happy camper

greetings!

happy camper is the name for the outdoor survival school offered through the bases.  a fellow named danny flew in from mac town to teach this session.  we had a class on friday night about hypothermia and frostbite prevention and treatment and stove use in this climate and altitude. the 13 of us then gathered at 7:30 after the awesome C-17 air drop of sugar and packages to ride in the 'piston bully' out to our site which was a few miles from base.  the base was still slightly visible from our site and we had radios and a sat-com telephone in case we needed anything because the vehicles returned to base as they are integral in emergency situations there.  danny had already been out and set up the latrine and a scott tent as well as bringing all the supplies.

we set-up 1 more scott tent and 3 mountain tents, which are just 4 season tents.  the fun was building structures out of snow that would aid in survival in this environment like a 'quensie', which is a structure that is formed when you place a large amount of stuff (bags of sleeping bags) in a pile and cover it with snow, tamp it down and repeat until the structure is at least 18" thick, then you let it set for and hour.  after it has set (the snow molecules strengthen incredibly once disturbed and rearranged) we dug out the bags through a small hole and then began to carve out the inside for a sleeping shelter.  at this point hydration was necessary and my fellow ga lauren and i began the snow melting process for food and drink (this was around 12:30) time was not an element on this trip as you could barely notice the sun moving around the crown of the horizon.  others who wanted to sleep inside of snow caves began their mission of their big digs, we also cut out snow blocks which are necessary for wind protection and wht one would build an igloo out of.  our tools consisted of saws and shovels and lots of human calories!  we sat around and ate our heat and eat meals and told off color jokes, missing a campfire and figured out where we were going to sleep for the night, which was almost over!  i opted to sleep in a scott tent, i slept alone in this amazing structure that is the same style that capt. scott used in his traverse to the south pole, i have always been fascinated by this structure and it's place in the history of this continent.  it is still a very warm (the new 4 season tents were perhaps the warmest) structure in tis environment.  it was about -27 degrees and the wind was blowing at a pretty constant 10 knots for a wind chill of around -45 while we were out.  when i finally settled into my fleece liner, 2 sleeping bags on top of 2 mats inside my snow floored tent it was 5am.  we were due up at 7:30 to break down the camp as our rides were returning at 9:30.  before i knew it i heard "wake up - it's 8:40!" we had all overslept! we managed to get the camp pretty much broken down by the time the piston bullies pulled up.  we then rode home, i ride in the passenger seat with the station manager dave, who was one of the engineers who has been building the new station for the last 10 years, we swapped stories and once back at station we pulled all the bags out and set everything up in a dnf (do not freeze) building to dry off and set off for brunch!  then we returned and packed it all back up and our adventure was over.  we had such an eclectic group of people, 6 men/6 women...it just worked out that way, and we were all jokers, we laughed the whole time we were out there! it was  one of the coldest and funnest 16 hours of my life!  i then came home and showered and watched a movie and napped the rest of the day, and now it is time to get dressed to go to work!  i hope you all had a lovely weekend ! take care, grace