Complete battery failure at 1 degree F!

I took a short birthday trip to the Tetons over the weekend and snowshoed down to the Snake River for some photography. To my suprise, all three of my fully charged batteries for my 5D failed! The temp was 1 degree F, and I had been out there for about an hour and 20 min.(the trek in was 1.25 miles) I set up for the shot and right before the sun came up, complete battery failure!! Luckily I didn't miss much. The sky was completely clear and I was anticipating some cloud cover. The alpenglow was pretty though. I attached the shot taken just before this happened. Has this ever happened to anyone? All three of my batteries are about 1 year old. Maybe it's time for some replacements??

This shot is beautiful Chip, I love the round rocks in the FG. I'm sorry to hear about the battery failure, that is frustrating. Did you have your spare batteries in a pocket near your skin for warmth? That is what I do, and I have yet to have my batteries fail in the cold. Even on my trip where I camped for 3 days on Hood in temperatures that never got above 20 degrees and got down below 0 a few times.

Thanks Zack. I actually tried to warm them up while I was down there, but that didn't work. (My fingers were so cold there felt like they were going to fall off throughout all of this) I put one in my pocket as close to my body as I could get, and tried it when I got back to the car- still nothing...
It is working fine now though...

I definitely noticed a quickly diminishing battery life on my recent overnight trip near Mt. Hood. I kept the batteries in my pocket as much as I could to conserve and it wasn't a problem for a sunrise and sunset shoot with two batteries and a Canon 350D. I think I used 2/3 of each battery for sunset and sunrise respectively, starting with a fresh one each time. I figure I was only shooting for about 40 minutes each time, taking a total of about 50-60 photos. Temp was about 20 degrees.

Nice shot too under the clear skies. I like the foreground rocks very much. The roundness of them contrasts well with the jagged peaks and the slight angle of the shot is more pleasant than a fully straight on perspective. This would be dynamite with the right conditions.

Thanks Larry. I found this spot the day before when these rocks were covered with patches of snow. This would be one of those situations where the elements didn't quite line up like I had hoped. There is always next year I guess.

Has anyone tried chemical hand warmers? I've always wondered if they might work to keep batteries at a reasonable temp during cold weather adventures. Those things can last like 8+ hours. I guess a person could make a little pouch to hold a battery with pockets on either side to hold the hand warmers--just a thought.

One thing I learned was to take the battery out of the camera body when not in use. Canon recommends doing this because if stored and not used for lengthy periods, the batteries don't seem to hold a charge.
Nancy

Sorry to hear that Chip, but this is an absolutely gorgeous shot, clouds or not! The fg rocks are fantastic.

Well Chip you may have missed the prime alpen glow but I still think this is quite nice and worthy to go in with the rest of your portfolio. I was snow camping this weekend but it probably did not get down to below the low 20's and I used the same battery and never carried it near my body. I think the difference is once you get to these real cold temps the power in them drops like a rock!

I've always found that carrying my batteries in my inner shirt pockets when it's really cold is the way to go. I also cycle through them, usually in left to right sequence, just to keep them "equal-timed", and take the in-use battery our of the camera if I'm not anticipating any shots for awhile.

Great shot despite the conditions Chip. (I'd love to have seen it at the full 720px though).

This is a very beautiful shot Chip. I do like the blues here but I also wonder about warming the image up just a bit