I spent the last two days at "Happy Campers" Training. This is a two-day intensive field course on how to survive outdoors in the Antarctic. This includes a few hours of in-class training, and then it's off to the snow about 5 miles outside McMurdo Station. While there you learn how to set up Scott Tents, Mountain Tents, build a snow wall, dig a snow trench for sleeping, uses various radio communications, keep yourself warm (ok … warm enough) in high winds and freezing temperatures, and lots of other tricks to survive in extreme cold weather. Everyone who goes out into the field for research has to take the training.
We lucked out a bit. Weather was sunny with light winds during the first day of field training, so setting up camp wasn't too bad. It was a lot of work, but at least we weren't setting up in harsh conditions. However the next morning we woke up to cloudy, windy, cold conditions. But the group worked well together as a team, tearing down camp, enjoying a hot breakfast breakfast outdoors in wind chills near -12 C (10 F), and being ready ahead of our 8:30 AM scheduled pick-up time. I certainly learned a lot over the past couple days, and now it's time to put that new knowledge to use.
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