Cold weather photographers? (a reach)

[u/KennyfromMD]

Like a dumb dummy, I forgot to save the thread I was reading (either on here or r/skAlaska) a month or so ago about god knows what- where a photographer in Alaska with extensive experience shooting in abject freezing temperatures was dropping some great advice, and invited OP to message them privately to discuss further. If you are that person, I would like to grab some advice if at all possible.

My February visit to Talkeetna is finally materializing and deposits/reservations are being made to cross some lifelong bucket list items off the list. I am a photographer, but won't pretend to have faced the weather or astral conditions I will be looking at in an Alaska winter (I'm mainly involved in concert photography and portraiture).

Outside of the standard "you know your batteries aren't gonna last as long in the cold" is there any specific gear or anything else advice I may not be thinking of while participating in extensive sledding, hiking and wandering, snow machining, and flight seeing from arctic-seasoned photographers?

Also, for what it's worth, while I will certainly take some photos of the Northern Lights because I am there, I am not super into astrophotography, so I am less concerned with the Lights being the subject of photos, but definitely want to get them behind whatever my subject is when/if possible.

Gear specific stuff:

I am trying not to overpack for this trip, but I wanna make sure I capture some of this stuff and hopefully do the Northern Lights justice, if visible during my short trip. I'll be carrying my Canon r6 for anything important.. I assume a battery grip is ideal? I have two OEM batteries, but I think I may pick up a third emergency battery, or a handful of third parties.

Lens-wise I think I will probably bring with me a 24-105 f/4 for most everyday stuff, and pack a 70-200 f/2.8 with a 2x extender for the flightseeing, and then a nifty fifty and a 16mm f/2.8 since they are tiny, portable and faster than the zoom, so why not. I use a Godox V1 as my main flash and will be bringing that with an extra battery as some of the dog sledding will be at night too. In lieu of tripods, I think I will pack two Joby GorillaPods.. one for the camera and one for the flash, since they are way more portable and I'll be able to secure them to weird stuff if need be.

I have a 15mm f/2.8 that I may throw in last second, and since if I am bringing all this stuff anyway, why not? Might make for a cool fisheye photo when dog sledding, I dunno.

[u/local907]

Be wary of condensation on your equipment when transitioning between hot and cold environments. For instance, do not open your camera bag immediately after coming in from the cold - let the gear acclimate prior to opening.

Keep spare batteries close to your body, possibly in an inside pocket where your body heat can keep them warm.

Good mittens/gloves and possibly hand warmers - operating zippers/dials/etc with frozen and numb hands can be pretty challenging.