Word: subzero
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...death in 1846 of Sir John Franklin and all the members of his British navy Arctic expedition, sent to find the Northwest Passage. Vollmann relates that event to a glum romance in present time between one of the author's fictional alter egos, whom he calls Captain Subzero, and a young, deaf Inuit woman named Reepah. Vollmann insists at length that Subzero, an & Arctic tourist who, as Vollmann himself did, makes a two-week trek to the north magnetic pole, is a modern counterpart of Franklin. Further and sillier, he imagines that Reepah bears some resemblance (or shows some useful...
...juxtaposition is absurd: Franklin and his wife fascinate historians because they embody so perfectly the courage and blind arrogance of 19th century Britain, but Subzero and Reepah are simply dreary. And Subzero, picking moodily at the scab of his 20th century conscience, fretting that the Inuit find him contemptible, giving tips on Arctic trekking (down sleeping bags collect moisture and freeze; masturbation at very low temperatures isn't worth the trouble) is just not as interesting to Vollmann's readers as to the author himself...
...students are overwhelmed by the cold that awaits them outside their doors. Some are actually able to find joy in the subzero temperatures and drifts higher than their heads...
...slopes that offer powder hounds the thrill of carving first tracks can conceal thrills of a more perilous kind: avalanches, known to mountaineers as the "white death." Avalanches have already claimed 19 lives in the U.S. this winter. And last week five Coloradans, who lost their way in a subzero Aspen blizzard, were almost added to that number, raising awareness of the hazard...
...quake that snuffed out 1,330 lives. In less than a minute, it leveled a quarter of Erzincan's center and reverberated across two neighboring provinces. By morning, rescue officials had dispatched tents, blankets and heavy equipment to aid the frightened survivors. Many had spent the night outdoors in subzero cold rather than wager against the earth's caprice...