Jonna writing:

Jim, Craig, Jennifer, and I attended Snowcraft I, better know as Happy Camper School, on Friday and Saturday--well, at least Jim, Craig, and Jennifer attended both days but I will get to that later. Happy Camper School is a survival techniques workshop for people spending time outdoors or in field camps. Even though Jim and I had both attended Happy Camper School in the past, we hadn't been to Antarctica in over five years so we were required to take the course again. While we growled and mumbled a little bit about this requirement, the course is actually a very pertinent and useful reminder of things to be aware of while working in Antarctica. We were instructed to bring all our ECW (extreme cold weather) gear (see photo on 10/3) because we would be spending the night on the sea ice (YIKES!).

Our class was taught by two very skilled and experienced outdoor's men, Brennan Brunner and Scott Metcalf (aka Scooter), from the Field Safety Training Department, better known as FSTP (fstop-acronyms are big here at McMurdo!). Our day started out in the classroom and the first thing we discussed was the contents of an emergency survival bag. Survival bags are filled with essentials that will help two people to survive in the harsh Antarctic environment for two to three days. Every vehicle that leaves McMurdo Station has to carry survival bags. One survival bag contains two sleeping bags, two insulite pads, a tent, anchoring stakes, pots, a stove, two fuel canisters, a saw and shovel for making a snow enclosure such as an igloo or a wind break, a hammer, extra gloves and socks, food, a first aid kit, toilet paper, and an Antarctic Survival Manual.

Then Brennen went on to talk about cold--specifically hypothermia, which is a drop in the core body temperature, and frostbite. We learned that the main mechanisms for losing heat are:
1. getting wet
2. not wearing enough clothes - layering is best
3. wind

We learned that some of the best ways to add heat are:
1. eating - best strategy is to eat throughout the day
2. staying hydrated - drinking liquids throughout the day
3. moving around

From the classroom we headed out to Snow Mound City, located on the Ross Ice Shelf under the watchful eye of Mt Erebus, where we would spend the remaining portion of the workshop learning survival skills and protocols for various emergency situations. We were transported in a diesel-fueled vehicle called a Nodwell--a crazy contraption resembling a railroad car on tracks powered by a separate engine car. It is built for traveling on snow. At Snow Mound City there is a Quanset Hut where we had lunch, learned how to use Whisper Lite and XGK camp stoves, and discussed what we would be doing for the rest of the day. This was our last chance to be inside a heated building for we would be spending the next 24 hours outside and in tents or snow structures.

	Snow Mound City: Home of the Happy Campers. The yellow tents are Scott tents, developed by Robert Falcon Scott for his expeditions in the early 20th century. We still use them, and they work well.

Nodwell, one of many oddly named and configured vehicles that crawl around Antarctica.

In addition to our ECW gear we were each issued a sleeping bag, a fleece liner for the bag, and two insulite pads before heading out onto the ice. We spent the rest of the day learning how to set-up Scott Tents and more modern mountaineering tents, how to build a Quincy, and how to make ice blocks for building ice structures. Scott Tents are ideal for the Antarctic environment. They can withstand incredible winds and they were designed so that you can cook inside them. They are big enough to comfortably sleep four people. A Quincy is a snow structure made by shoveling at least a half meter of snow on top of a pile of gear, letting the snow set, then digging out the gear and tunneling into the Quincy such that the entrance is below the sleeping level in order to keep warm air trapped inside. At about 7PM Brennen and Scott went back to the Quanset Hut and we were on our own to survive a night outside in Antarctica.

Jen showing her classic snow-compacting technique on the Quincy, while the other half of the class tries in vain to match the majesty and scope of OUR snow mound.	The Quincy shelter. Its really just a big pile of snow with a tunnel and hole in the middle, but it works pretty well. Jim is leaning on the shovel after a job well done.

