At about 9:30 I decided I’d had enough excitement for the day and headed off to my cave and sleeping bag. My feet were still cold (it felt like the verge of frostbite) so I hoped I could warm them up in the sleeping bag. I kept my bunny boots on because I thought that would help warm them. That turned out to be counter productive. I brought a book with me so I tried to read for a while in hopes it would put me to sleep. The cave had a very shallow ceiling so when I lay on my back the book would touch the roof of the cave. It was a little claustrophobic actually. Of course it was too cold to take off my mittens so it was a struggle to turn pages. I had several of the little chemical hand warmers that I shoved into my mittens and boots. I’m not sure these weren’t against the rules but at this point I DIDN’T CARE! People continued to come by the cave to check in and out but by 11:00 that all ended.

My sleeping kit included two six foot by two foot neoprene mats a “mummy” sleeping bag and a polyester sleeping bag liner. In addition I brought an old navy grey blanket, another jacket, a hoody sweatshirt, extra sweatpants and a pillow all of which I tried to bundle around me for warmth. The cold feet just wouldn’t let my body warm so I lay there reading my book feeling very cold in my snow cave.

After what seemed like an eternity midnight arrived. I was counting the minutes and seconds until the morning. But now I had to pee so I made my human gumby moves extricated myself from the sleeping bag, pushed the toboggan from the cave roof and slithered out into the cold night air. Of course nothing is close so I walked the block to the “pee pole”. It is a six foot bamboo pole with a yellow triangle flag at the top and is the designated place for men to pee. Right next to the pee pole was an outhouse which created some interesting comings and goings.

When I left the pee pole I decided to go for a walk to try to warm up. I walked for about an hour and, with the exception of my feet, felt almost warm. I reversed the gumby moves and snuggled (ha ha) back into bed. More reading, no sleeping, but now I began to shiver. I was concerned because I knew this was an early sign of hypothermia. I resolved then and there to take aggressive action to warm my feet. I sat up, as best I could, removed my bunny boots and massaged my feet until I could feel them again and actually detected some signs of warming. I then wrapped the poly bag liner around the bottom of my sleeping bag and shoved my feet in. Amazingly in less than five minutes my feet were toasty warm which in turn warmed my body. I was now completely warm for the first time in almost twelve hours and was ready to try to sleep again when an overpowering urge to pee came over me. I had a “pee bottle” with me and after several comical tries to join my body to the pee bottle I gave up gumbied out of the cave and headed for the pee pole, again. (stop the laughing this is not funny)

I still wasn’t tired so off I headed on another six mile hike through the tundra. The good news is the shivering had stopped and my feet remained warm. I almost felt as though I could have slept while I was walking.

I did have some spectacular views while I was walking as the sun was very low in the sky and periodically it would disappear behind some distant mountains. The oranges and pinks in the sky were awe inspiring.

To make a short story long, this process of gumbying, peeing and walking continued all night. I think I amassed a total of about one hour of uncomfortable sleep. Oddly though I didn’t feel sleepy tired when I emerged from the cave for the last time at 6:30 the next morning.

Tomorrow, the conclusion to the saga and hopefully a few pictures.

Once we lugged all the equipment to the snow village location it was time to get to work. The first task was to put up a Scott tent. It looks much like an Indian teepee of the old west. The color, euchre, is even similar. Thankfully there was no wind or this could have been a real adventure. Even though there wasn’t a wind we were trained to hold everything down to keep it from blowing away in the high wind conditions that exists here.

Let me digress for just a moment. Before we could set about erecting the snow village we had to determine the best layout for the village. We talked about the prevailing wind today and the normal wind conditions and direction when a big storm (Herbie) blows in. The placement of tents was critical. They were staggered so if one tent was blown away it wouldn’t start a domino effect and take all the other tents with it. We would eventually assemble two Scott tents, six mountain tents, a quinsy (described latter) a snow cave, a snow grave, and a sixty foot long by four foot tall snow wall.
The instructors told us early on they would demonstrate the various techniques for constructing various structures and tents and then leave it to us to organize ourselves and complete the work.

The next project was to lay out and build a 60 foot long snow wall to protect the village from the prevailing wind. We first had to identify a good location for a snow brick quarry. Having done that we split into teams. One team cut and mined the snow blocks (roughly 2 feet by 2 feet by 1 foot). After the blocks were cut they were loaded onto a toboggan and transported to the construction site where they were laid into place by the brick layers. The real trick in this process was to get the miners to cut uniform size blocks. The snow consistency here is very hard and difficult to cut or dig into so the blocks, once cut, held together very well. We used two different kinds of saws. One was a tree limbing saw and the other was a regular hand held carpenter’s saw. We completed a 20 foot section of the wall to demonstrate our proficiency to the instructors then moved on to the next project. (We would come back to finish the wall later)

The next project was to build a quinsy. If you look in your dictionary a quinsy is an abscess in the tissue around the tonsil (usually painful). Our abscess was constructed by placing 20 duffle bags full of sleeping gear in a pile and then shoveling snow on top of the bags until everything is covered by roughly 2 feet of packed snow.(an equally painful proposition) The good news is all this exertion created a lot of body heat so we stayed fairly warm during this experience. I was wearing “bunny boots” on my feet. They are large rubber boots that are difficult to walk in and look like clown shoes. They are normally very warm but somehow I got a chill in my feet and from this point on I never felt warm throughout the rest of the ordeal. We left the quinsy at this point to move on to the next task. (We would return later to finish the quinsy)

You might want to take a potty break here this could be a long story!

