Posted by Tim Holloway [69.54.28.229] on Sunday, March 02, 2014 at 20:54:00 :
Well a good time was had by all, except for one of my other leaders who woke up sich at 3:00 AM Saturday morning. She decided to head home, and took her 2 daughters home with her.
The temp was 9 degrees when we arrived at the camp site. It took us about an hour to shuttle all of the gear, food, firewood etc in to the site. About the time we got everything in, the sun dropped over the horizon. It started to cool off really fast after that. We got the girls set up in an open lean-to, which I nailed a tarp over the open side. I pitched a tent in another lean-to. It fropped to 15 below zero in the night which is pretty close of a margin in a -20 sleeping bag! We had a time keeping everyone's feet and hands warm but succeeded. Once everyone was bedded down, with a water bottle of hot water tucked in with them they all made it through the night reasonably warmly. Saturday morning was still cold, and another round of cold hands and feet to deal with. After breakfast, and a short hike to get everyone's circulation going, we started to build snow shelters. The day warmed up nicely into the mid 20s. By the end of the day, they had built 2 Quinzees (Pile up a BIG pile of snow and hollow it out)and they all slept in them. It only went down to about 15 (above zero) last night. Everyone was much more comfortable, due in part to them being in the Quinzees as well as the warmer temps.
Everyone agreed that the extreme cold wasnt much fun, but they were all glad they had done it and would do it again.
They are an amazing bunch of girls and I would go anywhere with them!
Tim
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