Soon after Brennen and Scott left we fired up the stoves and boiled water for our freeze dried dinners. I had Turkey Teriyaki which I thought was quite good--just add 2 1/2 cups of boiled water to the pouch and voila--instant dinner. Jennifer had Chicken _____ which she said was barely edible but Jim really liked his Chili Beans and Rice. It turned out that we didn't have enough water for our group so we had to keep the stoves going to melt snow for water. We wanted to make sure that we kept hydrated because we had learned that drinking lots of liquids is important for maintaining warmth (the average temperature during Happy Camper School was about 0deg F or -17.6 degC). While we were melting snow flames erupted from both stoves at the connection of the stove and fuel canister. Jim and another person deftly turned off the fuel and we deduced that either the canisters had not been screwed down securely or the o-rings had frozen.

After dinner we kept busy and had a lot of fun building all kinds of snow structures including walls for wind breaks, subterranean (rather sub-snow) sleeping areas, and Snowhenge (Jim was inspired with this idea having just read an Andy Goldsworthy book). Jennifer and I took a walk down to Silver City at about 10PM. Silver City is a shelter for people hiking the Castle Rock loop and is equipped with beds, extra clothing, and food. As we opened the door to the shelter we were washed in a wave of warm air--it was heated by a pre-way! We joked about sneaking down here for the night.

	Snowhenge and the proud creators. In the middle (although you can't really see it), is a hermaphroditic snow person facing to the east. (Its really hard to take pictures of things made of snow while its snowing...).

When we got back to snow mound city a lot of people had gone to bed and just a few folks were putting the finishing touches on their sleeping quarters. The prize for the most elaborate sleeping structure has to go to Mark and Adam. They dug a deep pit complete with a staircase leading into the pit and sleeping platforms carved into the pit walls. Their pit was covered with a tarp held taut by mounds of snow. Craig's sleeping structure rivaled Mark's and Adams--he even had an A-Frame roof! We thought the last thing he need was something to block the wind at the entrance. We tried a sled but it did not blend with Craig's keen sense of aesthetics so I walked the sled back to the area set aside for gear (we had a gear pile marked with a flag in case a big snow storm came through in the night burying our camp). Along the way the sled caught and I slipped and fell and seriously twisted my right knee.

	Craig reclining at ease in his snow condominium.

I hobbled to the outhouse hoping that I hadn't hurt my knee badly. Then I gingerly slithered into my tent and got organized for the night. I had chosen to spend the night in a Northface tent with Kaneen, a really nice girl doing Environmental work here in Antarctica. Unfortunately, I proceeded to have a pretty miserable night, not because of being cold--I was toasty warm in fact--but because I was awake most of the night worrying about how seriously I may have hurt my knee. I kept moving it around to test for pain and kept finding that it was very painful to move in certain directions.

The next morning, much to my dismay, my knee hurt like the dickens. While the other Happy Campers (at this point I was NOT a happy camper) broke down camp I laid down on a sleeping bag in a Scott Tent waiting for Brennen and Scott. Brennen had been called back to McMurdo to teach a class and when his replacement arrived I accompanied him to McMurdo where he dropped me off at the Medical Clinic. Barbie, a physicians assistant, examined my leg and determined that I had injured my MCL (yes, another acronym--medial colateral ligament) and possibly some of the cartilage in my knee joint. She wrapped my knee and put it in a brace and instructed me to ice it three times a day and to take ibuprofen to reduce the swelling. The jury is still out on how badly it is injured. On Thursday I will go back to the clinic to have it examined again and find out the prognosis.

Oak here, writing about the end of Happy Camper School.

Despite Jonna's departure, HCS went on. It was pretty nasty in the morning-Condition 2. We broke camp in the wind, then trundeled back to the instructors cabin for breakfast consisting of sandwiches from lunch the previous day, and a debriefing about the night on the ice. After everyone rated their night from 1-10, we had our "final exam". The high point (or at least most memorable part) was the "buckethead SAR". We all had to put buckets on our heads to simulate what you could see in a Condition 1 blizzard. We then stumbeled around trying to find a couple people who had gotten lost in the "storm". It was harder than I would have thought, but very amusing for the spectators.

After our return to town we all celebrated by going out to Gallagers, one of the 2 bars, followed by poker in the Coffee Shop. I slept much better than I had the previous night.