tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post4700525084339651733..comments2023-05-04T09:56:08.282-05:00Comments on CW Outdoor Ed: Wintercamps 2013Mr.Brouwerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14851803029313082389noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-88256590430877119192014-04-12T14:21:47.059-05:002014-04-12T14:21:47.059-05:00Winter camp Reflection
This was my first time in ...Winter camp Reflection<br /><br />This was my first time in a quinzy, and despite the numerous rooky mistakes my group and I made, I enjoyed the experience enough to want to go again. <br /><br />Just to name a few of our errors, Jacob did not bring enough layers and was cold for most of the night, Martin’s knuckles kept freezing up due to his thin gloves, we made the air hole too high up on the quinsy which became a chimney for the warm air to escape through, and I kept my sweater a two shirts on overnight which made me sweat, then get really cold. Besides all this, we were very prepared food wise, and we also got our fire going quite fast. We brought so much food that we ended up sharing it with the girls next door who didn’t bring any. We also made a wooden frame above the fire to put our gloves and hats on to warm them up. <br /><br />Next year, I will make sure to listen to Mr.Brouwer and fully undress down to just my boxers and maybe a t-shirt to prevent my body from sweating in the middle of the night. I’ve learned that sweating is one of the worst enemies you have to face in the cold. If you sweat your body gets wet and you quickly start to lose a substantial amount of heat even if you have many warm layers on. This is why it is important to wear multiple thin layers when going into the cold instead of wearing a couple thick ones. <br /><br />Overall, I think our next winter camp experience will be even better as we learn from our mistakes from the last one. <br /><br />March 9th, 2014 <br />Arpad Piheshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798818433736831417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-69287618404984787352014-04-08T11:02:38.672-05:002014-04-08T11:02:38.672-05:00Winter camp Reflection
3 things I did better tha...Winter camp Reflection <br />3 things I did better than last year<br />1. Built a better cold sink. <br />2. Built a better platform.<br />3. Didn’t forget to plug up the entrance.<br /><br />2 things I would improve<br />1. Bring 2 sleeping bags instead of just thinking a -40 will be enough because my dad later told me that it might have some holes in it.<br />2. Bring candles because the quinzhee would not warm up with only my body heat being the only source.<br /><br />5 recommendations<br />1. Don’t go solo unless you have top notch equipment. <br />2. Make sure you make a really good cold sink.<br />3. When you’re digging out the quinzhee do regular checks for light by having someone cover the hole.<br />4. Dig out blocks of snow instead of just loose snow much easier to get the snow out.<br />5. make sure you have a flat platform even a slight angle may cause you to slip off your mat and have a wet sleeping bag by morning.<br /><br />Quinzhee analysis<br />Vision: Have the platform way higher then the cold sink for 1 person it wasn’t exactly how I envisioned it but I was pleased with the outcome.<br /><br />Experience: It was very hard to stay warm since I could not heat up the quinzhee with my body heat alone. <br /><br />Improvements: We could have made the quinzhee a bit smaller since it was a little spacious for 1 person.<br /><br />Next time: Definitely bring an external heat source if I’m going solo again and double check all equipment for damages to it.<br />Zack Wyonchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11366770385862285369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-16093953334272531282014-04-08T11:02:17.848-05:002014-04-08T11:02:17.848-05:00Winter camp Reflection
3 things I did better tha...Winter camp Reflection <br />3 things I did better than last year<br />1. Built a better cold sink. <br />2. Built a better platform.<br />3. Didn’t forget to plug up the entrance.<br /><br />2 things I would improve<br />1. Bring 2 sleeping bags instead of just thinking a -40 will be enough because my dad later told me that it might have some holes in it.<br />2. Bring candles because the quinzhee would not warm up with only my body heat being the only source.<br /><br />5 recommendations<br />1. Don’t go solo unless you have top notch equipment. <br />2. Make sure you make a really good cold sink.<br />3. When you’re digging out the quinzhee do regular checks for light by having someone cover the hole.<br />4. Dig out blocks of snow instead of just loose snow much easier to get the snow out.<br />5. make sure you have a flat platform even a slight angle may cause you to slip off your mat and have a wet sleeping bag by morning.<br /><br />Quinzhee analysis<br />Vision: Have the platform way higher then the cold sink for 1 person it wasn’t exactly how I envisioned it but I was pleased with the outcome.<br /><br />Experience: It was very hard to stay warm since I could not heat up the quinzhee with my body heat alone. <br /><br />Improvements: We could have made the quinzhee a bit smaller since it was a little spacious for 1 person.