This was a basecamp trip rather than a hut trip. Everyone brought their own sleeping tents, sleeping bags, and personal eating utensils. Common camp facilities for cooking, eating, socializing, etc will be provided.

The camp was basic but comfortable, well supplied, and left a minimal impact.

Common Facilities

The heart of the camp was a five man US Army arctic tent, with a yukon stove designed to work with it. In terms of functionality the tent held up admirably and despite heavy rain one night and smaller amounts of snowfall throughout the week there were no leaks. There were no ice problems even with the transitions from rain to snow. There were no frost problems. And despite cooking and drying things there was never a condensation problem.

We ended up with four people for reasons evident in the trip report, and two of us spent much of our time in the main tent. The two others spent most of their time in their personal tent. Most people would consider there to be a reasonable amount of space for four people plus the yukon heating stove and a propane 2-burner cooking stove. We had some gear stored along the edges as well. A couple people felt the space was inadequate, and an ideal camp size would probably be 7 people with two of these tents - one dedicated to cooking and drying and one available for lounging. Based on my own past experience over 8-9 trips and the far greater experiences of Alpine Helicopter flying people to various destinations this would be reasonable load as long as individual baggage was kept to a reasonable size. Unfortunately this group of six managed to overflow the Bell 212 with only one tent so it would not have been possible to take an additional group tent.

The Yukon stove is not designed for cooking, although it was useful for keeping things warm and melting/boiling water. It can burn wood or liquid fuel, but while we had the apparatus for burning liquid fuels we did not have the correct tank for them. The stove worked well enough with wood once we became accustomed to it. It is capable of heating the tent quite well, especially if there is some cooking at the same time, a lantern, multiple people, or some combination. It burns through wood quickly so we constantly stockpiled smaller dead branches for the periods when we used it.

For cooking there was a two-burner propane stove and a collection of large sized pots and pans, etc. For lighting we had a propane lantern. We had a solar shower, which doesn't require sun if it is filled with water warmed on one of the stoves. However, nobody attempted to set anything up with it. Some kind of improvised floor (with branches or something) would be necessary to avoid cold feet from standing in the snow.

Waste was managed as responsibly as possible and flown out. We managed human waste by using a white utility bucket for a toilet. (A seat happens to fit the top of these buckets nicely.) We can punched a few small holes in the bottom for liquid drainage, and when we flew out we snapped the lid on and took it with us in the ski basket of the helicopter.

Communication

I took 2 ICOM hand-held vhf radios. There were at least four high-capacity rechargeable batteries for them. However, there is very little that can be reached from the area. We had the Alpine Helicopter frequency programmed in but there are no repeaters for it, it is a line-of-sight frequency primarily for when the helicopter is coming or going. The Battle Abbey hut has this programmed but does not monitor it or use any frequency of their own. (They have satellite phone and internet service!) The only other frequency possibly useful is the Bobby Burns heli-ski operation and that is uncertain. (It also requires an access tone, which I do not have at this time.)

One person had a couple family-band radios and we used those a few times for a person or pair to check in at specified times.

Repair and First Aid

All trips, hut and basecamp, have always had these. They do not replace personal first-aid kits or repair parts specific to personal gear. The same repair, first aid, and rescue items have gone on every trip - winter and summer, huts and camps, and with group sizes from 3 to 20.

The repair kit includes items for larger repairs that can be made in camp. It includes things like wire, screws, epoxy, waxing equipment, skin glue, etc. Each person is expected to carry only minimalist items to ensure they can implement some temporary repair allowing a return to camp, and if they feel they may need binding-specific items (i.e. cables, heel or toe pieces, etc) they need to bring some along.

The first-aid kit is similar - it has items useful in camp but if anything happens in the field you need to get to camp to use it. Or have somebody retrieve it. It has always included a variety of over-the-counter medications for almost any common or likely ailment. These were all replaced prior to this trip to ensure that nothing was past its expiration date. It also has bandaging and splinting items beyond what most people carry in their pack. Hopefully we'll never need any more than this! (So far we had a twisted knee in winter at Great Cairn that recovered with a rest day or two, and an ankle injury at Fairy Meadows which ended the persons skiing but could be managed comfortably at the hut. Nothing more serious, knock on wood!)

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