Happy Camper!

Well, it was bound to happen... My turn finally came up to go to the ever-dreaded but oh-so-desired experience of Happy Camper school. Happy Camper is an abbreviated Arctic survival training for two days and one night. And as my luck seems to continue, the night before I was to go there was talk of a nasty storm with 50 knot winds and snow and blowing snow. One can only imagine how thrilled I was with this news! Once I woke Friday morning I could tell the next two days were going to be long and potentially miserable. It was very gray, overcast and lightly snowing outside. I pulled up my bootstraps so to say, packed up all my necessary and required gear and headed off to the SSC/FSTP for the beginning portion of the day which was meant to be classroom. To my horror, when I arrived there they instructor said "We're going to do things a little differently today and head right out to the instructor hut and do our classroom stuff there." Not a problem really, other than the fact that I had intentionally worn only the base layers of my ECW gear planning to toss on the remainder before we headed to the snow and ice fun. We loaded up in the Delta with all our gear and headed out to the instructor hut and then to Snow Mound City. Andre', another firefighter had brought along Roscoe, his sock puppet that was sent to him from home for the adventure. It was pretty funny to say the least. I brought along my tractor. It didn't happen that I had the chance to add my additional layers and consequently was pretty cold and miserable for the first several hours out in the instructor Quonset hut. We learned about all the equipment we'd be using, cold weather safety, how to set up and use the HF (high-frequency) radios, called the South Pole to say hello and see what they were up to, and other important things I'm sure. From there we had a chance to layer up completely and then walked out to Snow Mound City where we'd build our little commune and spend the night. The wind was blowing a lot at this point and at times it was tough to even stand up into it. Fifty knots was the wind speed I heard.

Our first stop was to the milvan/shed to pick up the tents and survival bag. We pulled out the sleds, loaded them with the tents, cooking stoves, shovels and saws, bedding bags and personal ECW and other gear for the night. This took a few different trips between the shed and the campsite, but once we got everything there we began the process of building a camp in survival-type conditions. We even did it all for real rather than trying to do it while pretending there was wind, snow, and poor visibility. We learned how to set up and secure tents in the winds so that none of the pieces or parts disappear, how to secure them into the snow by digging "deadman trenches" or in the ice with ice screws. And how to deal with trying to cook and make water in such conditions. Did you know you can burn snow? Once the tents were up and secured we started on the process of cutting and popping out large snow bricks from the snow and moving them over on sleds to build a couple of wind wall for some protection. It's like building an igloo, but only in straight walls. With the weather the way that it was with snow, blowing snow and lowered visibility Trevor, our instructor, made the decision that we wouldn't even try to build quinsey's in the snow. Kind of a bummer because they are pretty cool structures. They are basically snow caves, but are mounds above the surface that look like igloos a bit and are hollowed out in the center where you sleep right on the snow. The work that we already did have to do was plenty. It was exhausting for all of us to be working so hard and fighting to even stand up in the strong winds. It was condition two for a good part of the time and for a while did go to condition one (condition fun as Trevor called it)! Lucky ducks we are!! When we first arrived and began setting up camp I set my travel mug down next to a flag so that it wouldn't be in the way or get lost. After camp was set up I went back to retrieve it and got there just in time as it was barely still visible with the snow almost completely covering the entire mug. Whoops! At this point we were left instructor-less for the night and people started to mill about figuring out where they would sleep for the night. I had been given a radio to check in with him at 8pm and again at 8am. We had two Scott tents and three mountaineering tents. A couple of people went exploring a bit, dug out two of the quinsey's from previous groups and elected to sleep in them. Dinner was a do it yourself at your own pace pour the boiling water in a bag of backpacking food thing. Tasty? I think not. I ate what I could and then had another granola bar instead. After checking in on everyone, calling in my radio report, one last potty at the pee flag in the snow, and filling up a hot water bottle to cuddle with I headed off to my tent to try and see if I could possibly sleep. It was tricky as the sleeping bags, although very warm, were strangling me. We were also given fleece bag liners and with my fleece pants and long underwear top I felt like a flannel board story every time I tried to move. Finally I gave up and removed myself from the liner using it as a blanket rather than shackles. Inside the bag wearing a warm hat on me head I was pretty warm through the night other than having a face that was a little cold. The hot water bottle was a lifesaver and was remarkably still warm in the morning! I did sleep a bit, but with the sunlight coming through the tent, the wind flapping all night, the less than super comfortable sleeping bag on the snow floor it wasn't the most restful night I've had.

I woke the next day about 7am as I once again had to go to the bathroom pretty bad. It was a gorgeous morning and very clear and bright. How surprised was I to see that there were all sorts of other snow sculptures and buildings so near by where we'd set up? Some ambitious person from a past camper group had carved out a couch, television, remote control and soda can in the snow. Pretty funny stuff! After enjoying the beauty and solitude for a few minutes I went about waking people up to begin the process of taking down the camp so that we'd be back out at the shed to meet Trevor by 9am. He met us there, we loaded our things back into the Delta, walked back to the instructor hut for a little training on how to find someone lost in a whiteout. This was pretty funny as we simulated the whiteout by all wearing five gallon buckets with faces drawn on them on our heads. From there we headed back into town for some training on Helo operations and the rules and such that you'd need to know if you are traveling to a field camp by helicopter. By the end of it we were free by about 2:30 pm which left time for a long hot shower and unpacking before dinner time.

All in all it was a pretty darn fun camping trip. I feel more confident that I could survive in a situation like that much better than I would have before. I also learned some skills and tricks that will help out in other areas as well. It is good to gain new skills, knowledge and information even if I don't foresee myself doing a terrific amount of cold weather camping in the near future. It's just too dang cold for me!!! It was a fun adventure, an exhausting 36 hours and I can honestly say that by George, I think I'd do it again!