Happy Camper If you have ever wondered what it is like in Antarctica I can tell you, it is full of training. You have to relearn how and when to do a lot of things. Eat, sleep, drink, go to the bathroom, drive a truck, sleep outside, even something as simple as tossing out a candy wrapper is more complicated and requires more thought and energy than you ever thought possible. The language spoken here is very different too, an acronym for everything. Buildings don't have names or signs, most are the same color even. Trying to find your way around a place like Mc Murdo is nearly impossible unless you have someone to help you along the way.
camp site
Whisper lite International
Snow Anchor
There is one training I would like to send all of my students for, that is Happy Camper. First, the name is perfect. It's not the happy like you see at Disney Land, it's the happy you might see on the face of a person who has just completed a marathon or the happy that you feel after completing a series of immunization shots. Happy to be sure, happy to be done with it. It starts with a long list of mini classes for things that might bring you harm or death. Hypothermia, crevasses, wandering off in white out conditions, and how to avoid them all. It is best to be paying attention because the next part of the course is of a more practical nature. Sleep out on the ice overnight.
Wind Barrier
Warm on the inside
Cold Kitchen
Our group used a variety of techniques and equipment to make it through the sunny -10 degrees "night". We all practiced putting up Scott and mountain tents which requires special care for wind and ice. The more adventurous people of our group of 13 students chose to sleep on or in the ice rather than use a tent. Some dug snow trenches, others burrowed into the ice to create a snow cave. The most ambitious was a group of German ice drillers that worked into the late evening completing an igloo.
Construction zone
snow trench
one sleep kit
shelter
white-scape
German igloo
buckethead