I'm backkkkk

Well it's official, I survived "Snow Craft I", or as it's more commonly known here, "Happy Camper". Actually we ended up with incredible weather so it wasn't really all that bad. It was maybe 30ish degrees and almost no wind and sunshine the whole first day.  We all met up over at the place, ya know, that one place over by the thing? The first couple hours were in the classroom. We learned about some risk analysis crap and what not to do. We grabbed our gear and loaded up in a "delta", which is a big ass truck with giant tires that you could fit probably 20 people and all their equipment in the back. We drove out there and they dropped us and all our stuff off. We loaded all of our stuff onto a sled and the instructor drove it over to the instruction hut(I-hut) and we walked over there. It was probably close to a mile away but the snow wasn't too terrible so it wasn't like it was a hard walk.  We got there and sat in the hut and had a sandwich and learned some more stuff, but apparently it wasn't important because I can't remember what it was. Ha! Oh wait we did learn how to use the little stoves they have there. We put together sleep kits which was a mat, sleeping bag and a fleece liner that I never did use. We headed out about another 1/4 or 1/2ish mile to a shack and picked up a ton of more equipment. We piled most of it on to several sleds and pulled them the last couple hundred yards to the site. Actually I didn't pull the sled because I helped put in flags every 30 or 40 feet to flag our route back in case the weather came up.  We got there and setup the tents they had. Then we had to saw snow blocks out of the ground so we could make a snow wall. The wall is there to protect the tents incase the wind really kicks up.  Who knew I could be a snow mason?! Then the instructor showed us how to build a snow trench which is a shit ton of work!  After that we setup the kitchen in one of the quaries we used to get the blocks out of.  We started melting snow for drinking water and cooking. I was helping with cooking the water and making dinner while everyone else who was going to sleep in a snow trench started digging their trench. So after we ate some re-hydrated our freeze dried dinner I started in on my snow trench. By that time everyone else was either done or putting the finishing touches on theirs. So I dug the shit out of some snow. It seems to take forever because you're not supposed to exert yourself too much. You don't want to sweat in the wild anywhere but especially somewhere stupidly cold because it just pulls the heat out of you and it's no fun. So you've got to take a lot of breaks so you don't get too sweaty.  So I spent probably 2.5 or 3 hours building this thing and a bunch of people went to bed. I was getting tired and frustrated and I wasn't taking enough breaks so I was getting really wet. I was trudging around in the snow so I was covered in snow that was melting and my clothes are soaking through. I was pretty fucking miserable at that point. I was able to use one of the sleds as a roof so I didn't need a ton of blocks for the roof. The trench was a little too wide so I had to use bamboo flag poles to hold the sled up.  My trench was done and I tried getting all my stuff inside but there just wasn't enough room inside the damn thing to get all my gear layed out. So after hours of building the thing I was exhausted and soaked and cold and frustrated beyond belief. So I gave in and slept in one of the stupid tents. I was so frustrated and pissed off about the whole thing because I really wanted to do the manly thing and sleep in the trench but it just wasn't working. Oh well I guess I know how to build one if I ever need to. I couldn't sleep for shit in the tent because there were a ton of little divets in the snow where we had walked and we just put the tent over it without flattening the area. So I had to kind of find a "comfy" divet to sleep in which was horrible.  So I think I only slept a total of maybe an hour before it was time to get up.  I didn't really care about the sleep I just wanted the night over so we could break camp and move on with the next day.  We woke up and started breaking camp and getting things ready to go. That actually went really well. We radioed the instructor and let him know he could pick us up early because we kicked ass at getting things packed up.  We got back to the I-hut where it was warm again.  We did some more classroom work and learned about everything in the survival kits and how to use it. Then we learned about using the VHF handheld radios. We also learned about the big badass HF radio for longer distance talking. I thought we were done with the outside work, but not so much.  We went outside with a survival kit and the HF radio and played out a scenario of being stranded somewhere. So some folks setup the emergency tent, some started boiling water, some others started building a snow wall. 2 other guys and I setup the HF radio. Its a little bigger deal because you have to string up the antena in a certain way to face where you want to call and configure it for the frequency you're calling and all that.  When we were done we went to help the other folks and that's about when the instructor called it off and we discussed the whole thing and what we did good and bad and whatever. Then we went over and tried the radio. We were able to make a 1,000 mile call to the south pole to ask them what the temperature was there. That was really cool for a nerdy guy like myself. Incidentally it was -26 at the pole that day if you were curious.  We packed that all in and went back inside. Then we played out another scenario that someone went outside in Condition 1 weather to the bathroom about 40 feet away and never returned.  So we tied a rope to a guy and he went out looking for our missing person but we had to wear buckets on our heads to simulate the white out conditions and not being able to see anything.  I wasn't the guy going out but I was by the door feeding out and taking in the rope that was attached to him.  We weren't successful but almost no one ever is.  After that we pretty much cleaned up and headed back down the road to our pickup point.  That shower when I got home was like a little slice of heaven, mmmmmmmm!  So I went back to work today and they tried to convince me that because the temp was over 25 that it didn't count and I'd have to do it over, but I wasn't buying it.  They even went so far as to get the lady who sends out the emails about going to the school to email me and say I'd have to go out again tomorrow and do it over. I still wasn't buying it but I played along and replied back that I'd love to do it all over again just to take the fun out of it for them. So the messers got messed with. :)

Did you hear that...

 Sitting in the class learning some stuff...

 The other folks...

 Sitting in the delta heading out...

 Dropped off, here we go...

 The instructor getting the sled to load up our gear. The 2 dark rectangles way off in the distance is the I-hut...

 Walking to the I-hut...

 Lunch...

 Learning to use the stove...

 At the camp site...

 Do you like my flag line? Well actually the 1 girl we had with us helped me do it so I can't claim that it's mine...

 Setting up a "scott" tent...

 Setup and ready to go...

 The Instructor showing us how to quarry some snow blocks...

 I've lost a bunch of weight but I still look like a big fatty fat in all my pictures, probably because I am, but I'm getting there:)

 Setting up the stoves...

 Dinner cooking in the bag...

Cooking water...

 Several people digging trenches...

 Starting on my trench...

 Getting there...

 Going to the dumper...

 The entry to my hiding hole...

 All done...Pretttyyyy...

Would be nice to be asleep...

yep, 2am still no sleepy...

 I hear a monster...

 Mikes water bottles, soon to be filled with snow...

 Filling in my hole the next day...so sad to do all that work just to fill it back in...

Gear all packed up and getting ready to go...

 Back in the class learning about the HF radio...

Setting up the HF, the horizontal wires are the antenae thats stretched out to other poles...

 Pretty much done...

 Back in the delta on our way back to town...

 Back in town going through the gear...

 Cleaning and sterilizing the pee bottle...

Then I went home and showereeedddddd