• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Finding cold comfort

Photo Gallery

Gazette Staff winter photos

View Gallery

JANESVILLE — The best way to stay warm in extreme cold is to not go outside.

But some people make their living in the frigid outdoors.

We talked to six people who work in some of the coldest jobs around and asked them for their tricks for keeping warm and their worst experiences working in the cold.

Surprisingly, some said it's not so much the cold as the ice. They said the danger from slipping and falling is the worst part of working outdoors this week.

Alliant Energy experienced so many bad falls in the past few snowy years that it tells employees to wear boots with metal studs whenever they're outside, said Dan Koenig, operations manager for Green County and northern Rock County.

Here's more of what the workers said:

-- Roumen Niagolov, Charter Communications quality-control technician who works in Rock, Green, Walworth and Kenosha counties and northern Illinois.

Worst experience: It didn't happen to him, but Niagolov has seen workers grab cold metal with moist hands. Some have gone to the hospital with a wrench or metal part stuck to their skin. If the metal is not removed carefully, it can rip off skin.

Tips: Dress in layers, but peel them off when you go indoors so you don't sweat. If you go outside while still wet, it could make you sick, he said.

"The drier you stay, the better, and have a couple pair of socks and shirts."

Quote: "I can work even without gloves, but when it's really cold, I prefer going with my gloves. I'm used to it because back in Bulgaria, my grandmother, they lived up in the mountains. So I'm used to the cold. I like skiing downhill. I enjoy the cold."

Note: Niagolov said he has lived in the United States for seven years.

-- Kim McLoud, mail carrier now working her 11th winter in Janesville.

Worst experience: "Not having enough layers on when I first started. I froze, just froze. I got back to the post office—I could hardly move. ...I figured out I needed to bring more with me. It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, so I carry extra clothes with me."

Tips: "In temperatures this cold, definitely cover the face. Cover as much of your body as you can. … If you're going to be out for any length of time at all, get some hand warmers. You can get them at Farm & Fleet or Gander Mountain."

Quote: "The mail's got to be delivered."

-- Mike Fosmoen, foreman at the Janesville Water Utility, where he has worked for nearly 30 years.

Worst experience: About 15 years ago, he was sent to fix a water main break on Holiday Drive near the Janesville Mall. The wind chill was 100 degrees below zero.

"You couldn't grab the ladder," he said. "My hands got too cold."

Tips: "It's just a lot of layers of very good clothing. Keep moving. Everybody does a lot of working together."

Fosmoen said he's fixed "hundreds and hundreds" of water main breaks "all hours of the day, all days of the year."

"If you put good head gear on, boots, gloves, you can do it," he said. "When you've been doing it for so many years, it's just second nature. I think it's either something that's in you, or its not."

Quote: "Unless you're out there doing it, people must drive by thinking ‘Oh my God, oh my God.' It's just something you do. Somebody's got to do it."

-- Dale Kruse, a retiree who has been an on-call school crossing guard for the city of Janesville for five years.

Worst experience: Working in a combination of rain and snow last year. His glasses froze up. Also, dealing with slick ice on the street. He's thinking of buying some ice grippers that slip on over the boot.

Tips: Wear layers. Kruse plans to wear boots with two pair of socks, thermal underwear, snow pants, T-shirt, thermal shirt, sweatshirt a Thinsulate jacket rated for 45 below zero and probably two hats and a full face mask. You can always take something off, he said.

"And drink plenty of water. You have to keep yourself hydrated. Just keep a bottle in your jacket."

Quote: "Put your back to the wind. Of course, you can't do it when kids are coming across the street, but when you're standing by yourself, you put your back to the wind."

-- Tom Hathaway, mail carrier in Janesville for the past eight years.

Worst experience: "Probably my first winter. My feet were just freezing. My hands were freezing even with the hand warmers."

He would go into a laundromat, take off his boots and rub his feet.

Also bad is the strain on legs and hips from treading carefully on the ice.

"You're watching every move you make, basically, and you take smaller steps, and you have to remember day-to-day where the ice was (because snow may have covered it)."

Tips: Have a hood to pull over your hat, and cover your neck. Hathaway said someone made him a "neck cozy," which pulls over the head and covers the neck and can be pulled up over the chin.

After working for a while in the cold, get into a warm place and rub your fingers.

Quote: "I didn't think I was going to make it in this job, but after a while you get used to it."

-- Jim Stotler, line technician for Alliant Energy for more than 34 years.

Worst experience: The winter of 1976-77. "I don't remember the temperature rising above zero for a whole month. We had trouble just getting the truck started."

Tip: "Always have a second person with you. If you have problems, by the time someone gets there, it's too late."

Quote (when asked about his favorite piece of cold-weather gear): "The truck."

Reporter Gina Duwe contributed to this article.