Snow Survival School
November 12, 2008
I survived!
I spent the last two days in an outdoor Snowcraft I class (also called Snow School or, around here, Happy Camper), which is a rite of passage for all US Antarctic Program participants en route to field camps. 20 of us learned essential survival skills, including how to set up a camp stove, use HF and VHF radios to communicate, put on a helicopter seat belt, put up Scott and Mountain tents, make a dead man’s anchor to secure a tent, and – most important – how to make a shelter in the snow with just a shovel and saw.
The class was structured as if our helicopter had crashed into the Ross Ice Shelf and we had to set up an emergency overnight camp. Thus, we were turned loose in a barren snow plain (with nowhere to warm up) with a few tents, freeze-dried food and camp stoves, shovels, snow saws, and extreme cold weather clothing. Once the instructors had showed us a few things, they left us alone and went to sleep in a warm hut about a quarter mile away. Meanwhile, we put up the tents, made snow bricks to construct wind barrier walls, cooked the food, and tried to stay warm. Since the temperature was about 3 degrees F (-15C), the last part was a constant battle. A few students have gone home with frostbite this season.
I kept a water bottle inside my jacket, and it still froze solid within a couple hours. My camera batteries, fully charged, were dead in the morning. Condensation from my breath fogged my sunglasses then froze, forming a layer of ice. You have to be extra careful of stove fuel, since if it spills on exposed skin, the quick evaporation will freeze fingers instantly (known as “contact frostbite”).
When the instructor demonstrated an optional technique for digging your own snow shelter, I was hooked. Who ever gets the chance to spend the night in a trench in an Antarctic glacier, with just your sleeping bag to protect you?
Only four of us (out of 20) made the attempt. It took me about three hours with a saw and a shovel to excavate a coffin-shaped hole down into the compacted snow surface, about four feet deep (enough to sit straight up inside), three feet wide, and 10 feet long. Then, I widened the bottom of the trench so I could lay flat and roll side to side a bit. Finally, I carved large bricks of snow from a designated quarry and laid them flat across the top, turning my “grave” into more of an egyptian tomb. I could barely crawl down the entrance at one end to arrange my pad, sleeping bag, and extra clothing down inside. With temperatures almost 30 degrees below freezing, I wormed into my snow cave, wriggled and contorted into my sleeping bag, ate a chocolate bar, and got an excellent night’s sleep.
Snow Camp
Cutting Blocks of Packed Snow
Snowmobiles To Drop Us Off
Nick Explaining a Whisperlite Camp Stove
Happy Campers
Mount Erebus View From Camp
Instructor Demonstrating A Trench Shelter
I Dug And Slept In This Snow Shelter In -15 Degrees C!
Noah In Camp
2 Responses to 'Snow Survival School'
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Thanks for using Degrees C so I don’t have to convert anymore
I really enjoy reading your blog and watching the pictures.
Jörg
12 Nov 08 at 2:25 pm
You didn’t mention if you partially closed off the entrance of your snow shelter- it seems you might stay warmer, but then maybe that’s too hard to do.
Cheri
2 Jan 09 at 9:47 am