Thursday, March 12, 2015

Wintercamp reflection

Wintercamp reflection- Clayton McWilliams PAD20

I had a great time at the 2015 cw wintercamp. My time at wintercamp was very fun because myself and my group came well prepared. My group consisted of Aidan, Cooper, Patrice and myself, one of the key things that made our stay a success was that we all contributed equally when it came to building the quinzhee. One of the main things we worked on while building our shelter was the base, because we knew we would need lots of sleeping room. We also made it very tall so that we would have room for a platform. My group also planned a very tasty and nutritious meal that we all enjoyed. Lastly as a group we never had any big arguments over what to do, so that made our stay very enjoyable.

Even though we had no major issues there were still some things we could have improved on. Firstly it would have been far easier to dig out our quinzhee if we had put sticks through it before we started digging to have approximate depths. We found that out the hard way when it came time to collapse them we had to break through far more snow than we had anticipated, and it also led to having a little less room in our quinzhee. Another minor issue we had was we had dug too far for our platform, but this actually helped us because we used the loose snow inside the quinzhee to create our platform.

Some things I would recommend to future wintercamp participants is to build a very wide base so even if you don't need the extra room you have thick walls. Another thing I would recommend is to put sticks from about 8 inches to 1 foot through the wall so you know when to stop or continue digging. Finally I recommend to be in a group of people you get along with because it is no fun to be with people you are arguing with. Overall I had a very good time at Wintercamp and am excited to do it again.       

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