Ice Camping in Antarctica!!
Our first day in Antarctica was probably the most extreme 24 hours of my life. After surviving 2 days on the Drake Passage with no seasickness, but unfortunately a nasty cold (covid-tested negative, luckily), my head was clearing up and it was time to hit the ice. For the morning our trip to Port Lockroy to see penguins in the snow was on queue, then the afternoon would lead to kayaking (previous posts) and the evening would bring Ice Camping.
It was a snowy day so some of us were thinking and maybe wishing ice camping would be postponed, but in Antarctica you have to make the best of your weather and there is a possibility that if we hadn’t had gone the first night, we may not have gone at all.
So we suited up with merino wool base layers, fleece mid layers, water proof outer layers, a bivy bag, a sleeping pad and a super warm sleeping bag and took zodiacs to shore.
When we arrived on land it was 10pm but still light out. Fresh snow was falling so our boots would disappear into the powder if we didn’t stay on packed paths our guides had shoveled out for us. I found a clearing a bit to myself in the middle and plopped down my things. I wanted set up while enjoying the peace and scenery but I quickly realized the only way to get set up would be to just get in the bag…
I stuffed my waterproof pants into my boots so they wouldn’t get filled with snow and slipped in. I was warm and comfy. By 11pm it was snowing pretty heavily so I had to zip myself up and just lay in my body bag, hoping to get some sleep. The wind and the snow picked up to about 30 knots throughout the night.
At around 1am I started to get claustrophobic in the bag. I knew it was fine and I could tell that snow had fallen and I should *not* open my bivy bag but my brain yelled “claustrophobic!!!” In a panic I punched around looking for the zipper and opened it anyways. It was still light out (midnight sun) and a wall of snow had formed around me. I repeated this panic a few more times, opening and closing the sack until I finally found a position that felt more breathable and I watched the wind and snow beat the red bag over my head until I actually managed to sleep. I was a bit worried that in my opening and closing of the bag I might have lost my beanie or other small items in the snow, but that was future Jenna’s problem.
Around 5am I heard people shuffling around and packing up. Even though I had actually found a comfy position and was managing some rest, I decided to open my bag and see what was happening. It was snowing and windy, and I probably looked warn and confused (see photo) and a guy asked if I was okay. I was fine but I asked when the boat was likely to come. He said 6.
I had an hour but it was too late, snow was gathering in my bag so I had no choice but to continue packing up and gathering my things before I was snowed in. Overnight my waterproof bag next to me had been completely buried by snow. I was pretty deep in it as well. There was a moment as I cleared snow off of my sleeping bag with freezing hands that I thought to myself “what the hell are we doing here?” But I carried on and put my stuff away. I had a lot of time to kill before we were to be rescued back to the ship so I scooted over in the deep snow towards some friends and we all joked in disbelief at what we were doing until we saw the ship dropping zodiac boats into the water and it was time to get the hell off that island.
Despite the situation being a bit absurd, when we arrived back on the ship, I felt amazing. It was the most alive I had felt on the trip so far. My dreariness from the head-cold was behind me and I was in my element! This is when I realized for good that I really do enjoy things more when I torture myself for them. Sitting around on a boat and eating at a buffet for every meal was killing me, but sleeping in the snow during a storm brought me back to life.
Would I do it again? Probably. But I don’t love bivy bags.