This is a picture taken during condition 2. We were still finishing setting up camp.
This is the camp during condition 1. The tents disappeared from view a few minutes later and it was hard to take pictures because your hands froze and your camera died.
This is the north wall surrounding our camp.
I stayed in the tall yellow tent, called a Scott tent. If you look at the flags, those are our markers to keep us from getting lost since there are very few landmarks...just tons of white space. If you are at one flag and you can't see the next flag, then it is considered condition 1.
This is the outer wall of our camp. The big white mound in the back is the quinzee hut.
3 comments:
haha wow. That sounds like so much fun. that's pretty rugged of you. Ok so I have to know, was the sound of the wind enough to drive you crazy? I can imagine being perfectly warm with all the right gear but I can't being able to stand the constant noise. Also, what exactly did you do the whole time it was so cold? Did they just have you sit there and freeze or were there things to be done even in the cold. Sounds like you're having a blast. Always good to see your posts.
Dear Aaron,
The wind didn't bother me. The tent flapped a bit, but is was pretty muffled. Sometimes I had surges of adrenaline because of fear. My first jolt of nervousness came when our survival instructors left us for the evening at 5:00pm and they wouldn't return until 9:00am the next day. The weather was just starting to get a little crazy then and I was worried that I wouldn't get any rest. However, we ended up being quite busy. First of all, they put me and another girl in charge of the stove and melting ice for water. I learned that you should put a layer of water first in the pot, and then snow. If you don't do this, a vapor lock occurs if you just put snow and it burns the pot. We heated up water to add to our dehydrated food and passed it around the camp. After that, we finished making camp secure...building another wall and putting everything in neat piles. We had to heat a lot of water and fill up everyone's hot water bottles for the night. I also had a book with me and I ended up reading out loud to my tent mates. If you have a chance, you should read it. It's an amazing true story called "Endurance". It's the story of Ernest Shackleton and some of the fist explorations of this crazy wasteland. You will never believe what these people went through. It was great reading this outloud when the storm hit us. Kind of creepy, too. Glad you are keeping up with us. Keep in touch.
What do you do for a heater? Do you have a long extension cord? Do you sleep on an ice pillow? Guess you don't need an ice chest. Love you both. Dad and Kris
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