A Walk in the Yukon

It’s cold outside today. Cold for the UK, that is. Go up on a ridge and face east and the windchill factor will hit your face at around minus 7 or 8 centigrade, which is nippy for us Brits.

But I’ve been in places which are much much colder - and shall never forget walking around Whitehorse in the Yukon one morning when the temperature had dipped to around minus 35c. It was so cold that, although i was wrapped up very warm indeed with multiple layers, my thick duck-down filled coat let me down just a bit because the wind went straight through the zip and sort of sliced me down the middle like a surgeon’s knife.

Later I borrowed a Canada Goose coat which was completely fantastic in that I survived hours of dog-sledding or whatever in temperatures dipping well below minus 40c. Those coats are miraculous. I’d definitely have one if I lived in the Yukon - but they cost about £1500 and we just don’t get the colder weather here in England like we used to.

I much prefer a cold winter to a wet one, I know that. And I enjoyed our cold-weather walk today. The concept of winter can be a welcome one, even if it is a season we are glad to see the back of. Unless, that is, we think of an iconic winter which is rich in all the most exciting things that the great cold can provide. I’m talking about the kind of truly classic winter pastimes like dog-sledding or snow-mobile travel - chilly images that speak of deep, snow-filled, forests and remote communities near the Arctic Circle where great white drifts sit deep on every roof. 

But as the climate changes and our old-fashioned winters disappear, I’ve got a feeling there is an increasing appetite for such a thing - and I can say that after spending a couple of winter weeks in the Yukon a few years ago. What you get in Canada’s vast empty north-east quarter is winter writ big.

Just being there, in temperatures that can dip to minus 50 degrees, is an adventure. Looking out of your hotel window at the all-embracing deepfreeze is a thrill. And travelling around in a place that is as big as Western Europe but which only has a population half that of a town like Taunton is, somehow, breathtaking and astonishing.

Whitehorse is classified as a city, but it only has a population of just over 25,000. I liked it a lot and spent a few days there wandering around on my own a lot before heading off in to the wintry wilderness with a group of journalists. The tourism office guide took me out in the evenings and we had great fun - eating wonderful food I remember.

But I shall never forget spending four hours walking around Whitehorse and its environs all on my own on the very first morning after I’d arrived on a midnight flight. I awoke to find a curious blob of rainbow just hanging above the town. I asked if these “sundogs” as they are known, were common in the Yukon and was told they weren’t. So it made the start of my stay feel rather special…

For guides and maps contact Tourism Yukon on 020 8339 6152 or visit www.travelyukon.com

Martin travelled with Air Canada – check out flights and times at www.aircanada.com