The next demonstration was setting up a mountain tent. Most would recognize it as a two man pup tent. Because the wind can blow at hurricane force levels here tying a tent down properly is extremely important. We learned how to make a dead man “T” tie down using a truckers knot to hold the tent in place. It was very effective and very time consuming. The truckers knot is easy to tie (unless you’re me, I’m knot challenged) and easy to untie in the morning. Of course everything is done in big mittens so even the easiest tasks become difficult. Are we having fun yet?

The next project was digging a snow cave. It was easy to understand but difficult to do because the snow is packed and difficult to dig in. Also the opening has to remain small so you can seal it at night with a toboggan. The shovels are long and you spend a lot of time on your knees in a very claustrophobic hole in the snow. Ultimately it is where my co-worker and I would spend the night trying to sleep.

The next project involved digging in the snow also. The snow grave is essentially that a six foot by two foot hole in the ground about four feet deep. It’s fast shelter from a storm if you need immediate relief. You can imagine the feeling of trying to sleep in one of these.

Finally the instructors stepped back and told us to organize ourselves and finish work on the village. One of the things we were taught to do is continually monitor each other looking for signs of hypothermia. Becoming a team and relying on each other is critical to survival in this hostile environment. At this point we divided up the work and began to finish all of the projects we had started. My first task was working as a brick layer finishing up the snow wall. Once that was finished I transitioned to a cave digger. My co-worker and I took turns at the arduous task of digging out a two man snow cave.

We began the construction at about 1:00PM. At 7:30 the instructors left for the “warm counselors hut”. We took a brief break to heat water for hot drinks. The hot water was also used to rehydrate food that looked like (forgive the indelicacy) vomit. I couldn’t bring myself to eat it but I was assured by team mates that it tasted much like it looked! I opted to make two cups of soup, one split pea the other black bean. All in all it was not too bad. I did bring a full water bottle but by this point it was frozen in the bottle.

Before the instructors left they needed someone to volunteer to be the radio operator and safety monitor. I volunteered for the job. It just entailed calling in at predesignated times to assure the counselors that no one had perished in the cold. I just hoped my back-up wouldn’t need to report my untimely demise. Due to crevasses in the area anyone who wanted to leave the village had to check out and in with me before they ventured out so there was a steady stream of hikers stopping by my cave on their way out hoping the exercise would keep them warm.

Tune in tomorrow for “Trying to Sleep”

Following our class sessions we loaded up in a “Delta” vehicle. A Delta is a huge vehicle that resembles an earth mover with a big two wheel cab attached to a boxcar looking passenger car. The ride is very rough and the seatbelts are three inches across and thick enough to hold a thousand pounds. The vehicle holds 20 people, which oddly enough was the number in our class but with full ECW gear on and our hand carry bags we were packed in tighter than sardines. The Delta at full speed only goes about 18 mph so the 5 mile trip to our drop off point took about 30 minutes. (if you’re doing the math I’m sure it doesn’t work out) Of course the counselors (I mean the instructors) rode in a much more comfortable minivan with additional equipment.
We were dropped off about a mile from the “instructors heated hut” and had to trudge the remaining distance. I think the Delta could have made it but they just wanted us to walk. Reminded me a little of Navy boot camp.
On arrival at the “I Hut” we lunched on a delicious variety of cold sandwiches and juice boxes. Nothing is too good for Happy Campers. The instructors then laid out the plan for the rest of the day. We saddled up and headed out for the camp site (only about ½ mile away back in the same direction we just came from). Thankfully they hauled our bags and gear on sleds towed behind some archaic snow mobiles that belched smoke every time they started up. The poor old things looked “rode hard and put up wet”. I didn’t know it at the time but that leaving the I Hut was the last time I would be warm until the next morning at 8:00 am when we returned to the Hut.

Once we arrived at the “future snow village” we got right to work. We unloaded tents, shovels, saws, toboggans, and bamboo stakes with flags attached and other sundry equipment from a storage shed. Of course we couldn’t build “the village” near the shed so we loaded it up on the toboggans and headed off across the snow.
Tune in tomorrow for the building of the Snow Village.

Well I’m back and I lived through Happy Camper School. I won’t say I enjoyed the experience but I learned a lot and met some good people. Let me start from the beginning.
The class start time was 9:00 Tuesday morning. I had packed every last piece of clothing that I thought might be remotely useful and warm. I also packed my pillow (yes I never go anywhere without it so get over it) a wool blanket and my camera. When I arrived only about 10 of the 20 class members had arrived. Only two of us in the class actually volunteered for the class (this should have been a warning flag).
The course began with lectures on hypothermia and survival in hostile cold climates. The instructor kept reiterating the symptoms of hypothermia (another warning flag). We also had a class about the importance of eating (they kept saying firing the body furnace) and staying hydrated. Of course we also talked about appropriate layering of clothes and the need for aggressive treatment of cold related symptoms. There was a course on Search and Rescue (SAR) procedures.
More tomorrow gotta get to work.

Well I’m headed off to Happy Camper school this morning at 9:00. We have a great day weather wise, clear skies, light wind and the temperature is forecast to climb all the way up to +12F and only drop down to -15F tonight. Balmy considering the time of year. I won’t be sending a blog for the next two days. If you don’t hear from me on the 3rd day send out search and rescue. (Just kidding). I’m taking the camera so hopefully I’ll have some pictures. I can tell you these cold temps play heck with batteries. Cheers