in Chile.  If you want to see some of his pictures you can log in to his facebook page.  One of the camera's (the point and shoot) has wifi and so he is able to download some of the pictures now.  The pictures from the 7D will have to wait until he gets home.

 

I used three cameras to take pictures. The one Canon allows me to get the pictures off of it using wifi. I will post some pictures from it. The pictures and video from the other cameras will have to wait until I get home.

This was cool, b...ut a bad sign. The ice crystals in the sky formed two rainbows around the sun and then a halo around the sky. The picture does not do it justice. It made three sun dogs on the horizon and then one at each of the intersections of the halo and the rainbows.

The bad part was this meant that a bad day of no contrast was coming.
See More

Photo: Some sastrugi.

 

Photo: On the phone at the South Pole.Photo: Higher res picture tan the one posted before. On the way to the pole.

 

I gonna throw this idea out here just in case it might have some merit.  Why not carry your camera in a collapsable cooler, they come in camera sizes.  Perhaps make a camera over coat out of one with just the lens exposed.  

 

Perhaps it could be kept warm to a certain degree using the fueled pocket warmers which can last up to 12 hours on one charge.  A small can of lighter fluid would power one for days.  I used them when I worked in the oil fields in 50 below weather.  They were great in keeping you warm.  

 

The drawback again is the change from warm to cold to shoot pictures, I think you could have to keep the camera temp just above the lowest operating temperature  to avoid condensation.  At least the setup would keep batteries warm.  

 

I live now in a warm state year round so I cannot test it out or I would.  

 

John  

Daniel is stuck at Union Glacier until at least Monday, but when he gets home We will talk about what he did to keep the cameras working.  I am afraid that I overloaded him with gear.  I sent the 7D with three different lens, a Canon point and shoot that also did video and a Sony camcorder.  I was afraid that one or more of them might stop working and wanted to make sure he had something to take pictures with.  I also send multiple batteries for each and several large capacity memory cards.

 

I get the impression from his notes that everything worked OK, but that at times the batteries were difficult to charge because of the cold. 

 

Remember this bike trip started at -80 south on December 2nd and lasted until January 22.  He dragged at least 200 pounds of gear, food and charging devices behind him on two sleds.  At the half way point he dropped off some of the gear, he hasn't said what he dropped off.  At times he was biking through soft snow several feet deep and in complete whiteout conditions making less than 1 mile an hour.

 

I asked him about taking hand warmers with him and he just didn't want the extra weight, plus the number he would have required  would have been a problem.

 

I think that most of the time he kept the cameras and batteries in an inside pocket under his parka.

 

Charging the batteries was more of a problem than he had expected.  Even though there was 24 hr sunlight, some days it was so overcast that very little energy got to the solar panels and he couldn't charge the cold batteries.   Even now that he is back where it is warmer (-20C), he can't get some of the batteries that have been frozen to take a charge.

 

He has said he has "taken a ton of pictures", so I guess at least one or more of the cameras I sent worked.

 

Being alone for so long and working so hard to travel such a short distance each day (he had thought he could travel 20 nautical miles a day,  when in truth some days he got in only 4 or 5) seemed at the end to drain him of his energy.  I am afraid that if he hadn't gotten help from ALE with Hannah coming with food and drink, that he would have been within 18 nautical miles of the pole and not made it.  He was trully exhausted.

 

Thanks again to everyone for your suggestions.  I promise to fill everyone in on how the various cameras worked (or didn't work).

 

 

Announcements