24 November 2009 Happy Camper School

This afternoon, I returned from an amazing Happy Camper School. For a day and a half, 19 fantastic folks and I learned how to survive in Antarctica under almost any condition. From building walls and sleep trenches using snow, to cooking food and providing medical services to teammates injured in the field, our instructors equipped us with plenty of knowledge and skills for working in Antarctic field camps. Even though I slept so well in my tent in the snow last night, I am still quite tired because of all the new information my brain received and all the energy my body expended over the last couple of days. So today's journal, like the one I wrote on November 21st is not going to contain a lot of written stories and information- I am saving that for tomorrow. Today, I am sharing with you images of the DOM team participating in Happy Camper. Enjoy!

Mike, Collin, Sarah, Heidi

We practiced our stove set-up, lighting, takedown, and repair skills before using the stoves at camp. Later in the day, we spent many hours with four stoves constantly melting snow into water for our freeze-dried dinner, hot cocoa, and warm water bottles.

...Learning how to use a camp stove. Mike, Collin, Heidi

We all found ourselves in awe of our surroundings and really enjoying the challenges of working outside with the wind blowing and the occasional snow squalls.

Heidi in her ECW Collin in all his ECW

After learning about stoves and some survival techniques inside the nice warm hut, our instructors took us to our campsite where they gave us a few more instructions and showed us how to set up our home for the night.

One of the many group meetings during Happy Camper

We were responsible for providing our ECW and our sleep kits (see the journal from Nov. 23 for a little about the sleep kits), but had a great Gear Locker full of the necessary camping equipment near our site at Happy Camper. Nope, I do not think I will try walking to the South Pole anytime soon!

Me at the Happy Camper Gear Locker

We learned how to build a wall out of snow. It sure is much easier to saw through snow than through wood.

Cut snow block and stack just like bricks

The wall we built out of the blocks acted as a wind buffer to keep the cold wind from blowing through our tents or even worse, from blowing the tents away!

Heidi and Collin

Before getting to Happy Camper I seriously toyed with the idea of sleeping in a snow trench overnight. However, after a day of lessons, digging, building, winds, and snow I changed my mind and slept in a tent instead. I did lie down in a trench and I know that if absolutely necessary the snow trench could be very comfortable.

The beginning of a Snow Trench Trying out the sleeping space in a Snow Trench

The wind seemed to blow all the clouds away overnight and we woke this morning to beautiful blues skies and a view of Mt. Erebus.

Mt. Erebus in the background Mike and Mt. Erebus

Today we had a couple survival scenarios to think act through- what to do in a plane crash or helicopter crash, and what to do in whiteout conditions when one of the team is missing. What would you do in these cases? There are many things to consider- injuries, shelter, how to communicate with the team and with a rescue team, as well as a whole lot of other things.

Heidi receiving first-aid for her "broken" leg The Buckethead activity!