<br /><br />Next time: Definitely bring an external heat source if I’m going solo again and double check all equipment for damages to it.<br />Zack Wyonchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11366770385862285369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-60302056536072372052014-03-16T23:13:49.476-05:002014-03-16T23:13:49.476-05:00For my first time sleeping in a quinzhee, it was a...For my first time sleeping in a quinzhee, it was actually quite enjoyable.<br /><br />Our group consisted of 5 people (Me, Derek, Arpad, Brennan and Martin.) Our quinzhee took a lot longer to build with less people, but it fit 3 of us well.<br /><br />In the future (next year), I will bring a good pot and pan to cook my food over, as the one we got didn't have a handle. I will also remember to make a bigger air vent, because when we woke up, our throats were very dry. Finally, I will bring better boots/waterproof, because my boots became very wet and froze during the night. <br /><br />Overall, it was a great camp, and with the things I can improve on, I hope to have a better one next year!Jakob Woodshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00643859209563209995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-4950922776974977952014-01-27T17:37:32.260-05:002014-01-27T17:37:32.260-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-32776883382674979562014-01-27T17:37:14.863-05:002014-01-27T17:37:14.863-05:00Winter Camp Reflection
This year, my group had ou...Winter Camp Reflection<br /><br />This year, my group had our miscalculations and mistakes from our first winter camp in our minds as we built. I enjoyed winter camp last year, but there were many things that I had wished to change.<br /><br />Firstly, my quinzhee last year so big that we were able to fit almost 20 students in it sitting down. We did not think about how the size of the quinzhee would affect us and we were all very cold during the night. This year, we decided to build a smaller quinzhee. Our quinzhee was pretty small inside, but all 4 of us fit well and we stayed fairly warm that way.<br /><br />Secondly, last year we did not build a cold sink and a platform in our quinzhee, and we did not have any bags to block the opening. As a result we had a strong winter’s breeze coming into our quinzhee and I was barely able to sleep. This year, we had a longer, uphill tunnel and we had mats and bags to block the entrance. Since we built it this way, we stayed a lot warmer and we enjoyed our night a lot more.<br /><br />Even though we stayed warm during the night, we encountered issues the day before. While we were digging out the quinzhee, a hole was accidentally made on top of the quinzhee. At first we were ensure if we would be able to safely fix the hole and be able to spend the night, but luckily we had an idea. First of all, we covered the hole with lots of sticks and branches that we found in the forest. Next we covered the stick with a tarp and then covered the tarp with a lot of snow. The hole was completely covered and we could go to bed not worrying about it caving in on us.<br /><br />After the quinzhee was complete, we were able to enjoy our night. We ate butter chicken that we prepared ahead of time that just had to be heated, with rice that we cooked. The meal was delicious and was a lot more filling than the hot dogs that we had last year. We spent the remainder of the evening around the camp fire, in other people’s quinzhee and even playing in the snow.<br /><br />All in all, we had a fun and relaxing night that I really enjoyed and I can definitely say that this year’s winter camp was a lot better than last year’s. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-36025994225078204602014-01-27T17:35:46.119-05:002014-01-27T17:35:46.119-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-78646215341019924002014-01-23T23:27:52.619-05:002014-01-23T23:27:52.619-05:00WINTER CAMPING REFLECTION
When i first search...<br /> WINTER CAMPING REFLECTION<br /><br /> When i first searched up in the internet about the quinzee that we were supposed to sleep in. I got scared. Just having the thought that it might fall on me, made me freeze. What i was about to build with my friend was something I've never done before, and this was my first time making a snow shelter.<br /><br /> My first concern about this big project was the time that we had to finish it. Because it was something new to me, i did not have any idea of how long the process of making one would take. The good thing is that we had fresh snow on the first day and we were very excited to start. First thing we did was to find a good spot to start packing the snow. We began by outlining and stepping on the area that we would pack the snow. Then began throwing snow with force so that it freezes over night. The first three days we were not doing that well because we would keep finding shovel marks of people taking our snow. Me and my partner were getting frustrated and did not think that we would be able to finish it. But we had to go on and not give up. So the fourth day we decided to go hard-core, and picked up the big shovel that carried double the amount of snow then the other ones. Me and Tarek din't even stop to take a brake, we were very serious about getting the project done. The snow mountain had to be taller then as by 30cm. The 30cm would be the thickness of the quinzees wall after we would dig inside it. Overall i had a great time packing the snow, despite the difficulties we had with snow taken off our shelter, and couldn't wait to sleep inside it.