By admin 
Yearly 30,000 of us go to Antarctica out of those 30,000 of us solely two thirds actually land on the continent and of the 20,000 of us that really step foot on Antarctica there are a handful of crazy of us which is perhaps foolish adequate to camp on the bottom of the world. We had been a type of of us.
Tenting in Antarctica
Did we get to sleep in tents like these? No means! These luxurious beauties had been full of our emergency gear. Oh, no when tenting in Antarctica you do it like an precise man and sleep in nothing nonetheless a bivy!
When Quark Expeditions instructed us that we had the selection to camp on the continent we jumped at it.
With the power to say that you just slept on Antarctica under the celebs with nothing nonetheless you, your sleeping bag and a small bivy sack is the ultimate phrase tenting experience.
Plus, it makes for some darn good bragging rights as successfully.
It had already been a day to complete all days.
We had survived the Polar Plunge, paddled through brash ice and mesmerizing environment of Neko Habour, landed on the shores of Neko Harbour to go to a penguin colony, and ended the afternoon paddling in Paradise.
It had the makings of an excellent day and now we had been topping it off with an remaining journey.
Thirty one completely different of us had been as crazy as us and collectively, we took up the issue of making it through the night in sub zero local weather whereas sleeping in snow on the shores of Paradise Bay.
Tips of Tenting on Antarctica
There are only a few tips that one ought to take into account sooner than deciding to camp on Antarctica.
- No meals or drinks are allowed. This is usually a very strict rule. Reverse to in model notion, you possibly can’t ship a nip of Vodka to warmth your bones and you’ll’t ship a snack to get you through your midnight cravings. You are solely allowed to ship a bottle of water.
- You might be picked up at 5:30 am sharp.
- No Going to the bathroom. You are in no way allowed to get out of your sac and uncover a private spot to do your enterprise. Relieving your self on the continent is strictly prohibited. Quark Expeditions brings one emergency disposable rest room, nonetheless it is to be used for absolute emergencies solely.
We couldn’t have requested for a additional glorious night. The wind had died down and the local weather felt just about balmy.
Between our layers of garments, additional warmth Quark Expedition signature yellow parkas and our polar sleeping baggage and bivy sacs, I had a way we had been all going to be pretty cosy.
The very very first thing we wanted to do was organize our camp.
We trudged through the deep snow to hunt out the fitting web site and began to stomp out our mattress for the night time.
We solely wanted to flatten an space as huge and prolonged as ourselves as we’d be snuggling up in our sleeping baggage lined with a nylon bivy sac to take care of out the wind.
Preparing for Tenting
After stomping out our spots, we put down a foam mattress to protect us from the chilliness of the snow, hopped in our sleeping bag and bivy sac and settled in for the night.
Merely sooner than heading to sleep, one among many guides Solan snapped us out of our little dens to take a look at the moon rise.
We had the pure luck of sleeping under a full moon and as we drifted off to sleep it rose slowly over the mountains.
What It’s Like in a Bivy Sac in Freezing Temperature
The sleeping bag and sac had draw string pulls that closed immediately over your face to take care of out the chilly and wind, and whereas this saved us warmth, it moreover induced for only a few completely different issues.
Every couple of hours I woke as a lot as the feeling of claustrophobia and wanted to claw my means out of my sac to catch a breath of latest air. It was an horrible feeling. I felt as if I was suffocating and couldn’t open up that sac fast adequate.
In spite of everything it was certainly not a simple job as I couldn’t uncover the draw string, I couldn’t get it to fly open fast adequate and couldn’t decide how I needed to sleep.
Do I suck it up and go away my face uncovered or return into my nylon coffin.
I felt so considerably higher throughout the morning after I instructed Dave my feelings and he replied that he felt the equivalent means.
For in all probability probably the most half, we had been every pretty warmth for the night.
Crucial mistake that we made was to miss our down booties on the ship.
We had bought some great North Face down booties in Nepal and so they’d have been glorious to take care of our tootsies warmth for the night.
Alas, our toes froze and I beat myself up all night determining that I could have had a toasty sleep from head to toe had I not forgotten these booties.
It was 5:10 am sharp when Solan, Karin and Miko yelled our morning rise up title. “There are beautiful points to see within the current day everyone! Time to stand up!” “We go away in 20 minutes”
I didn’t waste any time as I wanted to pee and I packed up my sleeping once more in report time to be on that first zodiac to reach the ship.
Luckily, as others awoke groggy from their slumbers, Dave and I unexpectedly packed up. Apparently he wanted to hit the lavatory too.
And in 20 minutes flat, we had been on the zodiac and once more on ship in time for breakfast.
Are we glad that we camped on Antarctica?
In spite of everything we’re. It’s the ultimate phrase Antarctica experience and an excellent story to tell for the rest of our lives.
We survived a night on the continent and it gave us a method of what the early explorers wanted to endure to pave one of the best ways for expeditions like ours.
I can’t take into consideration the hardships that they confronted and the sturdy will it took to survive these conditions day in day journey with out within the current day’s trendy experience.
As for tenting on the continent of Antarctica
It is a fast and methodical experience.
You land on shore at 8:30 pm and take about an hour to rearrange the camp.
You chat and mingle collectively together with your fellow campers after which after grabbing photos and flicks and taking throughout the view, it is straight to mattress.
The temperature drops shortly and in addition you want to be in your sacs sooner than the chilliness items in.
After a confused night of sleeping, you are once more on board the ship sooner than the experience even has a chance to sink in.
You are exhausted and when requested by everyone on the ship the way in which it was your reply is “It was undoubtedly an journey!”
Your not pretty optimistic how you are feeling and like the whole thing in Antarctica, it isn’t until you get residence and digest what you actually did that you just perceive, wow!
I merely did one factor that just a few of us on this world do and I am so glad that I signed as a lot as be actually one among 31 of us to sleep on the continent with Quark Expeditions.
Attempt Quark Expeditions for planning your private Antarctic Expedition.
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