Happy Camper

For those of you waiting for what you feel is the last necessary piece of evidence to have me committed, allow me to present Snowcraft I, or, as it is more affectionately known, Happy Camper.

It's a beautiful, November 4th in the McMurdo area.

It's somewhere around 12F (-11C), there's a light breeze, and the forecast doesn't show anything to be concerned about.  What are people to do?

We could learn how to set up tents and build a snow wall to protect ourselves if we ever get stranded in a storm and must wait to be picked up.

We could also learn how to dig snow trenches (or snow tombs) as an alternative to tents.

So we've done all this, but it's getting late, about 8-9 o'clock; it's been a long day.  Time to head back to McMurdo, grab some food, and call it a night, right?   Yes to food and calling it a night, however, those tents and trenches are our accommodations for the night.

I took the above picture after I finished capping my snow trench and was situated in my sleeping bag.

In order to leave McMurdo for field sites or morale trips via helicopter or plane, you must complete Happy Camper (or a refresher course if you've done Happy Camper in a previous year).  It's a two day, one night course that goes over the basics of snow camping, survival, and communications.  After spending a couple hours in a classroom at McMurdo, we moved out onto the Ross Ice Shelf and alternated between some indoor classroom training and outdoor training/application.  By late on Day 1 we had covered the best ways to set up a camp in Antarctica, how to set up various tents (Scott tents and two types of mountain tents), how to dig a snow trench, and how to dig a kitchen.  After getting us started on everything, the instructors told us what time the next morning we had to have camp torn down by and left us for the warm building they got to sleep in.  From there on, it was up to us to finish camp, cook dinner, and get some sleep.

Where and how we slept was completely up to us, though we did have to set up enough tents for everybody, in case people abandoned their trenches in the middle of the night.  By the time everybody called it a night, we had two Scott tents, 7 mountain tents, and 6 snow trenches (half of which were abandoned by morning), and a pretty good sized snow wall built.

I decided to give the trench a try because I expect that when I get out to a field camp they won't let me dig one (if I even have the time) so I'd better get the experience in now.  Over all it worked out pretty well.  In addition to the insulated pads they gave us, I had some extra cold weather gear that I used as extra insulation between my sleeping bag and the snow and stayed pretty warm throughout the night.  The only reason I didn't sleep better was I slept on my side and didn't have enough padding to keep my shoulders from getting sore.  So every so often I'd wake up with a sore shoulder and have to roll over to my other side.  

The other big issue with the trench was noise from people walking about.  When you walk on the snow pack here, it sounds like styrofoam and that sound really travels.  When you're in the trench, you hear people moving all around, but have no idea how close they are to you.  It can be quite unnerving, and when you hear somebody getting close you hope they're paying attention to the flags and don't walk over the top of the trench and possibly breaking through the cap.  I took the video below from my sleeping bag right before I called it a night.  At the very end, you can hear somebody walking around.

The concept of the snow trench is pretty simple: dig a waist wide trench deep enough so you can sit up comfortable without hitting your head on the cap (though one thing I learned was once you think you're deep enough, going another 6-8 inches never hurts), then start expanding out under the snow so you have room to lay out your sleeping bag with 6-8 inches of clearance on either side.  Dig a cold sump at one end, cap the entire trench, and you're done.  If you're going to be staying for awhile, your options for expansion are limited only by your imagination and effort.

Unbeknownst to me until we got back and everybody was sharing their picture, after I closed myself in, Blaise, one of the Systems Administrators that I work with in the NOC, came by and let everybody know where I could be found.

The trench actually continues under the piled snow you see at the top of the picture.  Once I capped most of the trench, I piled snow around and on top of the cap blocks to seal it from wind and blowing snow.  The last two pieces were not sealed so I had an entrance and a place for fresh air to circulate.  I did sleep with a shovel, just in case.

When you gotta go...

The sign says: "Sitting Only!!! We don't care how good your aim is.  Practice elsewhere!"  These were pretty easy to use during the day when you're out moving around (and relatively warm with the sun shining down on them 24 hours a day).  But what about in the middle of the night?  Well, two choices.  The first is to get out of your warm sleeping bag, get all your ECW gear on, and walk the 150-200 meters from camp to the outhouses.  Option 2 is to use a pee bottle in your sleeping bag, hoping that you don't miss and you don't confuse it with your water bottle.  I actually went with the discouraged 3rd option which was to dehydrate myself to the point where I didn't need to go in the middle of the night.

A previous class took the time to build and igloo.  We were told they are great options for long term living, but take a lot of time to build properly.

The morning of the 5th, I was one of the first ones up, so after I finished filling my trench back in and getting my gear over to the pick up point, I hopped into the kitchen and helped melt snow for breakfast and hot drinks.

Later in the day, after a scenario, we had some extra snow blocks cut, so we took the opportunity to relax a little bit.

Sadly, Darth Maul missed transport for this excursion.