How is my relationship with the cold? Cold I kind of like. Wind chill though is fucking horrible and a different kettle of fish altogether. Cold I can deal with and almost enjoy to a certain degree. It’s nice coming in from the cold, feeling that feeling of the feeling returning to your fingers. Drinking warm coffee to heat up your innards. Only on mountains have I been so cold I can’t do up buttons, zips can be a struggle, and even putting on gloves is difficult.
It’s important not to panic of course in these situations and maybe this is one thing jiu-jitsu gives me is the ability not to panic in extreme situations. How else did I get myself out of that jam last weekend? No panic there after the initial shock had calmed down. Could I have returned to the bit I should’ve been at? Would it have made a difference? Not likely. Cold is cold but wind is horrible. -20˚C in Kazakhstan was fine, bearable and not a breath of wind firing in from the sea there; the sea being about 1,000 miles away. Here in Scotland, ‘it’s fucking Baltic’, is a popular phrase for a reason. But when it lifts, and when it feels still, it is all the more beautiful for it. Plus it helps keep the midges away.