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!
