Happy Camper

As employees we get a morale trip and mine was selected to be Snow Survival School aka Happy Camper. I’ve heard many things about the 2 day/ 1 night program. Most loved it but some hated it. I was pretty nervous because our beautiful summer weather had just left and winter seemed to be knocking a little too loud at the door! I had told myself when I read about the program during orientation(months ago while sitting in an air conditioned room in Denver, CO!) that I would sleep in a snow trench, or at least try! So I packed up all the required extreme cold weather gear and supplemented it with some of my own stuff hoping it would be enough. The last item that I got was borrowed from Jon… his pee bottle. Don’t worry it was empty and clean. Talk about taking our relationship to a new level!

So what does Happy Camper include?

We met in a classroom setting to go over what our schedule looked like and to learn a little about the extreme conditions and what that can do to you, like frost bite, hypothermia, etc. We then gathered up some more supplies and loaded up in the Delta, picked up some bag lunches from the galley and headed out on the sea ice.

We were dropped off on the side of the Pegasus Runway Road, loaded our things into a snowmobile sled and walked off into the snow towards a couple buildings in the distance. 

The Walk...

Once we arrived we had a bunch of activities from learning to use the ultra light stoves to how to sleep warmly. 

Learning time!

Then we got to the more hands on part. We got our own sleeping gear and headed out to where we would make our camp. From there on it was constant movement all while trying to maintain our body temperature in the blowing cold. 

We learned how to set up Scott Tents(double walled canvas, very similar to the ones Scott used 100 years ago on his expeditions), regular camping tents, stake all those down(no grass or dirt to dig into here!), then it was on to making a kitchen by using hand saws to cut the ice/snow into blocks for a wind block wall. 

The tools of the trade!

We had a quick tutorial in how to make a snow trench and then we were on our own until 7:30 the next morning. So we dug, cut, and stacked all while melting snow to boil water for dinner. Hours later the wall was finished, tents set up, and water was on it’s way to a boil, I started on my trench. About 4 feet deep and 7 long, I used blocks of snow/ice to build up the sides more, then using two sleds I made a roof. Home sweet trench! 

Home Sweet Trench!

I set up my sleeping kit all while knocking snow off the walls of the trench. Broad shoulders!

By this time my stomach was growling and the water was boiling, I enjoyed some dehydrated bean chili in a bag with a hot mug of hot chocolate. Luckily we had a stash of snickers bars and trail mix to supplement. I made my final trip to the outhouse for the night and tucked myself into bed a bit after 8 and set my alarm for 5 something am. I had reserved a spot in a Scott Tent incase I got too cold or uncomfortable in the trench, but I didn’t need it! I made it the whole night! I only woke up a couple of times to turn over. Sleeping with a shovel at your side makes turning a bit more interesting!

We broke down camp and boiled more water for oatmeal and hot drinks. After everything was stowed away we had more learning to do plus some scenarios to practice what we learned. We set up a survival bag in 30 minutes. That includes one tent set up and secured, snow melted, water boiling, radio set up and contact made and a small wind block wall made. Plus we had one participant, Christine, play the role of a hypothermic person we had to tend to.

Another scenario was one person is unaccounted for and it’s condition one outside, how do we find them. We did a search pattern and found our person in about 8 minutes! All with buckets on our heads to simulate low visibility.

We also attempted to radio the South Pole but there had been too many solar flares recently so we couldn’t contact them, instead we spoke to Mac Ops.

We packed up and rode back to town, repacked the kits for the next Happy Camper, then the last thing was a video of helicopter safety and demo seatbelts.

I was on a bit of a high when it was over. I took a nice long shower and then a nap was in order before dinner!

If you’re wondering about Jon’s pee bottle… I didn’t end up using it. So I returned it.

Happy Camper was a great time. Learned a lot and completed my goal to sleep in the trench!