Our annual short period of truly cold weather was late but finally arrived a couple of days ago. Yesterday, I was scheduled to go on a Nordic ski tour led by Dave Callais outside of the Town of Frasier which occasionally has the coldest reported temperatures in the lower forty-eight states. After some discussion, we decided to go ahead to the Frasier Experimental Forest area. When we arrived at the trailhead, the outside thermometer in the car read -11 degrees. We all put on multiple layers from head to toe with hand and foot warmers and proceeded on what has a very enjoyable tour. The sun was out at times, the snow was very nice, and the scenery beautiful. Everyone was experienced and managed the cold well. When we arrived back at the cars, close to 3:00 PM, the temperature was above zero.