Challenging Winter Weather at Survival Camp

As a Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue member, winter certification requires spending the night out and avalanche training. Because I've already dug and spent a night in a snow cave in previous adventures, I was allowed to construct a shelter of choice.

Below you see the 9x5 tarp pitched steeply beneath a very healthy pine tree. The link for the Youtube video is posted below.
I chose to shore up the tarp and provide insulation by shoveling snow on 3.5 sides. I slept quite warm. My sleeping bag is inside this bivy sack. Plus, I had 12 hour hand warmers. I slept in one layer of fleece, wool socks and beanie.

Others built snow trenches outside, but near pine trees laden with snow. Their roofs were flat tarps. During the night, after receiving an additional two inches of snow, it began to rain.

 

Suddenly a loud crash rose the dead. I listened for the cause. Bear are hibernating. I hadn't seen cougar or wolf tracks all day Saturday as I inspected 8 snow caves built by boy scouts.

Another avalanche descended nearby. Yet, the landscape was rolling. What could it be.

Then, much to my consternation, a monstrous slush ball hit my shelter and slid to the foot end.

Then I knew. The trees were giving up their snow.

By daybreak, the Crisco candle had been doused, but I was warm and dry. I eased outside and into the rain, immediately donning rain suit and boots.

It was then I learned the snow trenches were bombarded and failed. All the bedding wet.

Flat roofs proved too weak to withstand this weather.

Those in the caves fared better, though the makeshift plastic bag doors had collapsed.

The boy scouts hung sleeping bags to dry inside the huge dining lodge beside the fire. But, all were smiling. 

Lesson learned: a good tarp with plenty of anchoring loops is worth its weight in gold. 

 

One scout leader showed me his marvelous fire pit built from the inside drum of an old washing machine.

This is Sasha, one of our K-9 dogs in training. She gets purple booties to protect her paws from the sharp snow crystals.

 

Food abounded in camp. I ate home made chili with Troop 181. The boys had been divided into teams of two and built their snow caves. When I arrived for inspection, each team proudly showed me the inside. Some needed to install vents, some needed to reposition vents, some needed to clear out previously installed vents that had clogged with snow. I was quite impressed with them all.

 

See the video at: Winter Survival Camp

Spud Drop in Boise

Last night a friend and I spent four hours walking around downtown Boise, listening to great music by live bands at two different stages, enjoying a heavy beat from piped in music on a third stage, passed multitude of booths selling everything from cowboy coffee to flashing tiaras.

Meanwhile, tons of restaurants remained open, serving brew and savory food, while other bands pounded out yet more tunes to those thawing out from 8 degree weather.

High above all this, a seventy pound spud hung suspended from a monstrous crane. Christmas lights lit dozens of blocks. Word was, 60,000 people would attend the event.

Right after 11, as we finished two huge pink sugar cookies, I saw a square black thing on the frozen sidewalk. Everyone was walking past, but I guess my "abandoned gear" mode stepped in and I stooped and picked it up.
A nearly new I-phone.
My friend and I hoped the owner's friend would contact us soon. No doubt if they realized it was missing, they would dial it up and arrange for retrieval.
Time passed. Soon the spud would drop. Tension rose.
We asked two cops on duty for the lost and found. None. Finally, the lost phone rang and the meeting arranged.
The tourquois hatted gal thanked us multiple times for finding her phone. Good Karma all around. Happy New Year, we said, hi fiving.

Now, the music came to a dramatic close. anticipation was high as we hurried to stand as close to the spud as possible. The brown tater loomed just below the bright moon.
Purple pin lights hit the spud. A few pink sparklers erupted beneath a store balcony. We waited, smiling, watching, cameras all aimed.
The thing descended. We watched. No one counted down. Soon, we thought, soon the count down would begin.
Nothing.
The guys behind let off some graffiti. I spun my free noise maker. The thing stopped. The spud hung there and people started leaving. We looked around. "Its after midnight," he said.
"Wow, seems anti-climatic."
"I know."
"Happy New Year, then."
We left. It was like an unfrosted cake, like a milkshake without the ice cream. Weren't you supposed to count down....10-9-8-7...? Then shout Happy New Years like fools, turn around and kiss everyone in sight?

Kinda left me hanging. Maybe that's the point. Like the spud, sorta hanging. I thought it would at least land. Oh well. Happy 2015!