I knew it was going to be a good day when I woke up and and checked the weather. It was one... as in 1 degree Fahrenheit!

A light snow had covered the streets of Winnipeg, which coupled with the cooler temperatures, gave a slightly more polar feel to town. Cameron and I, were up and moving as soon as our eyes were open as there was still lots to do in preparation for the official start on Saturday morning. I had hoped to have some more of the menial tasks completed before departing boulder, but with family commitments, working on our upcoming Animal Planet documentary and other video projects, things like riveting sled covers, mounting bindings on my new Madshus skis and making another MSR custom heat shield were relegated to the floor of my hotel room (for the past several hours).

It's a lot of work to prepare all the gear, but it's fun work and source of amusement as well. Somehow, I was able to string the most random series of skills together into a career (ski repair, photography, carpentry, teaching). I'm not sure how being a chimney sweep or peeling logs fits into the equation but I'm sure there are some transcendent lessons there). Regardless, It's hard, most days, to think of what I do as a job!

But maybe it has to be -- most of my friends say I'm completely unemployable anyway.

I'm excited to jump into polar training action tomorrow. I love the concept of the Level 1 course, the physical area in which we travel and most importantly the incredible people I get to meet. This year's group is top notch with a variety of goals, interests and future plans.

For those of you who don't know. Each year I teach a variety of hands-on-intensives focused on winter and expeditions style travel. The level one course is pretty straight forward. Eight days solid days of polar and winter travel strategy and practice. We base out of a remote cabin on the eastern shore of Lake Winnipeg where we eat, sleep and breath polar-style travel - everything from ski techniques to sleeping at minus 30 to expedition menu planning and more. After a two and a half day primer, we hit the ice for a five day expedition on the lake.

The reason I like coming to this particular location - Lake Winnipeg - versus Baffin Island or Resolute for the Level 1 course is the fact that it is the best place in North America where you get snow surface conditions most similar to Antarctica. High winds sculpt the snow into sastrugi shapes similar to what I've seen on South Pole expeditions. With it's location north of the 50th parallel, the region also offers arctic-like temperatures. In fact, the coldest temperature I've every experienced was on Lake Winnipeg...roughly -65 F with the wind chill. It's really the best of both (polar) worlds. With a major airport nearby, it's cost effective to get to as well.

Of course, there's also the fact that Lake Winnipeg is huge. It's the 10th largest fresh water lake in the world. In just a couple of days of ski travel, we can reach a point where the shore line falls below the horizon and we're surrounded only by snow, ice and sky.

Magic.

Image: Polar Expeditioning Lake Winnipeg style.