Happy Campers

After a very long time out in the field (two days!...that was sarcasm for those that don't know me very well), Jenny and I are back at McMurdo, showered, and getting ready for our real field time - we're leaving for the Dry Valleys on Friday! But before that can happen, we had to be trained in some survival techniques - at McMurdo they call it Happy Camper School.

The experience starts with a couple classroom hours learning about dressing appropriately, spotting and treating cold-related medical issues, and utilizing the resources we will have available to us in an emergency situation. Then we get loaded up (with all our warm layers) in the back of a huge snow-truck/tractor and carted out to our field site out on the Ross Ice Shelf a couple miles from McMurdo.

Throughout the first afternoon we learned about using Whisperlite stoves, setting up Scott tents (yellow pyramids with a century old design, originally used by R.F.Scott in his early Antarctic explorations) and mountain tents (more commonly called four-season tents, dome shaped, and modern), building snow walls, and building snow shelters as well like a snow trench or a Qunicy (looks like an igloo, but made by piling lots of snow then digging it out - see photos). Our teachers were great guys - part of the McMurdo search and rescue team - and they constantly encouraged us to keep moving, keep eating, and keep hydrated in order to stay warm.

Two Scott tents: a century-old design still going strong.

Starting the Quincy: burying a whole pile of duffel bags to give the mound shape. We covered everything with about 18 inches of packed snow and let it harden for a while - then dug out the inside.

In the end it was warm and snug enough to sleep four people...and to stand on.

There were 18 of us at Happy Camper, all but one was field bound (the one was a fire-fighter in McMurdo). Almost everybody will be staying in a semi-permanent camp; some, like us will be sleeping in tents the whole time, but most will have heated buildings to retreat to. We will not. We will also not have any snow around us to construct things out of, but it was a lot of fun to play with!

At night we needed to stay active and amused, so we started on a master project - a snow bridge/arch. We spent about 6 hours on this thing - planning, quarrying the snow blocks, sculpting them to fit an arch shape, and eventually piecing it together. Finished, it stood 6+ feet tall, about 8 feet long, and about 4 feet across; we are very proud. Admittedly, putting it together was a bit scary. Towards the end we have five people bravely bracing the interior so it did not collapse on itself. But eventually, we succeeded with a masterpiece...around 1 am. We definitely saw midnight sun. And with the extra blocks we built a bench and ottoman/table to admire our work.

Apparently, scientists on ice will do anything to fulfill the desire to engineer. Including putting themselves at risk during safety school.

The finished product. Very satisfying - and impressive, don't you think?

After spending what remained of the sunshiney evening in tents/shelters (Jenny and I chose Scott tents), we got up, cleaned up camp, and got ready for more lessons on risk management and radio protocol before having some practical training in radio operation (HF and VHF), an emergency scenario, and a search drill called "Bucket Head" where we wore buckets to simulate a whiteout and tried to find a person lost outside. After a few informational videos on leave-no-trace ethics in the Dry Valleys and helicopter safety we were free to go.

Camp! See the current blog header for another view.

It was a great two days - informational and fun. The weather changed so rapidly during the course, going from fairly warm and snowy with low visibility to chilly, completely clear, and beautifully sunny in no time at all. But the best part of Happy Camper was all the awesome people - a couple from a crew going up Mount Erebus to image its interior plumbing and atmospheric impact, a few using GPS to measure movents of the Antarctic continent, some using radar to image mountains beneath the surface of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, and a crew of core handlers off to work at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Drilling Project. It was awesome hanging out with the WAIS core crew because they are about our age and are interested in so many of the same polar topics as we are - and they're keeping a blog, too.

Now, we are ready and looking forward to what the Dry Valleys have to offer.