Snow Craft I Class - aka "Happy Camper" is a required course for anyone who is going out into the field away from McMurdo, and for those whose jobs may take them away from town. Our group numbered 20 at the beginning; however, we lost one member due to illness on the first day.
We began our class at 8:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning (12-7) with about an hour and a half of classroom instruction. During this time we discussed both objective and subjective hazards in Antarctica. Objective hazards are those that are out of your control such as weather (wind, storms, etc.), ground surfaces (uneven terrain, crevasses in glaciers, slippery ice, etc.), water (unstable sea ice - cracks/pressure ridges) and other various environmental conditions. Subjective hazards are those that can be controlled either by an individual or a group of people. Examples of this are being rushed/not taking sufficient time, poor planning, no leadership, not paying attention, and a whole host of other human-caused issues. Once we'd identified potential hazards, we discussed how to mitigate any risks. Following the hazard/risk discussion, we had a short presentation of cold related health problems. This mostly centered around hypothermia and frost bite. We learned how to identify these two health problems and how to treat them while in the field and at what point they are too severe and a medevac must be called in.
After the classroom training, we gathered our gear and headed out into the field. They described this as "car camping" so we were to take all of our Extreme Cold Weather (ECW) gear and anything else we felt we might need personally, such as cameras and toiletries. Although, once we got our there, the "car camping" became less "car-like" and we carried all our gear everywhere. To get out into the field, we traveled in Deltas - large military transport vehicles that are about 5 feet off the ground.
Riding in the Delta out to Happy Camper.
Welcome to Happy Camper! Unloading people and gear from the Delta.
Common form of transport in Antarctica - a military Delta.
Our first field instruction was in the Jamesway (an insulated military tent with a wooden floor and stove). Here, we learned how to repair and use the survival stoves - MSR Whisperlights. Afterwards we had lunch and then it was outside to set up camp. From this point forward, we would be outside for about 22 hours. Fortunately, it was an absolutely gorgeous day! It got up to 37F and was dead calm. We only had a couple of hours late in the afternoon where clouds came in an we couldn't see the sun. The temperature dropped to about 18F and we had a bit of a wind, about 10 mph.
Learning how to set up and light the MSR stove.
After lunch, we moved about 400 yards away fromt the Jamesway and began to set up our camp for the night. In any survival situation, the first order of business is to get shelter set up. In Antarctica, you ALWAYS set up your tent so that the door is facing away from the prevailing wind and then angled about 15 degrees to prevent drifts from blocking your doorway. Our first task in Happy Camper was learning how to set up a Scott tent. These tents go back 100 years. The design is the same as those tents used by the Scott expedition to the South Pole (hence, the name, Scott tent). They are very large, heavy canvas tents. Each one weighs about 90 pounds and they are VERY akward. They have a large center pole which is oriented so it points into the wind. Because they are so heavy and akward, it takes about 3 people to set them up. One person belays the center pole, while 2 others guide the tent and pull out the corners as the tent goes up. It almost felt as if we were erecting a circus tent, although much smaller. If you've ever been camping, using tents down here requires much more set up than for the usual camping trip. Every guy line must be anchored with a "dead man" anchor, which is a length of bamboo about 12 inches long that gets buried parallel to the tent in a snow trench about 1 foot deep. Scott tents have 12 guy lines to set. We also used heavy duty metal stakes: 1 inch diameter and 12 inches long to stake out the four sides of the tent (there are 8 stakes). We set up a total of two Scott tents.
Final set up of Scott tents.
Next, we learned how to cut blocks of snow to build protective walls around our tents. The snow here is amazingly easy to work with - it feels and sounds just like styrofoam and is very light yet compact. All you do is take a regular saw and cut uniform blocks. We set up three mass production sites and got to work making blocks while the other part of the group began hauling them on sleds to camp and constructing the wall. We spent about an hour working on the snow wall before moving on to our next task.
In addition to the two Scott tents, we also set up seven mountain tents. This is the type of tent you probably think of when you hear the word "tent". Just as with the Scott tent, there are twelve guy lines to anchor and the tent has four areas to stake out. It was while we were busy with this task that the sun went away and the wind came up. It wasn't the most fun exercise, but also not nearly as bad as it would be in a survival situation.
Our final camp set up. From left to right: Scott tents, kitchen, mountain tents, and snow trenches.
Once the mountain tents were all set up, the instructors demonstrated how to build a snow trench and then left us for the night. We were left with a large box of dehydrated food and candy bars for dinner, oatmeal and trail mix for breakfast, and an assortment of hot beverages. We had to melt snow for all our water and for 20 people, this took several hours. We all ate in shifts while continuing to work on our camp.
Seven of us decided to build and sleep in snow trenches. Depending on how elaborate they were, construction took anywhere from about 1.5 hours to 4 hours. It took people quite a while to decide where they wanted to sleep, but I had already made up my mind that I would sleep in a snow trench since I'd never done that before. So, while everyone was undecided, I jumped in and took over the partial trench that the instructor had started. There was still a lot of work to do on the trench. I had to widen it and I also made it a bit deeper. Then, I had a period of trial and error trying to cut snow blocks just the right size to bridge the opening without falling in on me. I finally finished it around 10:30 p.m. and crawled in for the night. The sleep kits they give us are quite comprehensive and warm. In addition to a -40F rated sleeping bag, we also have very thick polar fleece sleeping bag liners. Our big red parkas are also rated to -50F and I placed that on top of me as well. Once I closed my eyes, I had no trouble sleeping and actually was too warm in the middle of the night! The only thing I think I'd do differently next time would be to either dig a little deeper or to make the walls and roof taller because if I moved around too much, I'd bump my head and have a sugary shower of snow rain down on everything.
Home sweet home! My finished snow trench.
Nightie, night! All set for a night in my snow trench.
Here's my view, looking toward my feet in the snow trench. I had brought along an eye mask, but didn't need it because as you can see, it was quite dark in there.
So far, I was still one Happy Camper!