Rollin' Heavy

Morning after sleeping in the snow trench

Inside of snow trench

The first that I learned at snow school is that "we roll heavy" in Antarctica. This means that when we go into the field we bring as much gear as we possibly can. Taking a helicopter, Twin Otter or C130 to a campsite is the Antarctic equivalent of car camping. After hearing this, I felt much better about my 3 bags full of gear.

We started off the class going over basic safety information in the classroom. From there we took the "Delta" which is a large two part vehicle with tires that are taller than I am. The students were sandwiched into the back with 10 people on each side staring at each other. While traveling over the transition from the land to the ice shelf each side had a turn of being tossed into the laps of the people across from them. One guy just yelled out, "I don't like roller coasters!" It was quite amusing.

The "Delta" took us out onto the ice shelf and dropped us off about a half mile from the "i-hut". I believe that this structure is also called a Jamesway. It's kind of like a permanent, very large tent. It has a stove, kitchen, beds, etc. This is where the instructors slept, I'll get to where we spent the night in a bit. So we hiked into the "i-hut" which some of the students weren't too happy about. I thought it was pretty amazing. It was a perfect blue sky, about 40 deg F and we were completely surrounded by snow, ice and mountains. I don't think that I could have been happier. At the i-hut we learned about camping stoves and how to use them. Luckily for me, it was the same stove that Tom and I own. After this we headed out onto the ice about a quarter mile from the i-hut.

This location is where we would be spending the night. We learned how to setup Scott tents. These tents are shaped like a tee pee, have very heavy walls and are suppose to be very good in the windy Antarctic environment. We also learned how to setup mountain tents, which are basic four season tents. The interesting part was how to stake the tent down. We had to dig holes in the snow, wrap the tent guidelines around a bamboo stick, bury the stick and then use a slip knot and a trucker's hitch to cinch the tent down. It was quite the process, but very effective. We also got to build a snow wall to protect out campsite from the strong southerly wind blowing in. Next we piled all of our gear into a large heap and covered it with snow. We left this to snow hardened so that we could later build this into a Quincy snow hut/cave. Before leaving, the instructors showed us how to build snow trenches and a snow kitchen to cook dinner in. The instructors then left and told us that by 8:30 am we had to be all packed up and ready for pickup.

We boiled water and had some dehydrated meals for dinner. Then the group started working on the Quincy snow hut. We had to dig a hole in one side of it to pull all of our bags out of. We were excited because we were thinking that about 5 people would be able to sleep in the Quincy. After we got all of the gear out we found out that it would only hold 2 to 3 people. The people who eventually slept in the Quincy continued to dig a tunnel into the Quincy. From what these people said, it was a lot of work for a one night stay, but would probably be worth it if someone was staying for 4 or 5 nights.

A few other people, including myself, started to build snow trenches to sleep in. There were not enough tents for people to sleep in, so it meant that someone was going to have to sleep in the snow. In total, there were 5 of us that stayed in trenches. Each trench varied quite a bit. Some people made very elaborate trenches with beds, shelves, etc. Most of these people had trouble cutting snow blocks large enough to act as a roof. (oh right, I forgot to mention that our clear sky had disappeared and it was now overcast and snowing. For my snow trench I dug a 2'x2' hole in the ground. From there I dug out an area underneath the snow for me to lay down in. After that I needed to find a way to build a cover for the 2'x2' opening. I tried to use snow blocks, but each of these broke on me. I had the sleep kit that I will eventually use in West Antarctica and it had a tent in it. So took the rainfly out of my bag and used that to cover the opening to my trench. It might have been cheating, but I like to think of it as being creative. I slept very well in the snow trench and stayed very warm.

The next morning we had breakfast, packed up and were ready for our 8:30 am pickup. We had a few more things to learn and a few scenarios to go through. For instance we had to walk around with white buckets on our heads in order to simulate whiteout conditions. It was quite funny. We also used HF radios to call the South Pole and to get a weather forecast from MAC OPs in McMurdo. HF radios are straight out of the tv show, MASH!! I am convinced that we are using left overs from the Vietnam war. The HF radios weigh about 10 lbs each and you have string the antennae out over bamboo poles (it looks like Christmas lights). I must say that as amusing as this way, the radios worked extremely well. And if nothing else, I got to talk to the South Pole and that was pretty cool.

Once we made it back to McMurdo we had to watch a few videos in the classroom and then practice putting on helicopter flight helmets and seatbelts. I hope that I will have the opportunity to fly in a helicopter. As you can imagine, after class I was very excited to take a shower and to change into some dry clothes.

I miss you all!
Melis