<br /><br /> After letting the snow sit and freeze for a day, we were ready for digging. I have to admit, taking out the snow was my favourite part in making the quinzee. But during the digging i was thinking in my head "now it's going to collapse, now it's going to collapse." I don't know why but i had that feeling in the back of my head. Something that i found challenging to make, was the plat-form . Digging out the shelter took less time then what i was expecting, and it turned out to be very strong.<br /><br /> Now onto the food part. I kind of failed it because i had two cheese pies before i fell to sleep and again i did not cook anything, i guess I'm not into cooking a lot. I like ready homemade food, from my moms hands. The night was nice and warm, compared with the first one. I was able to see the stars in the dark sky, being able to see the stars clearly was something was something that i could only do in my cottage in Greece. I tried looking for the big dipper and small dipper, that's something my dad has taught me from his sailing experience. NIght fell and it was time to go to sleep. Me and Tarek were tired and we wanted to wake up early the next morning cause we had a lot of stuff to pack up.<br /><br /> The next morning we were like zombies, people would get out of there quinzees dragging their shoes and cloths inside the school. Me and Tarek got inside the school as fast as possible because it was chilly outside. That might of been the first time that i wanted to get inside the school. One group was telling as how there shelter collapsed on them. According to Mr. Brouwer they are the first ever group to get crashed by their own quinzee.<br /><br /> This experience was great and i will remember it for my whole life. From this project i learned to not give up on something that you really want to accomplish, and to keep trying no matter what the difficulties are. As a matter of fact i liked the quinzee experience so much, that i made my own one in my back yard.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03684068653501523133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-68201542489958770332014-01-22T23:04:19.048-05:002014-01-22T23:04:19.048-05:00Hearing from people about their past experiences w...Hearing from people about their past experiences with Wintercamping, I was a little skeptical on whether or not it would be an enjoyable experience. Because sleeping in a pile of snow doesn't exactly seem warm and cozy to someone who has never slept outside during the winter time. Though, I can now say that my experience with the quinzhee was much more enjoyable than it was thought out to be!<br /><br />Building was definitely a energy-draining experience. We started out pretty slow, but when another group of students in our class decided to change their sleeping arrangements, they decided they would help us out by building ours with us. Having an extra 5 people to help out sure sped up the process and allowed us to finish in time for our winter camp night. In our quinzhee, we had 4 girls including myself. Seeing as how it was our first time in a quinzhee, we weren't too sure on how to judge the size of the quinzhee overall. Thankfully we are all friends so it wasn't too awkward sleeping in a confined space. We found it a little small but the size thankfully didn't ruin how we slept, because my sleep was terrific! However, the benefits of the size was definitely how well it trapped heat. While spending time around the fire, we left little candles in our quinzhee walls to pre-heat it before we went to sleep. That definitely worked out in our favour in terms of warmth and light! Once the candles burnt out, we used a flashlight for light as we squished in and talked for a while before actually sleeping. <br /><br />We had a look around everyones quinzhee's and fires before settling down at the fire with Mr.Brouwer and the returning ODE students. It was fun to talk as a group and create our own...interesting stories. Once it came time to pack it in for the night, our group was quick to grab all our stuff and organize our sleeping bags. Thankfully, we left our sleeping bags/mats inside until it came time for bed. Otherwise, we would be crawling into wet and cold sleeping bags and would have spent our time warming up. So waiting until the last minute to set up inside our quinzhee was definitely a good idea. Waking up, however, was a little rough. After having a surprisingly enjoyable sleep, getting up and out into the cold wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. Once we had all decided to get up, we collected our sleeping stuff and brought it inside. We changed and got ready and then returned outside. Clean-up was quick and easy and didn't take us much time to pack up and collapse our quinzhee even though it was a little sad to see it go after all our hard work.