Yeah, sure, it was cold there and the people missed fresh vegetables and fruit and stuff, but between the high protein meals they fished out of holes in the ice and the warm lovely furs they snuggled in day and night for most of the year, they weren't all that bad off.
In time they adjusted to the bitter climate and adapted (NOTE: this is important, since some form of change to the character(s) after a major dramatic event is highly prized by the creative writing schools) by wintering a bit further south.
To this day, peoples of certain tribes still migrate to warmer weathered areas during the periods of November through the following April or sometimes May.