I think it really depends on where you're talking about in Siberia. There are parts around the major cities that seem pretty developed (in a few cases, they're actually some of the best parts of Russia to live in because the Russians didn't want, say, a bunch of high-end scientists to have to be sent to work out there kicking and screaming...well, at least post-Stalin). Once you get off the mainline, and probably on some stretches of the mainlines? Not so much.
Oil, Gas, and Trains (split from the EB Troubles thread)
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Ryan
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Ziv
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The Hi-Line is incredibly harsh in the winter, but I don't think comparing it to Siberia is the best way to describe it. Most of us don't have any experience in Siberian winters other than reading a Day in the Life of Ivan Ivanovich, so it is like comparing apples to snakefruit.
I grew up in Glasgow Montana, and the weather was just a fact of life. The wind would make old steel framed windows scream sometimes, but it didn't happen often. The temps would drop below zero for a week but again, not often. Usually snow fall meant reasonable temps in the mid-20's. The really cold weather usually didn't have snow falling.
The really tough part about winter for most of us wasn't the extreme cold, you just bundled up for that. The worst part was the short, dim days from December to early February. You went to school at 8:15 and it was dark. During classes you would see a bit of sun out the window, but if you were a basketball player or a wrestler, you didn't get outside until 6 pm and it was dark again. That may not sound terrible but it is worse than 20 degree temps, 30 knot winds and blowing snow any day! The good thing about the wind is that it blows most of Hwy 2 clear of snow, but then you have your choice of black ice or drifted snow, in places. Black ice is hard to spot but slick as snot. Now there is an image to ponder... And drifted snow is usually plowed by late morning. Our plow drivers are hard working sorts. Nothing like driving through a "tunnel" on Hwy 2 with the snow pushed back 20 foot high on either side. And that is nothing compared to the snow piles out west around Glacier.
On the flip side of the coin, there is the land and the wildlife and the incredible feel of seeing miles and miles of territory and you are the only person on it. You can smell sage and hay bales and the scent of rain on the way. You can see deer stop to scope you out and then trot away, temporarily assured of your pacific intent. As kids our parents turned us out of the house after breakfast, secure in the knowledge that we might get into trouble, but it would be of the milder type. We had our own "olympics" and we floated on log rafts down flooding rivers, we shot gophers and tossed bails, we drove 70 miles to play basketball against friends or 20 miles to go water skiing. Heck, for a good motocross race we would drive 400 miles, and half the time we would drive home that night/early morning. And the vast majority of us survived to tell the tale.
If that is Siberia, I want to move there. But Siberia probably has the employment prospects that the Hi-Line has. You take over your family business or work for peanuts for someone else, because that is all they can afford to pay. The Hi-Line is a great place to be 16 or 60. Inbetween is problematic.
I grew up in Glasgow Montana, and the weather was just a fact of life. The wind would make old steel framed windows scream sometimes, but it didn't happen often. The temps would drop below zero for a week but again, not often. Usually snow fall meant reasonable temps in the mid-20's. The really cold weather usually didn't have snow falling.
The really tough part about winter for most of us wasn't the extreme cold, you just bundled up for that. The worst part was the short, dim days from December to early February. You went to school at 8:15 and it was dark. During classes you would see a bit of sun out the window, but if you were a basketball player or a wrestler, you didn't get outside until 6 pm and it was dark again. That may not sound terrible but it is worse than 20 degree temps, 30 knot winds and blowing snow any day! The good thing about the wind is that it blows most of Hwy 2 clear of snow, but then you have your choice of black ice or drifted snow, in places. Black ice is hard to spot but slick as snot. Now there is an image to ponder... And drifted snow is usually plowed by late morning. Our plow drivers are hard working sorts. Nothing like driving through a "tunnel" on Hwy 2 with the snow pushed back 20 foot high on either side. And that is nothing compared to the snow piles out west around Glacier.
On the flip side of the coin, there is the land and the wildlife and the incredible feel of seeing miles and miles of territory and you are the only person on it. You can smell sage and hay bales and the scent of rain on the way. You can see deer stop to scope you out and then trot away, temporarily assured of your pacific intent. As kids our parents turned us out of the house after breakfast, secure in the knowledge that we might get into trouble, but it would be of the milder type. We had our own "olympics" and we floated on log rafts down flooding rivers, we shot gophers and tossed bails, we drove 70 miles to play basketball against friends or 20 miles to go water skiing. Heck, for a good motocross race we would drive 400 miles, and half the time we would drive home that night/early morning. And the vast majority of us survived to tell the tale.
If that is Siberia, I want to move there. But Siberia probably has the employment prospects that the Hi-Line has. You take over your family business or work for peanuts for someone else, because that is all they can afford to pay. The Hi-Line is a great place to be 16 or 60. Inbetween is problematic.
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