When the ice fisherman stands in the gritty wind, bundled up like a penguin, working two adjacent holes at once, he resembles a drummer boy playing in slow motion. He seems at one with the elements, impervious to the cold. But there is a point at whic h even such men think twice about venturing out. When the temperature reaches -15 degrees, and the wind blows more than 54 kilometers per hour, Kalichkov stays home. While such temperatures are endurable in brief stints for city dwellers, scurrying between home and car and office, the cold assumes a sandpaper density on a slab of ice floating at sea and exposed to the wind.
Some fishermen run in place or do jumping jacks to stay warm.
Some use the assistance of vodka. Kalichkov despises the drinkers. A drunk fisherman is not a fisherman, he said. That s for those who do it on the weekends. They do it just to take along a bottle.