Continuing on the Subject of Beards...

I wonder if I should amend the title of this blog to explicitly include beards, since my obsession and admiration for beards may be too great to be contained within the general label of 'ramblings.'  

I wish to focus on one of my favorite things about having a beard;  frost beard.  Frost beard is a condition that occurs when the outside temperature is so low that the condensation expelled in one's breath through the mouth and nose makes it no further than the fur of the beard, freezing in place.  Frost beard can also contain spit that hasn't been completely expectorated from the mouth.  Whatever the mixture, frost beard is fun because it's hard to return from a run outside with a frost beard and not look like a total bad-ass.

Now, frost beards do exist on different levels; not all are created equal.  One can develop a frost beard in most temps below zero, however, the right combination of weather conditions can produce a masterpiece of epic proportions.  I have found that my greatest frost beards have occurred in humid (and keep in mind that humid in Wyoming is anything over 30%) conditions with a temperature hovering around zero.  These conditions are rare in the Laramie Basin, and such frost beards are relished and worshiped to the point that it is difficult to go inside, lest the room temps melt and destroy the glorious-ness.

Most frost beards are nothing more than icicles around the corners of the mouth.  The wind in this area blows so constantly and fiercely that humidity does not survive long enough to properly condense on the beard follicles.  Here is an example of my run of the mill frost beard:

This beard is the product of a 10-mile trail race in the mountains on a frosty, 20 degree morning.  While somewhat humid, I hypothesize the ambient temperature was not low enough to develop an epic frost beard.  Nice try.

A few weeks ago, I met a few of my running buddies in town for a nice little 5-miler at 6am.  The temperature that morning was below zero with a -19 wind chill.  Here is my beard from that morning:

As you can see, I had a decent amount of icicle action occurring around my mouth; however, I feel that to be a truly epic frost beard, one must develop frost over at least 60% of the entirety of the beard.  This, as can plainly be seen, does not qualify.

In fact, now that I think about it, I've probably only reached epic frost beard levels once or twice.  Neither time did I have a camera immediately available  to capture the epic-ness.  I do have one example, and I'm sure the subject won't mind me using his mug as an example:

This is Patrick.  He ran with me that -19 degree morning a few weeks ago.  While my frost beard came up sub-par (due, I theorize, to a lack of girth), Patrick's thick beard produced one of the greatest frost beards I have ever observed.  

So, with all that in mind, I once again must use Brett Keisel as an example:

Can you imagine this thing with a layer of frost and ice on it?  Holy cow, would that be the frost beard to end all frost beards.