Happy Camper

McMurdo Station taxi. These vans and similarly lifted pickups are all over at the station.

The day after we landed at McMurdo (McM for short), Annie and I went to Happy Camper training. This is the survival course required for anyone who will be leaving the station. We had an hour or so in the classroom talking about hypothermia, dehydration and the like, then we hopped in the Delta truck for a 20 min ride out onto the Ross Ice shelf. There we learned how to work stoves, set up tents, and built a couple versions of snow shelters. One of the tents, the Scott tent, is what we'll be living in for the season, so you'll hear more about it later. The other tent is just a regular tent. I'll tell you about the snow shelters.

The first one we made was called a Quinzhee shelter. We built it by putting all our sleep kits (big duffel bags with a sleeping bag, fleece bag liner, and two pads) in a pile then covering them with snow. After we had shoveled on enough snow and packed it down, we went to build a wind-blocking wall around the tents while our pile of snow froze back together (the high this day was 25 F, and everyone was going bananas at how hot it was!). After an hour or so we dug a hole in the side of the Quinzhee to get the sleep kits out, then plugged it back up and burrowed under the wall on the other side to make an entrance. The trick is to make sure the sleeping platform inside is higher than the entrance. Thus, warm air gets trapped inside and you can have a cozy night's sleep. It took all 20 of us a few hours to make it, and it only sleeps 3, so it doesn't really qualify as a legitimate survival shelter, but it was interesting and fun to build. I didn't take a picture of it, but if you imagine a 6 foot high pile of snow with a hole in it you'll get a pretty good idea.

Next on the list was the one-person survival shelter. First you diging a trench just wide enough to stand in and long enough to lay in. When its about waiste-deep you start undercutting the sides to make a wide enough sleeping area. There is an entrance at one end, just big enough to crawl through. Once the sleeping are is big enough to turn around it, its time for the roof. Go find a smooth patch of snow with no footprints and, with a saw and snow shovel, cut blocks to put over the trench. Finally, shovel a bit of loose snow over the top to fill in the cracks between the block and gently pack it down. Altogether it took me 3 or so hours to finish. The inside of my shelter was a beautiful blue color, and the floor space was big enough for two people to lay side by side.

Me coming out of my survival shelter. The pole sticking out on the right side of the picture is flag, so that if my doorway got covered up at night, people would be able to find me.

However, by the time I was ready for bed, at 10:30, I got a little clausterphobia attack and, since the weather was so good, I decided to try sleeping outside. I quickly shoveled a little wall to block the wind and spread out my bag just outside the shelter opening. I put the big red jacket (called Big Red) around my legs inside the sleeping bag, and wore the lighter red jacket with the hood sinched tight. I had two pairs of long underwear top and bottom, a light fleece jacket, socks, gloves, and a hat on; and I slept very warmly. I had some anxiety about getting cold, which kept me up, but I only ever got a slight chill inside the bag. My face was a bit cold, but I was able to overlap the jacket and sleeping bag hoods to block the wind and still breath fresh air.

Mt Erebus, 12,448 ft, from our Happy C amper site on the Ross Ice shelf. Its an active volcano, and from the crater rim you can look down at one of the few lava lakes in the world!

The next day we broke down camp then had a couple more hours of radio training in the heated instructor hut. We did the bucket-on-the-head whiteout simulation, then drove back to McM to watch a quick helocopter safety video.

All in all the happy camper course was great fun! I enjoy tinkering with tents and other shelters, so it was perfect for me. It was also good to gain some experience and confidence in dealing with the cold, even though our happy camper had the best weather possible.