Chelsea Rose & David Paul: Happy Camper!

Current Weather: +30F, winchill +16F; Cloudy + Snowing

beautiful, dangerous crevasses

Happy Camper is field camp training school. Every few days, a small group of twelve or so first year scientists and support personnel are dropped off in pretty much the middle of nowhere, and taught to survive in the elements.

Dave went last year. This year I was lucky enough to get an awesome group of gung-ho people to experience the true Antarctic outdoors with, and a fearless leader, Galen (who just so happens to be Cami Boyer's cousin- how's that for small world, all you Charlevoix-ans!).

The Crew: (l to r) the Frenchman, Rachel, Micah, Chelsea, Terri, Nichole, Amanda, Galen (in back), Steve (very front), Greg, Simon, Elie, and Joe

Everyone I know who has been to Happy Camper returns with a smile, great stories, and a sunburned face. This is "car camping" -I brought all of the long underwear I own, and some of Dave's with me, as well as two Big Reds, and a good night's sleep worth of energy. After a few hours of "classroom work" (basic training in hypothermia and frostbite awareness, etc) we were loaded into the back of a delta with all the snacks we could possibly want, and shuttled out to the Happy Camper field site- which is just off the Willy Field Road. I could go on for hours about everything I learned... but the highlights were definitely building snow block walls, building a quincy, learning to use a HF radio, and the whiteout scenario.

the instructor hut: this is home base out in the field. We didn't get to stay here long!

packing our "car"

all the tools: banana sleds for carrying things, shovels for everyone, saws, snow pick-axes

Once out at the field site, Galen helped us pick out all of the tools we would need for the night, and we pulled everything over to a fresh spot of snow, to set up camp. We had gorgeous weather the first day- just warm enough that you needed to strip down when shoveling.

making a game plan

Scott Tent

Scott Tent: lots of snow shoveling

The first thing we set about doing was erecting the Scott Tent. This basic tent is virtually indestructible. Snow shoveled along its long bottom lip helps keep it in place, as well as Dead Man stakes buried in the snow.

a t-shaped hole is dug for a Dead Man stake, which lays under a ledge in the long hole. the rope is passed around the stake and back up out along the shorter leg of the T.

how to tie a tent cord tight enough for Antarctica winds

Galen told us stories of a group of researchers out in a Condition 1 blizzard- everything else they had with them blew away- including the snowmobiles and other tents... but the Scott Tent stayed true and saved their lives!

Quincy

Next we learned how to build a quincy. This is basically a quick, not so pretty igloo. In a few easy steps:

1: pile all of your bags together. these take up space so you don't have to pile as much snow.

2: cover the pile with a tarp- this makes excavating the bags easier in the end.

3: start shoveling snow!

4: more snow...

5: still more snow...

6: pack the snow with your shovel in intervals- this helps to break apart the molecular bonds in the snow- they will refreeze together to form a crust.

7: check the depth- the snow should be about 24" thick everywhere

Galen gives us a target to aim for to get more snow on top of the pile

8: let the snow on the quincy set up for an hour or so while you do something else (we built block walls in the meantime)

9: dig a hole in one side to excavate the bags

10: dig a deep hole as an entrance on the other side- this will act as a cold air sink.

11: scrape out the inside to your liking, and snuggle up! Nigel (in his favorite scarf) and Chuckanucka (in a custom-made sleeping pouch by Megan) also attended Happy Camper.

Snow Block Walls

We also learned how to cut snow blocks out of the beautiful deep snow here, and set them up into a wind break. The snow was amazingly easy to cut with a typical wood saw, and not too heavy! Nonetheless, it took two of us to move a sled with four blocks on it.

Galen shows us how to cut straight lines in the snow block quarry.

a shovel is used to pop the snow blocks out of the quarry.

we set up shop and went to town building!

Amanda and I pull a sled loaded down with blocks

Terri, Nichole, Amanda and I building our beautiful wall.

quarry: dwindling

quarry: exhausted. Joe looks on approvingly at all the snow we just moved

block wall, complete!

Alone Time

After equiping us will all the skills we need, Galen headed off to the instructor hut for the night, and left us to our own devices to make dinner, and entertain ourselves for the night.

Our Camp: complete and ready for an evening of fun!

the helicopters like to do a daily fly-by of Happy Camp

making dinner- some of the guys dug a trench for a foot-well to make cooking easier. Smart NASA scientists!

besides the quincy (which Amanda and I shared), some people slept in mountain tents

Joe tested out sleeping in a trench. He lasted most of the night, until snow started drifting in!

Nichole, Amanda and I went for a nice long walk in the evening, and everyone sat around joking and talking into the night. Just as the wind started to pick up, the day's worth of work started to hit us all, and we retired for the night.

In the middle of the night, I woke up snuggly and warm, thanks to the water bottle full of how water I tucked into my sleeping bag. But I had to use the bathroom, and there was absolutely not enough room in the quincy to use a pee bottle. So I braved the outside, to find that the wind and snow had picked up and it was cold!!! I never would have known- our quincy was tight and cosy!

Day Two:
HF Radio Technology

The next day, after breaking down camp, we reconviened at the instructor tent to learn a few more key skills. Usually, we communicate via Ultra-High Frequency (UHF)handheld radios here- basically walkie-talkies. Out in a deep field camp, there is a chance you would have to use a High-Frequency (HF) Radio for communication. These are old, but dependable, technology- they were designed so 18-year-olds who are being shot are could use them!

To use:

first we rolled out the antenna- two wires that needed to be at approximately 180 degrees.

the wire has these plugs on them- when unplugged, they shorten the antenna to coordinate with the frequency being used.

the antenna can't touch the ground!

this old-school handset is where you choose your frequency and make your call. we called south pole!

Bucket Head

The last thing we did was a whiteout scenario. The premise was that one of our group (in this case, Galen) left the building in a Condition 1 to use the outhouse, and never came back. Our job was to devise a plan to find him out in the snow, somewhere between the building and the outhouse. We had a long length of rope, bamboo flag poles, and buckets to put over our heads to simulate a whiteout, where you can't see anything, and can barely hear.

buckethead line, from the instructor hut to the outhouse

Our group of 6 came up with a pretty good plan- we spaced ourselves out evenly on the rope, and walked out from the building in a straight line. Using the bamboo poles as sweeping devices, and keeping the rope taught, we traced an arc around the building, with one person acting as the fulcrum at one end (we kinda looked like a speedometer kneedle sweeping around from 0-100mph). When the fulcrum-person, Nichole, hit the building, we had walked 180 degrees (a semicircle) and she reeled us back in. Since we didn't find Galen the first time, we knew that that area was clear, and could go out farther on the rope and sweep again. We eventually found him by the outhouse!