8 November 2009 A Happy Happy Camp Camper!

Welcome to Happy Camp!! This 2 day training was designed to provide us with the tools we would need to survive if stuck out away from McMurdo either because of rapidly changing weather conditions or because of some accident—God forbid. Bottom line…if we leave base, we must know how to survive in extreme weather conditions even though that NEVER happens here—yeah right!

I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous about this venture as it quickly became apparent that I had the least experience of anyone in our group of 20, but there’s no time like the present to learn. Our instructors, Brian and Paul, were wonderful and had some nice cooperative tag teaching going on. I found them to be patient (like Brian repeatedly showing me how tie a tent down…my knot tying skills stink!), thorough in their explanations and very methodical in their presentation of required information. Most instructors/teachers don’t tell you the "why” or "how come” it’s important to know something or do something a certain way, but they were terrific about that and created a learning environment in which questions were welcomed. Trust me…the questions were many as there was much to learn!! And, as a special education teacher, I appreciated their style of instruction. They "get” that not everyone learns the same way, and their teaching style reflected that.

One of our first big jobs was to establish camp and get our shelters up—mountain tents and Scott tents. A wall made out of snow blocks also had to be constructed to block the 25 mph wind that was ripping out of the NW.

Some people opted to make their own snow trench, snow cave or other snow structure in which to spend the night. After having read about the early explorers, I had decided weeks ago that I wanted to sleep in a Scott tent.

Bathroom facilities?? Two choices—pee bottle or latrine many, many...many yards away.

Once our shelter set up was well under way, we were tasked with getting the stoves up in running in our newly constructed high tech, survivalist kitchen. I thought, "Why not?? I’ll give it the old college try.” We’d learned to set the stoves up and get them running in the relative warmth and protection of the I-Hut, but it would be far different to get the stoves going in the Antarctic conditions that we were now facing. Try lighting a small camp stove with 20-25 mph winds and temperatures below zero. but, it was crucial to get all 5 stoves up and running so that we could make water for everyone.

The keys to staying warm in sub zero weather: 1) stay well hydrated…yeah I know it makes you have to go to the bathroom, but…would you rather freeze? That’s why it was important to make water. 2) Eat, eat, eat!! (I liked that one, especially the chocolate part!) 3) Exercise if you’re getting cold but not to the point where you’re sweating. Setting up camp surely had us exercising, so I didn't need to worry about exercising to stay warm. I worked all day in lined leather work gloves, and my hands were just fine.

After having had dinner…I had several mugs of soup, granola bars and chocolate…we each hauled our sleep kits and gear to our respective sleeping quarters. About 8:30 pm, I noticed a system moving through what’s known as Herbie Alley—an opening between Black and White Islands. Situational awareness is very important, and I thought back to earlier in the day when Brian told us that when we no longer could see Black or White Island, we had 30 minutes before the weather turned really nasty. Black Island was no longer visible and part of White Island was obscured as well. So, I decided that it was a great time to fill my water bottle with hot water and head to "bed”. After throwing my bunny boots, gloves, hats, socks and tomorrow’s layers into my sleeping back, I kicked back to 2 layers and crawled in.

When I awoke after midnight, for the first time in my life I heard what absolute silence is really like. The wind had completely died down, no one was talking or crunching the snow by walking around…there was no sound whatsoever…nothing! It was at that moment that I realized I had never experienced true silence.

Think about the world in which you live in; there’s always some kind of background noise—refrigerators kicking on and off, lights humming/buzzing, wind rustling through leaves. Because there’s always some sort of noise, we only know relative silence. **I **had only known relative silence. This moment was truly magical for me. I could get used to moments like the one I experienced two nights ago except now I’ll know what I’m missing.

The lull in the weather was short lived as the winds started ripping again around 3 am or so. I was hoping they’d be over by morning when we had to break camp. Silly girl! This is Antarctica!

Most of us were up by 6:30 am, and if they weren’t, Thomas, our "alarm”, went around banging the pans together. It was time for a quick breakfast and camp break down…in 25+ mph winds…AGAIN!

More training ensued at the I-Hut after we debriefed, and might I add that my group was the first to find Brian in a simulated "Lost Person in Whiteout Conditions”, aka the bucket head drill. Put a white bucket on your head a viola! White out conditions!

All in all, I really enjoyed the two days out on the ice, and I learned other valuable skills as well.

1) My nose runs A LOT down here when I’m outside, but if I turn my head perpendicular to the wind, and tip my face so that it was then almost parallel to the wind, those ripping winds take care of it for me! Just make sure no one is down wind!

2) A leaking water bottle in the pocket of "Big Red” is not a big deal. You end up with snow in there! Scoop it out! (If you’re wondering how my water bottle could leak, it was upside down in there. Anyone want to guess why?? If you have a guess, post to the Ask the Team section.

3) Filled pee bottles make great warming bottles in your sleeping bag, but make sure the lid is on tightly!

4) Never, **ever **handle anything of importance over the latrine hole if the "lid” is not covering said hole. You don’t get "do overs”; although, I SO wanted to hit a rewind button. (Don’t ask. Lesson learned.)

Sea Ice Training awaits me all day Monday. Can’t wait!! I’ll learn how not to end up in a crevasse and other useful skills designed to keep me alive.