<br /><br />The downfall of our experience was for sure menu planning. Not being completely aware of the dinner rules, we thought an easy meal would be Subway which turned out that it was required to have a fire-cooked meal. The next morning, we weren't too sure about breakfast either so we ended up being a little hungry as we didn't have breakfast planned. Next time, we will be sure to plan our meals correctly and to follow the rules and requirements! <br /><br />Overall, wintercamp was an amazing experience! I would definitely do it again, especially knowing what to do now, from personal experience. Now that we all know the pros and cons, and where we had our strengths and weaknesses, I'm sure we would have an even better time if we were to do it again! Having never done it before , it was a great first run. So next time someone asks me to sleep in the snow in the middle on a Canadian winter, I won't be so quick to judge. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08619633919994789969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-51009211236241117272014-01-22T23:03:30.998-05:002014-01-22T23:03:30.998-05:00Hearing from people about their past experiences w...Hearing from people about their past experiences with Wintercamping, I was a little skeptical on whether or not it would be an enjoyable experience. Because sleeping in a pile of snow doesn't exactly seem warm and cozy to someone who has never slept outside during the winter time. Though, I can now say that my experience with the quinzhee was much more enjoyable than it was thought out to be!<br /><br />Building was definitely a energy-draining experience. We started out pretty slow, but when another group of students in our class decided to change their sleeping arrangements, they decided they would help us out by building ours with us. Having an extra 5 people to help out sure sped up the process and allowed us to finish in time for our winter camp night. In our quinzhee, we had 4 girls including myself. Seeing as how it was our first time in a quinzhee, we weren't too sure on how to judge the size of the quinzhee overall. Thankfully we are all friends so it wasn't too awkward sleeping in a confined space. We found it a little small but the size thankfully didn't ruin how we slept, because my sleep was terrific! However, the benefits of the size was definitely how well it trapped heat. While spending time around the fire, we left little candles in our quinzhee walls to pre-heat it before we went to sleep. That definitely worked out in our favour in terms of warmth and light! Once the candles burnt out, we used a flashlight for light as we squished in and talked for a while before actually sleeping. <br /><br />We had a look around everyones quinzhee's and fires before settling down at the fire with Mr.Brouwer and the returning ODE students. It was fun to talk as a group and create our own...interesting stories. Once it came time to pack it in for the night, our group was quick to grab all our stuff and organize our sleeping bags. Thankfully, we left our sleeping bags/mats inside until it came time for bed. Otherwise, we would be crawling into wet and cold sleeping bags and would have spent our time warming up. So waiting until the last minute to set up inside our quinzhee was definitely a good idea. Waking up, however, was a little rough. After having a surprisingly enjoyable sleep, getting up and out into the cold wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. Once we had all decided to get up, we collected our sleeping stuff and brought it inside. We changed and got ready and then returned outside. Clean-up was quick and easy and didn't take us much time to pack up and collapse our quinzhee even though it was a little sad to see it go after all our hard work.<br /><br />The downfall of our experience was for sure menu planning. Not being completely aware of the dinner rules, we thought an easy meal would be Subway which turned out that it was required to have a fire-cooked meal. The next morning, we weren't too sure about breakfast either so we ended up being a little hungry as we didn't have breakfast planned. Next time, we will be sure to plan our meals correctly and to follow the rules and requirements! <br /><br />Overall, wintercamp was an amazing experience! I would definitely do it again, especially knowing what to do now, from personal experience. Now that we all know the pros and cons, and where we had our strengths and weaknesses, I'm sure we would have an even better time if we were to do it again! Having never done it before , it was a great first run. So next time someone asks me to sleep in the snow in the middle on a Canadian winter, I won't be so quick to judge. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08619633919994789969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-17096192324928798292014-01-22T19:44:19.207-05:002014-01-22T19:44:19.207-05:00Wintercamp Reflection
