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Inside Guy's
snow trench
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Although
they protect you from the wind, snow trenches are essentially
sinks for cold air. If you have a little more time, a somewhat
warmer shelter is a snowmound or quinzhee.
A quinzhee is made by piling
packs and equipment together then burying the pile with a minimum
two feet of snow while patting the snow down as you proceed
in order to increase the mound's strength.
After letting the mound sit for
a while so that its form will "cement" together, you
dig into the mound on the side away from the wind to create
an entrance and pull all the equipment out. By digging down
first and then back up to the shelter, you can create a cold
air sump in the entrance way because cold air being denser than
warmer air will sink to the low point, thereby keeping the air
warmed by your body heat trapped inside.
For most of the day we were busy,
busy trying our hand at all four of the snow shelters. At first
I paused periodically to take photos. That stopped when my camera
battery froze. Then I decided that I would follow Erik and Brian's
advice and try to keep hydrated. But when I went to take a swig,
I discovered that the water in the narrow neck of my bottle
had frozen also.
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Sharp pain through my teeth revealed that my chocolate and
caramel candy bar was rock solid as well. As the cliché
goes though, where there's a will, there's a way, and I managed
to break off a chocolate piece small enough to melt in my
mouth. Next time I'd be sure to stow my chocolate and camera
in one of my jacket's inner pockets, which being closer to
my body would be warmer, and when I got back to McMurdo, I
was definitely going to find an insulated jacket for my water
bottle.
Finally, by around 9 PM, our
shelters were built. Our stomachs were full of dinner, and
our camp was looking downright tidy. For me, and I think for
many others in our group, it was the first time in what must
have been weeks, that we didn't have to be anywhere. We didn't
have to cram anymore information into our heads. We had absolutely
nothing to do. That could mean only one thing - playtime!
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Frozen
Camera battery
Water in water bottle
Candy bar
Sunscreen
Moist towelettes
Not
Frozen
Toothpaste
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A Tip From an Expert
Erik likes a tidy camp because
before he goes to sleep he has a look around and visualizes
where things are situated.
That way, if he wakes up and finds himself in the middle of
a whiteout, or other emergency, he can readily locate any
items that he might need.
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 Our
shovels made great bats, and the dry snow made polygonal balls that
shattered in spectacular fashion when we managed to hit them. Then
baseball somehow turned into football which slipped into wrestling
withsoccer and manhauling of people in banana sleds somehow mixed
in.
Jim in our group brought a kite, and
we paused to watch it soar. Mt. Erebus, Antarctica's most active volcano,
rose on one side of us.
Black and White Islands pierced through
the ice on the other, and the astonishing beauty and realization of
where I was finally hit me.
It was nearly midnight and it was bright
outside. We were romping around on solid ice and we were floating.
We were so far away from everyone and everything, yet when the sunlight
fell on the snow of the surrounding mountains, they shimmered like
wispy clouds that reached down to the frozen ocean. The boundaries
seemed to disappear and it felt like we were inside the sky.
Karen.
Jim flies his
kite |
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