We watch Balog and his assistants squint into gales and wrestle with cameras that the fierce weather has turned into frozen junk.

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They are entirely isolated, living in frozen tundra, perpetually enduring less-than-optimal weather patterns.

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But winter weather means more than just shoveling snow, bursting frozen pipes and sidewalks transformed into icy liabilities.

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During hundreds of camping trips and meetings and service projects and weird and wonderful events such as the Klondike Derby (a cold-weather competition in which scouts drag makeshift sleds over frozen ground for hours), I learned how to adapt to changing circumstances on the fly while keeping the main goals in sight.

WSJ: A Lesson From the Scouts' Own Book

"The course is currently under a blanket of snow and frozen underneath in places and we do not feel that the current weather, and the forecast over the next 24 hours, will allow any significant improvement, " he said.

BBC: West Yorkshire escapes worst of snowfall

In Wales, Thursday's cold weather caused a meeting at Chepstow Racecourse to be abandoned due to a frozen track.

BBC: UK shivers in -11C cold snap amid forecasts of snow

In Birmingham, many of the Meals on Wheels are now provided as a stock of frozen microwavable meals, so most people will have a supply to see them through the snowy weather.

BBC: 'The vitals' battling through the snow in the West Midlands