This was my second year of...Wintercamp Reflection<br /><br /><br />This was my second year of wintercamping, and with this year I have only learned to love the process of quinzhee building and sleeping. <br /><br /><br /> Building the quinzhee has always been a positive experience for myself. I have a found a way to love the cold air and repetitive arm strength necessary to stack up a big pile of snow. I always find the bond between group members starting the second you get a little clump together as your base. From this point on, it is a long test of team building exercises. The challenges I find hardest to overcome include making sure the base is symmetrical (not too steep or shallow to the top), and finding snow to add to the pile. My favorite part of building the quinzhee is digging it out. It is a slow and difficult process, which begins really satisfying as you become able to move more and more parts of the body. Although there may only be one person digging the snow out, the other members must still be working to transport the snow out from the quinzhee and back onto the exterior layer. It’s the teamwork requirement I love being a part of. <br /><br />As the quinzhee is built and the bell at 3:15 rings, it slowly becomes one big challenge to stay warm and dry. By bringing extra mits, socks, and changing clothing after suppertime, I succeeded at this challenge. This was something I learned from experience, after not bringing enough clothes to change into the previous year. Another crucial thing I learned was to not go cheap on the sleeping bag. Last year, I brought a 10$ sleeping bag from Canadian tire and I froze all night long despite my best efforts. This year, I purchased a real lined sleeping bag from MEC, and it kept me dry and warm all night long. As for the activities throughout the night, I huddled around a couple groups’ fires, and ended up heading into the quinzhee relatively early. After exchanging stories and laughs, bedtime this year was quite early; another veteran move knowing there was still a full day of school ahead. My least favorite part of the experience is the waking up and cleaning up. The second I woke up in the morning, all I wanted to do was have a shower and eat something. The only issue was there were a lot of groups, including my own, that had cleaning up to do. Picking up tarps, food wrappers, gloves, hats, socks, you name it! Wintercamp paraphernalia was all over the field. Finally when all was clean (including myself), I felt energized and ready for school. This year’s wintercamp had me feeling like a veteran, because I felt like I contributed well for in the success of the groups, I felt organized, and fought well against mother nature. Wintercamp 2013-2014 was a success. <br />John Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13555325797208758871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-50843572252651850932014-01-22T16:25:47.791-05:002014-01-22T16:25:47.791-05:00Well I can safely say that my first ever winter ca...Well I can safely say that my first ever winter camping experience was an eventful one, and is something that won’t be able to forget.<br /><br />The process of building our quinzhee was much quicker than my group of four originally expected it to be. The reason behind this was thanks to the fact that we were sharing our quinzhee with another group that was going to stay for camp the night before us (a fact that we would later come to regret). Even so, while it took less time than we anticipated, it still took a good four or five days of work until the quinzhee was finally completed. Our quinzhee itself was rather large on the inside, however it’s cold sink was little more than a slope. <br />The next thing worth discussing was the food my group had decided to bring on the trip. Our meal consisted of hot dogs, chicken shish kabobs, these really crazy potatoes that are comparable to cheese filled potato skins, a nice cup of gingerbread hot chocolate courtesy of my mother, and finally some granola bars for a short but sweet dessert. <br />The majority of the night itself was spent around the campfire talking with friends. We had collected enough firewood to last us the night, and were readily prepared. <br /><br />It would have ended there, as my group soon went to bed and was ready to sleep in the quinzhee we had spent days making. You can probably guess that it didn’t end there. Oh no, instead my group was struck with a tragedy that had never occurred before in the history of Mr. Brouwer’s wintercamp. <br /> <br />It happened at around 4 a.m., where the majority of the class finally decided to go to sleep. Our group had decided likewise, and three of us went inside our shelter, the fourth member deciding to stay outside by the fire. No more than two minutes after that decision, our quinzhee gave up on us and collapsed. Yes, you heard right, the quinzhee collapsed, covering the three of us who were sleeping inside with snow. Burrowing our way out, we stared at the sky in disbelief at the wreckage of our former shelter. Our main priority after that was to get warmed up, since three of us were shivering violently. <br /><br />The rest of the night was spent huddled around the fire as we lamented over our situation, often times leaving to collect more firewood, as our main supply had finally depleted. Eventually, at around 5 