I spent the last two days at “Happy Camper School,” which is what they call snow survival school here on the ice. We loaded up in Deltas (big military vehicles), drove out onto the shelf, walked a half an hour and set up our camp. The tall tents are called “Scott Tents”, as they were used by Scott’s party on the journeys here. They are cotton, so they breath well and are pretty durable. Others slept in mountaineering tents (very cold choice), the quinzee hut (kind of like an igloo), or dug snow trenches. I elected to dig a trench.

I was surprised at how well the snow breathed, which kept it from getting clammy and wet inside; however, do to the nature of being underground and having a large amount of snow around me, I never was able to warm the thing up above -20 or so. The temps dropped to around -40 with light wind that night (which made for a quite exhilarating midnight run to the bathroom) and most people froze. The sleeping bags we were given were just old REI bags with a fleece liner thrown in, so everyone wrapped their down jackets around their feet and took bottles of hot water to bed with them. I probably burned several thousand calories keeping warm that night, but luckily they supplied us with a box of salami sandwiches that could have fed a small country. Eating throughout the night was crucial for just about everyone.

The next day we enjoyed more survival training including a whiteout simulation.

~G