Drilling Holes in the Athabasca

So all I did for the time I was up in Embarras was drill 8 inch diameter holes through the ice, measure how thick the ice was, how deep the water was, and how fast the water was flowing. I didn't catch any fish, I didn't see any wildlife, but I did gain first hand experience regarding what it is like to use an outhouse at -40, how much fun it is not to shower for 2 weeks, what frostbite feels like, what waking up every 1.5 hours to restoke the fire is like, what snowmobiling 100 km in a blizzard at -36 is like, and how much fun it is to start a snowmobile when it is - 40. My beard was so helpful, and at temperatures above -25 I needed no face mask, but below that, I needed more. Once I put the face mask on after a sweaty shoveling session and had the bloody face mask freeze to my beard, which sucked when lunch time came.