a.m., my other group members decided to call it quits and go to sleep, leaving me to tend to the fire for the rest of the night. It was then that my dad suddenly pulled in behind the school, before walking down to our campfire, hot chocolate in one hand and a bag of firewood slung under the other. In no time at all, he handed me and another one of my group members – who had just woken up – a cup of hot chocolate and the bag of firewood, before taking my supplies and leaving. <br />By then, the school was finally open, and after giving the rest of my group their cups of hot chocolate we ran inside, never so happy to be at school in our lives. <br /><br />In the end, despite all that had happened, I can safely say that I enjoyed myself, and have learned a great deal from my experience that night. We also became the first group in the history of wintercamp to have their quinzhee collapse on us, and (for the sake of all future wintercampers) hopefully the last!<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06879406863836550240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-84239958679720296382014-01-21T20:27:01.176-05:002014-01-21T20:27:01.176-05:00Winter camp
This was my second winter camp and I w...Winter camp<br />This was my second winter camp and I would say that this one was much better than my first year by far. <br /><br />I had another big group of people for my quinzee, eight people in total. When we built our quinzee it had a dividing wall to give it strength and it was like having 2 different quinzees. It took us a lot less time to make and dig out because everyone knew what to do. When it came to the build, the only thing we were missing was a good cold sink but since it wasn’t a cold night it didn't have a huge effect, but it could have. For food, my group was well prepared. We had a meal that included the four food groups, but also some more sugary food to help with energy. My sleep over night was god, but i was a bit unnerved by how much the ceiling dropped during the night. I went from being able to sit up straight to not being able to sit up at all.<br /><br />Overall I had a great camp, and I am looking forward to next years. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14852468271012594805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-46362072393801023432014-01-21T11:28:54.124-05:002014-01-21T11:28:54.124-05:00This was my second time sleeping in a quinzhee and...This was my second time sleeping in a quinzhee and this time was a much better experience than the first. My group started our quinzhee and we had a slow start but eventually it got to the appropriate size we needed for the four people who were sleeping over. The year before only three of us were staying in the quinzhee and one of the people sharing our quinzhee did not end up sleeping over which made our quinzhee too spacious and therefore too cold. However this year our quinzhee was small but fit all four of in well which kept in the body heat.<br /><br />On the last day of building we spent our lunch and last two periods building our quinzhee but we dug too far upward and made a hole in the top. We had to place sticks and a tarp over the hole then cover it with snow to create the same insulation. We also made a big wall outside our quinzhee as a wind breaker which made a big difference during the night.<br /><br />On the night of the winter camp we planned our meal and prepared ahead of time so it went smoothly. We brought sleeping mats, two sleeping bags for additional warmth. We also brought extra clothes to change into for different parts of the night.<br /><br />We slept well that night as we had a platform and covered the entrance with a mat. However, if I were to change anything about our about our winter experience. I would bring candles to heat up our quinzhee and provide light as it was cold at first.<br /><br />In the morning when we woke up lots of my things I had brought had fallen down the tunnel and was wet and frozen. However this made us get up easier and pack up. Also, our ceiling had come down a little compared to the night before, this may be due to the hole in the top that we covered with a tarp and snow.<br /><br />The winter camp was a good experience due to our group being mostly prepared and we had good company.Ellenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10223133298989612528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-7860507677859896402014-01-20T18:58:59.890-05:002014-01-20T18:58:59.890-05:00When I first heard about the winter amp, I instant...When I first heard about the winter amp, I instantly knew it was going to be amazing, and a night worth remembering!<br /><br />The night started off very fun, and we had an amazing dinner backed up by a great fire pit. For dinner, Alex brought hot dogs, I brought some chicken skewers, and Tom brought these delicious potatoes stuffed with cheese that we cooked on the fire. And most importantly, Daniel’s parents delivered hot chocolate...twice! We did not require any water for cooking so we didn't have to go get it from inside. Afterwards, we played a game where we put a water bottle on the ground and we were hitting it with a stick in the form of a gold club. We were all prepared and aspired to have a great night, and we had reached our expectations...so far.