How to survive in Antarctica with a shovel, a whisperlite stove, and chocolate milk...

  We took off on Wednesday morning for our "Happy Camper" hazing... ehem... I mean training. It was a beautiful morning. We had the pleasure of cruising past the Kiwi base ((New Zealand's base). Funny that their choice of color happens to work well with their nickname.

Kiwi Base is the kiwi green set of buildings behind the sign

  We arrived at our campsite on the Ross Ice Shelf. The Ross ice shelf is a freshwater glacier that is sliding off Mt. Erebus and colliding with the sea ice in McMurdo Bay. This creates great pressure ridges that look like white hurricane strength waves that are frozen in time. There they introduced us to the survival bags that are stored on all vehicles, air and land. There are different tents depending on the area the vehicle is deployed. All contain a little whisper lite stove ( a tough back packing stove that can run on any kind of fuel), white gas (for the stove), lots of chocolate, and freeze dried food like substances. The Scott tents, whose design has not changed much in the last century, can be set up anywhere on the continent and will stand up to any weather. The little mountain tents, on the other hand, need to be hid behind a four foot ice wall to protect them from the vicious southern winds.

Working together to set up a Scott tent

After the ice wall was set up, and all the different tents we might encounter were set up, our instructors high tailed it off the ice and headed for warmer digs. Our little group of campers were left behind. Dave Malpas, a fellow carpenter, volunteered with me to be camp leaders and were left a radio so we could check in periodically. We had two EMTs in our group from the McMurdo Firefighters, and they volunteered to take care of us if we got hurt, and two more gentlemen volunteered to get the kitchen up and running. We were left with only a little water and had to start melting snow right away to provide water for the rest of our stay on the ice.

Best dudes ever!!

Once everyone was settled, and all major roles were covered, those of us that were feeling more adventurous went off with our shovels and started digging. It seems to be an unspoken rule that folk from the Carpenter staff are expected to sleep in either a snow trench or a snow cave. I opted for the cave even though it was more difficult working down and sideways rather than from above.

My snow cave entrance

Inside my snow cave

At first I tried to sleep with my head at the far end of the cave from the entrance. I thought it would be easier because the midnight sun wouldn't reach my eyes. But the moment I closed my eyes I freaked out. I realized that if my little snow cave collapsed, with my arms at my side in my mummy bag, than I wouldn't have a chance of escaping. So I had to turn around in my cave, in my sleeping bag, no small feat. In the end I unzipped the bag, and got turned around, and got my zipper stuck.

Normally this is not a big deal, but de-layered, at midnight, at -20 Celsius, in a cave, in a Glacier, this is not good. I have resolved to make sleeping bags with fist sized zipper pulls when I return stateside. So I would wrestle the metal zipper up five inches, than shove my freezing hands down to my groin, and warm my fingers, than work the zipper another five inches, than thrust my hands back in my long johns, then zipper up another five inches........ you get the idea. I suffered frost nip on my index finger and thumb (nip means it burns for a couple days... not a serious injury. Frost nip is minor, frost bite can be really bad, and frost burn can occur if you touch something metal at -50 or something). One of the keys to staying warm is remaining hydrated. Unfortunately that means you have to go to the washroom more often. Our instructors recommended that we use a pee bottle in our sleeping bags if we have to go to the bathroom. I wasn't willing to risk a spill. The view, in the wee hours of the night when I got up to pee, was spectacular.

The view, as a groundhog would see it, from my snow cave at 3:00 AM
My fellow campers tents are silhouetted in front of the snow wall.

The unobstructed view. The sun dips under the mountains but it never really gets dark, just a little dusk and dawn.

When I got up and took those pictures all my mid layers, which were staying warm in the sleeping bag, and which were wet from sweat when I dug out my cave, fell out of the bag without my noticing. When I found my sweater and fleece pants in the morning they were frozen solid.

I wasn't a very happy camper that morning. It was early when Dave woke me, I was cold, out of smokes, we only had fake coffee, and my fingers burned like hell each time I touched something cold. But Dave got the stove running, and I got a little oat meal and hot chocolate in me, and we all worked together to tear down the snow wall, fill in our caves and trenches, and put all our gear away.

When we were all done I looked up the glacier and saw Mt. Erebus in all its glory.

Me and my buddy Mt. Erebus

Mt. Erebus steaming away, the southern most active volcano.

Our instructors finally returned from their warm hut. We ran through scenarios and learned how to set up HF and VHF radios, with those fifty foot directional antennas, learned where the repeater stations were, the radio lingo and etiquette, and were picked up by a giant Delta for a ride back home. The Delta is a little terrifying because the air in the brakes is just barely enough for the large hill between the Ross ice shelf and home. Our driver had to nose up on the snow bank and let the air build up before going all the way down the hill.

Our ride home is in the giant Delta

By the time they came to pick us up I was a happy camper again. They call it 'happy camper training' because they say that it is impossible to be happy when you are cold. Warm campers are happy campers. And the whole point of the exercise was to teach us how to be warm campers... happy campers.

The trick to surviving out here is to stay hydrated, eat constantly, work as a team, and keep busy and working. Moving people are warm people.Constantly check in on the people around you. Are they answering questions coherently? Are they angry? Do they have any skin exposed? If they do is it white (bad) or red (good).

When we got home I cleaned my gear, hung most of my stuff up to thaw and dry, and went to bed .