Happy Camper School - Day one
At McMurdo Station, there are many warm building to protect yourself from the harsh and windy weather but, how do you survive in the field? Any ideas? The first thing you do is attend 'Snow Craft One Training' - more commonly known as Happy Camper School. This is a required course for anyone who is going out to the field.
Snow Craft One Training Class
The two day class began indoors and the 10 eager Happy Camper students first learned one of the most important lessons - understanding and preventing risk. We learned how to recognize, treat and most of all prevent things like frostbite and hypothermia - all great things to know before going out in the field. Now, this is a survival training class, so the indoor portion of the class was short and we were quickly shuttled off to our field destination in the Delta.
Alex standing by the Delta. Look how large the Delta wheels are - WOW!
The Trek
It was an absolutely beautiful day. The ride to our field camp took about 20 minutes and trek to our destination took about that long as well - so, less than an hour later were at the 'I-HUT' - a warm outdoor classroom.
Our trek to Happy Camper School. We have to walk all the way to those two huts.
I-HUT lessons
The afternoon lessons focused on several things:
- Stove set-up
- Sleeping warm
- Setting up a tent and camping area
Whisper Light Stove.
Our first task was to learn how to set-up and start the stoves so we can cook this evening. By 'cooking' - I mean boiling water so we will be able to rehydrate our dehydrated food and also have a warm cup of hot chocolate. Marty (my partner) and I quickly found out this is not the easiest task to perform - especially while wearing gloves.
Marty, my team member, setting up the Whisper Light Stove. Our instructor said we had a 'creative' way of setting it up.
Sleeping Warm
Corey, our FSTP (Field Safety Training Program) instructor, provided us with tips on how to stay warm in your sleeping bag and had me demonstrate some of these tips. Here I am demonstrating the proper procedures for sleeping. Can you see me in there?
Alex demonstrating the proper 'bundling' technique.
Setting up camp
Now the real fun begins. The Happy Camper team went on another trek to get our camping supplies - tents, sleeping bags, stoves, shovels, saws, flags etc. We hauled them to our camping site using sleds and started the set-up.
Tent set-up
There are two kinds of tents we needed to set-up - a mountain tent (which is a regular tent) and a Scott tent. The Scott tent is named after the Antarctic explorer Robert F. Scott and is still very similar to what he used on his Antarctic expedition 100 years ago. It is a yellow, pyramid shaped canvas tent. To set it up you needed four people. Each person grabs a pole stretched it out in a square shaped base, then secures it with at stake at each point. But that's just the start of the securing process. We then needed to tie down all the ropes. There were two on each side - so a total of eight - and these needed to be secured into the ground. Here's the process we used:
Tent set up - Step one. Dig a hole in the snow - be sure you carve a notch for the rope.
Tent set up - Step two. Loop the rope around a stake and place it in the bottom of the snow trench.
Tent set up - Step three. Buried the stake in the snow - make sure the end of the rope is not in the hole!
Tent set up - Step four. Make a trucker's hitch knot.
This tent is not going anywhere.
Building a snow wall and a kitchen
It's off to the quarry to make snow blocks for our snow wall. This took a lot of work - but was so much fun - and much needed for wind protection. We brushed off the top layer of soft snow unit we reached the more firm snow. We then cut our block using a hand saw and stacked them up one row and a time.
Alex cutting snow block for the snow wall.
Our 'kitchen' - complete with Whisper Light Stoves and 'cabinets'.
Sleeping
There were several options for sleeping. You could sleep in a mountain tent, a Scott tent, or a snow trench. Since I have a mountain tent at home, I opted to sleep in a snow trench. So I started digging!
Corey in snow trench. That's a pretty big snow trench. It looks pretty comfortable - and really blocks the wind.
My completed snow trench with a sled roof. I'm lying down looking out the hole.
I had every intention of sleeping in my show trench, however, the winds picked up (to about 30 miles per hour) and it began to snow in my shelter. So, I opted to sleep in the Scott tent - a much warmer and dryer option!
The Scott tent I slept in - notice the snow drifts. I really had to kick my way out of the tent door in the morning.
My wind blown snow trench. Boy am I glad I didn't sleep here!
The Happy Camper Team.
Stay tuned for day two!