<br /><br />There were 2 main fire pits that people joined around, and one of them was ours. We had maybe 3 or 4 groups using our fire after dinner, which helped kill time until the morning. We went to bed at around 11 but Tom and I ended up waking up again at around midnight. We found a few people still at the fire and some collecting firewood.<br /><br />So here's where the story goes bad...After i warmed up at the fire again I was ready to go to back to bed, which was around 4 am. I got in and noticed that Daniel, another one of my group members, 's face was very close to the ceiling. He opened his eyes and had a very surprised reaction, it was pretty funny actually! So once I had gotten myself comfortable, I was talking to Daniel about how it would suck if the quinzhee fell on us, and we just laughed about it for a bit. After a couple of minutes, the talk had died and we decided to hit the sack. Little did we expect, but in a few moments the quinzhee collapsed on us!<br /><br />I was lying on my front, so I was fine. As for Daniel and Alex, the snow hit them face first so I instantly called out their names to make sure they were fine. They didn't respond but I was pretty confident they would be fine. I got up to find Daniel with a face full of snow and already out of the quinzhee ranting to Tom, and Alex was standing up in his sleeping bag. The funny thing was, Alex had no pants on...he had been naive enough to sleep in his boxers,and he obviously paid for it when he had to put pants full of snow back on. The night wasn't really that cold, but after we were filled with snow, they decided to build on the fire while I fetched all our things from inside the quinzhee.<br /><br />It was a very cold rest of the night for Daniel and I, because our sleeping bags were full of snow. Alex’s sleeping bag was fine, and Tom had a double sleeping bag, and he even managed to not be in the quinzhee at the time of collapse. Daniel and I waited out the whole night, and I had finally fell asleep about half an hour before the school opened again. By the time the school opened up, Daniel’s dad had brought us more hot chocolate, and a bundle of firewood to.<br /><br />We all went inside as soon as we could, and that was it for winter camp survival. We had all survived, but just barely. We went down as the first group in CW outdoor ed history to have their quinzhee collapse on them. Thanks again Mr. Brouwer!<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06039760582297782533noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-28884262954608948012014-01-20T13:28:24.189-05:002014-01-20T13:28:24.189-05:00Winter camp was an exiting experience, I was looki...<br />Winter camp was an exiting experience, I was looking forward to it a lot. Our group put in a lot of hard work to getting it done on time and I think the quinzhee turned out really good. We were the second group to sleep overnight in our shelter. <br /><br /><br />This trip was nearly perfected. We went collected a lot of firewood during the day, that would last us half the night until ruffly lasted until 1 o'clock in the morning. Surprisingly this labor was fun, we ran around made jokes, were loud, and entertained ourselves. During the hiking trip in Frontenac Park it was a chore and was stressful but now we were more efficient, we were trying to make it fun and I think that was a key part. We had our fire going quiet well and at points Mr. Brower told us to make it smaller as the flames were going pretty high but that was easy to solve. Furthermore, Mr. Brower stole some of our fire to start his own so technically we lit two fires. It gives more confidence, bragging right and more to laugh about. <br /><br /><br />Another thing that went well is the clothes and food. I had multiple layers which I rotated around depending on what I was doing, when sitting by the fire I had more layers as I was not moving but when I was collecting wood or when doing other work I removed some so I was able to easily adjust. All though I did have an issue with my gloves to the point were they froze and I could not wear them as they were hard as rock. Thankfully I had a second pair. Learning from the Hiking trip in October to be prepared for anything. Also, something that really hurt me were that my shoes were rock solid in the morning as well when I woke up so I had to run in socks to the fire as fast as possible. Moving on to the food we ate like kings. We had hot dogs, carrots, kebabs, Tom's world famous baked cheese potatoes and some snacks and it was all prepared beautifully over the fire. Though some of my hot dogs fell in and that was rather frustrating as I would have to start over again. It was more than a feast and we all had a joyful mood and we played a bit of music during dinner time as well to get turned up.