Today we headed to the field and got a taste of what life is going to be like for the next two weeks, starting this weekend. Well, two weeks for us. The rest of the team is continuing on further into the field. Ms. Baker and I have to get back so you can have your teacher back! If you were going to be working at one of the deep field camps, and had never been to Antarctica before, or had been away for some time, you were required to attend a two day course on survival basics known as Snowcraft I, Snow School, or Happy Camper School.
The class began at the Field Services Training Program (FSTP, or "F-Stop") office in McMurdo. Here we got a few lessons at FSTP on cold weather medicine, operation of VHF and HF radios, how things are done when working around helicopters, and how to operate portable camp stoves without lighting yourself, and/or your tent, and/or your tent mate on fire. Then it was time to move the class into the field, an ice shelf located northeast of McMurdo near New Zealand's Scott Base.
Delta Gale
Brandon riding in the Delta Gale on the way to Snow Mountain City, home to Happy Camper School 2007.
Once there you learned how to pitch Scott tents...
Scott Tent
Construction of a Scott Tent. This is the type of tent we'll be sleeping in for the next two weeks!
...pitch mountain tents and build snow walls...
Mountain Tents
Mountain tents with a snow wall to block the wind.
...build snow mounds (quinsy huts)...
Quinsy
You never know how many people you can fit in a quinsy until you go to Antarctica!
...and dig snow trenches. No, we didn't build any igloos. Igloos are actually difficult to build well, and when the name of the game is survival you don't want to be chewing up a lot of time and energy building anything fancy. A snow wall is your best bet. It gives you protection from the cold wind, and is quickly put together by chopping out blocks of snow. Once you have enough of a barrier to get yourself out of the wind you can move on to more ambitious projects.
CReSIS
Brandon and Knut with the CReSIS logo carved from snow blocks.
There was more training the second day which included survival scenarios to see if we really did learn anything during our field training. It gave us all a great appreciation for what we're going to be encountering over the next several weeks. We covered a few more basics including how to setup and use the HF radio. We tested it by contacting the South Pole Station to ask for the current weather conditions at Pole. While we won't be traveling to the pole, at least we can say we talked to them!
Tomorrow: Learning how to use the hot water drill, and snow mobile school! Should have some more great stories!
P.S. Since we were in the field we didn't get a chance to interview the team. We're still working on it. They're starting to actually make us work down here. I guess the first two days of relaxing were to give us time to adjust. No more down time now!
Scott Tent