Exercise Wapoose Lake

Exercise Wapoose Lake

Members of the Hudson's Hope patrol recently completed a winter recce exercise to Wapoose Lake, located north of Hudson's Hope.
Now, in the eyes of a Newfie lad like myself Wapoose Lake barely ranks as a pond, but there it is on the map and during our November meeting somebody suggested it might be a good destination for a Winter Ex. The date was chosen because there was to be a full moon that weekend. Considering the long ours of darkness the idea of moonlight on a snowy landscape was appealing.

Under a lead grey sky with light snow falling we set out. It was decided that one Ranger would recce ahead on snowmobile to determined the most appropriate route and beat the trail. The rest of us would make use of cross country skies to get to our destination. While we were all fairly comfortable on skies the addition of heavy backpacks and deep snow with no set track was a fairly novel experience but that's all part of the Exercise's purpose.

The entire route was just over 8.5 KM. With about 2 Km remaining the sled's progress was stymied. If we were to reach our objective the skiers would have to break their own trail. This was no easy task as the snow was very light and sugary. Each Ranger spent 10 minutes in the lead before stepping aside to allow the next in line to set track. This was physically challenging as it involved pushing you way through snow that came 16 to 18 inches up your leg. This was if you were able to follow the moose tracks which were left behind by some merciful ungulate days earlier. If you left those tracks you sank a good two feet into the lovely white stuff. You saw very little of your skies and after a while lifting ones poles high enough to clear the snow was felt by your shoulders and arms. This leg of the route took us 90 minutes to cover under 2 km. The sight of Wapoose Lake was welcome indeed.

Having reached our destination we set about following the standard camp routine of shelter, fire then food. Each Ranger set about constructing a shelter of spruce boughs and snow to keep them comfy that night. While we all settled on the same basic structure it varied with the user. Those whose bodies aren't as flexible as we would like opted for higher if not as cozy, while others, chose comfy but a little more challenging to enter.

After an invigorating day of skiing and shelter building we were all ready to hit the hay or snow early. Personally my goal was to get through the night without having to answer nature's call until I was good and ready the next morning. You can say all you want about remaining hydrated but if there's a chance of me having to crawl out into a snowbank in my skivies in the middle of the night I'm saving my hydrating for morning.

After a pleasant nights sleep cuddled up to our boot liners to prevent them from freezing, we all filled our bodies with warm fluids and vittles. Breaking camp was easier and returning on tracks set the day before and frozen firm enough to take our weight was very pleasant. The same tortuous portion of our route which took 90 minutes on the inbound trip took but 35 minutes on our return trip. The fact that the sun was shining made the day even more pleasant.

In the end the Ex was a success in that we gained good knowledge of winter routes in an area of which we had little previous knowledge. We improved our ability to use another method of winter travel. More experience was gained in the construction of winter survival shelters and finally we all enjoyed doing all this as Rangers and friends.

Exercise Snow Cave

January 2008 saw Rangers from Hudson's Hope Patrol head off to a local lake to conduct a winter exercise. The objectives of this exercies included familiarization of local terrain, gain knowledge of transportation issues as they pertain to winter travel over unplowed logging roads and off road access trails, the use of 10 man arctic tents in winter, constructing snow shelters and living of the land by obtaining sustenance through fishing and trapping of small animals.

The day of our departure dawned warm and sunny with a southwest wind bringing temperatures of -5 degrees celcius. Perfect for a snowmobile ride of approxiamately 25Km. Arriving at a site selected during a previous recce we quickly cleared the site and set up the tent. While this was happening the wind shifted around from the north bringing with it the snow and colder temps we had been expecting.

After a warm lunch around a nice fire we gathered in the snow with our backs to the wind and learned the finer points of constructing a quinze. Anyone who started to feel cold merely had to crawl inside and do a stint at excavating the snow from inside the developing shelter. You were soon warm from the exertion inside that closed space.

Once the shelter was complete, we revisited the fire to warm ourselves a little while being treated to some knowledgable advice on ice-fishing. Our education complete(?) we moved onto the ice to face the 30Km wind and -15C temp. (You figure the windchill) Just for the sake of curiosity, and something to do, some rangers got to experience the difference between drilling a hole through 45cm of ice with an auger and cutting it with an axe. You don't appreciate what you have until you have to do without it. The fishing wasn't great but a nice 3 pound rainbow did surrender to the RCMP officer who had come along. No cuffs were necessary as the fishy character experienced flash freezing and ceased all struggle. The Stiff was last seen being carted by the law for further interrogation.

There is a fine line between ice-fishing and simply staring at a dark hole in the ice looking like an idiot.
Thinking we may be getting close to crossing that line and not able to see it in the sometimes near white-out conditions, we retired once again to the fire and for a demonstration on trapping small mammals such as squirrels and rabbits. This was followed by a rabbit skinning demo performed on a snowshoe hare caught earlier and brought along.

It being close to 1700 hours and getting dark, it was decided more logs were needed on the fire and some water boiled up for supper and hot coffee. With the wind and snow still coming from the North and the mercury falling to -20C. we settled in for some BSing around the fire and talk of how cold it might get. Some even suggested we might want to have some heat in the tent. It is a bad thing when the person responsible for making that decision knows he has a real warm sleeping bag and thinks everyone else has the same. I apologize for not recognizing their discomfort but I swear for people who didn't sleep much for being cold they sure did snore.

Next morning saw the thermometer reading -30C and everyone with nice rosy cheeks. After breakfast, activities centred around breaking camp and getting the sleds running. Seemed fitting the the only sled that didn't want to start was the newest and most powerful. Pulling the plugs and pouring gas into the cylinder quickly convinced it to join the rest. Just a quick note here. If you have a mustache and it has accumulated a layer of ice, don't cover it with a scarf and ride a snowmobile at -30C. Should you do this, use caution when removing said scarf. It may have attached itself.

Our trip out was not as comfortable as the trip in as we had to ride directly into the wind. We were forced to stop every couple of kilometres to check each other for signs of frostbite of which we all shared just a little. In the end it was quite a learning process for those of us who had not spent much time outside in that type of weather before and for myself I learned that as a leader I must be more aware of the comfort of my patrol as they may not always show how uncomfortable they are. As a patrol we must all take responsibility for our well being by being honest with ourselves and the rest of the patrol with how we are feeling and knowing our limits.