A
little note: The school starts off with a little
classroom session. Then off to the field in the nodwell.
There the instructors teach you how to set up a Scott
Tent, how to build one of the snow huts, and how to
build protective ice walls.
The
nodwell vehicle they use to take the happy campers
out to their camping sites.
A
student dragging a sled full of camping equipment.
All
the happy campers full of energy before any work really
beguns.
Picture
of the campsite after we set up two different Scott
Tents and built a snow hut as you can see in the center.
Front
view of the setup of the Scott Tent.
Back
view of the setup of the Scott Tent.
The
huts are built by placing all of your gear
into a pile on the ice and covering it with
a tarp. Then everyone throws snow on top on
the tarp until it is covered with at least
2 feet of snow. Then someone digs a hole through
the side and pulls out the gear. Voila, perfect
shelter.
A
team member of TopHat, holding a shovel while
we all were building the snow/ice hut.
Student
entering the snow hut to retrieve some gear.
Our
instructor Thai and Eun diving into the door
of the ice hut.
The
campers after coming out of the hut.
The
ice walls are a little more time consuming
and effort consuming. You begin by cutting
out blocks from the ice in a square pattern.
A shovel is used to break the block free from
the ice surface. Then you just stack them
like bricks perpendicular to the wind and
around the area where you will be placing
your tent.
The
purpose of these walls is to protect yourself
from the wind. The wind down here is like
nothing I have ever seen before. It almost
bites you.
Here
are some people roaming around in the ice wall
city. We went here so we could see how some
of these ice/snow shelters were built.
The
ice wall we built to provide protection against
the harsh Antarctic winds.
Eun
carrying an ice block that he just cut.
A
picture of the completed ice wall we built.
All
the survivors of the ice wall construction.
Eun,
Elmer, and Doug (from LSU) after completing
the ice wall.
Some
campers dancing in the snow to keep warm.
One
of the campers making angels in the snow.
Images
of the surroundings at Survival School Training.
