Sweet Dreams on the Ross Ice Shelf

Hooray! I am an official graduate of Happy Camper school (Snow Craft I school). This training now enables me to officially leave McMurdo Station and travel into the field. This course is required for all scientists (called "Beakers"), etc. down here to conduct work on the continent and beyond (we are not currently officially on the continent right now...McMurdo Station is located on Ross Island just off the continent of Antarctica. I believe we are about 30-40 miles from the Dry Valleys, our targeted field location). The course is required only once, unless there is a 5 year gap between field seasons; otherwise, you only have to attend a few hour refresher course.

So what is Happy Camper? For those unfamiliar with the training, I'll explain a bit about our class (and humorous happenings).

Our class consisted of 10 new arrivals to McMurdo who will be conducting work in the field in the coming weeks (McMurdo offically closes for summer on Feb. 20 - last flight out on that day). We initially met in a class room here on base to do introductions and begin a few basic safety lectures (medical issues such as hypothermia and frostbite; environmental issues, gear issues, etc etc). We were then loaded into a van and driven to our school site out on the Ross Ice Shelf, just past Scott Base. We initially assembled at the Instructor Hut (I-hut) to learn basic skills, such as starting camp stoves (am pretty sure there is gasoline spilled all over that hut; it's surprising we didn't all spontaneously combust). We then had to collect our camping gear and walk out to the area which would become our camp for the night. Weather was pretty good, but there was blowing snow nearly all day and wind was sporadically blowing in different directions.

We then spent the next 6 hours or so building camp. This included erecting 2 Scott tents (those are the yellow pyramid ones you might have seen if you Google anything about Antarctica - pictures would really help here, but I'll get those up ASAP), and 3 mountain dome type tents. We also had to stake all tents by burying ties in the snow and tying knots (of which I am terrible at) and loading the sides with snow for additional support. We then had to build a snow wall by quarrying out large blocks of snow/ice and placing them between tents to block the wind. Sounds simple enough, but is actually quite a back breaking task. We also had to dig out a space for the kitchen (hole) with an additional snow wall, set up the burners for a stove, and build at least 1 snow trench. Apparently the igloo building only occurs in the advanced courses, which was actually quite a relief to learn, as it would have taken another appx 5 hours to build. All in all, constructing camp took nearly 6 hours; even with ten people, there is a lot to set up, and when you are freezing with blowing snow in your face, it becomes even harder...or maybe I'm just a big baby :)

After camp was more or less set up, our instructor left for the night, and we began "cooking" snow to make water so we could eat our dehydrated meals for dinner...so yummy. Survival tidbit: when working in dry conditions with dry snow, start your pot with some water in it and then progressively add snow; otherwise, it will taste like burning...

We then had the evening to "recreate"...basically go play as we wished. After all that work, all you really want to do is fall face first into the snow and die, but maybe that's just me. Anyway, I did take a hike along one of the flag routes (all travel on the ice shelf must be along pre set flag routes, which are established by ground penetrating radar; otherwise, you may fall into one of the many surrounding crevasses). After some more joking and goofing off in camp, we then finally went to bed (myself, Allison and Lynn shared one of the Scott tents...very warm, but a small space to set up your sleep space in..it was quite an ordeal actually and ended with much laughter and inside jokes :)).

The following morning, we had to arise early enough to completely deconstruct our camp, store it in the nearby storage shelter, and get picked up by our instructor. We returned to the I-hut for more briefing on radios and survival bags. It was really cool to set up the HF radio and call the South Pole Station. Apparently they were having better weather than we were. We then had to participate in 2 scenarios: the first was a basic survival setup; our plane had crashed, one of our party had a broken leg, another had hypothermia, and we had to establish a shelter and a radio connection in minutes. We fared pretty well :).

The second scenario was about finding a person in whiteout conditions. We were given a rope and buckets to place over heads to simulate whiteout conditions. Our instructor then ran out to the nearby bathroom hut, to which members of our party had to try to find her. I volunteered to be one of the first ones out, so three of us lined up on the rope and tried fumbling our way down the flag line; we got absolutely nowhere! We ended up circling the I-hut and catching the rope on the bamboo flag poles and snapping several. It ended with us getting to close to the hut and me falling off the embankment near the hut...our instructor then called the exercise off as we were destroying poles, lol. It was absolutely hilarious; the bottom line is that you should always stay put during whiteout conditions as it is very easy to lose your way :) We then posed for photos with the buckets, so I will definitely have to post those.

We then returned to base for a briefing on helicoptor safety and ended class by practicing with the helicoptor seat belts. Apparently the only way to fail Happy Camper is to walk over to Scott Base and end up at the bar during the overnight...

So, in summary, I think Happy Camper is some kind of cross between a fun summer camp and some kind of sadistic fat camp. Either way, it was fun and memorable. Little sad we didn't sleep in an igloo, but maybe next time...:)

The neat part about our Happy Camper group is that it included 3 of the guys from the BBC who will be filming in Antarctica (camera man, sound guy, and producer, I think). They are producing a series called "Frozen Planet", and are some of the same guys who filmed the Planet Earth series. This series will mainly cover wildlife in the Arctic and Antarctic, and will feature seals, penguins, whales, etc. To get the orca shots, they will follow behind the ice breaker ship that is coming in, as the orcas will follow in the wake. I think the series is slated for a 2011 release on the Discovery Channel. Sir David Attenborough, who will be narrating, was on an incoming flight today, which was boomeranged back to New Zealand. This means, those on the C 17 were unable to land due to the weather conditions and had to circle around (just shy of landing) and return to NZ. So those on board had been flying for 5 hours and had to turn around and fly another 5 hours back to Christchurch. I am so glad we were able to land the first time on a beautiful sunny day!

After a hot shower (probably my last for quite some time!), I organized my gear for the field, and Allison and I stopped by one of the bars; not for beer, but for some Cokes! Haven't had one for nearly 2 weeks but was in desperate need of some sugary caffeine!

So we are scheduled for a 9:00 am helicoptor departure to the field tomorrow, if the weather is clear enough. This means I will be out of the loop for nearly 20 days or so, and may not get to post again until I return from the field. Email me funny stories from back home if you get the chance! Am looking forward to this next phase...love and miss you all!