<br /><br /><br />Lastly, was our interesting sleeping experience. We had a very roomy, quinzhee so we fit nice and comfortable along with all of our belongings all though here I noticed I could not kneel in the quinzhee like 2 days before, in fact I couldn't sit up straight. Though, I didn't pay much attention to it and proceeded to yelling and laughing more which followed to a beautiful warm sleep. Though in the middle of the night I was waken up by Mahmoud and Daniel talking, I was about to knock them out cold as I needed rest due to me having to get my operation that morning. I heard them complain about how low the ceiling was now and then all of a sudden I feel a hefty load of snow collapse and heard loud thumps. I thought it was the guys pissing me off by dumping a lot of snow on me and in fact it was the quinzhee caving in. I had no pants on and panicked and our teacher just ignored us, not realizing our situation but we had no problem adjusting. I ran to the fire to warm up as I could not wear my boots due to them being frozen solid and as a result couldn't help in the recovery of our stuff so as a result I rested on Tom's feet by the fire, though I just couldn't fall asleep still I tried, but remained restless. The quinzhee falling was only a minor inconvenience and we had no problem adjusting, it was actually fun having it fall on us. We made history.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03753888342916570052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-19110411287432297962014-01-20T13:05:30.554-05:002014-01-20T13:05:30.554-05:00Although this was not my first time winter camping...Although this was not my first time winter camping, I found that it was a great way to learn more while having a lot of fun.<br /><br />The group I was in worked very hard in the days leading up to and the day of the camp to ensure we had a stable and comfortable quinzee, this included using lunch hours and after school to work on it. Even though it wasn't massive we still could fit the two members inside the shelter which is all that we needed. Luckily we had no complications with the integrity of our shelter and it kept very warm with a candle burning through the night. The cold sink was very well made along with the platform being over half a foot high. All in all the shelter was very good.<br /><br />The weather was nice for the night, it was around -20*C which i found to be comfortable as I never over-heated or became too cold. it did snow starting at roughly 8PM and throughout the night, that did cause some trouble but not too much as we had trouble looking for things we had left.<br /><br />What I enjoyed the most of the most of the entire trip was having a fire with our neighbouring group. It was a great way to bond and meet new friends over conversation and dinner. What I enjoyed the least of the trip was the weird man with his dog, even though he was pretty entertaining it was then difficult to go to sleep since we made up stories about him and how he haunts people at night, obviously silly but for some reason it got me a bit scared for a while. (I got over it) other than that I would have liked more snacks rather than alot of main course food.<br /><br />Our menu was decent for the campout. We had spaghetti and meat sauce along with garlic bread for dinner, and bacon with hasbrowns for breakfast. for snacks we had beef jerky and chips. The food tasted great and was nice and hot, I do though wish we brought more snacks since we stayed up a bit late and got hungry again. But other than that the food was great.<br /><br />I Didn't expect the amount of sleep I got, I woke up only once that nice which was a pleasent surprise. I would say that has to do with the new fleece sleeping bag liner I bought from MEC the night before which brought my sleeping bag down to a -23*C bag. I stayed warm during the night and that is what made the night bearable. My clothing choice could have been better seeing as I wore cotton pyjamas under my snow pants while outside, I should have worn some sort of under armour spandex pants. Waking up in the morning was very easy I found, we were able to clean up and pack out in roughly 45 minutes compared to some groups taking over 1 and a half hours. <br /><br />In the end we had a great time with nice people and lots of laughter, we ate well, slept well, and were ready for the next day of school in the morning. I can't wait for next semester to do it again!<br /><br />-Cooper McKelvey<br />cooper the machine $$$https://www.blogger.com/profile/06904690241501764570noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-59066202689551601332014-01-19T19:37:29.319-05:002014-01-19T19:37:29.319-05:00I had heard a lot of really great things about the...I had heard a lot of really great things about the winter camping trip from students who had taken the course in the past, and they were right. It was a great experience. I was a little nervous at first, but the trip went really smoothly in the end.<br /> It took a lot of time and effort to actually build our quinzee, but it paid off when we had a nice, warm sleep. The structure of our quinzee was well made, but it wasn’t wide enough in respect to the number of girls we had sleeping in it. It was a bit of a tight squeeze when we tried to sleep so we had a bit of discomfort, but not enough to ruin our night. I plan on taking outdoor ed again next year so I’ll have the chance to correct the mistakes our group made the first time around. Next time I’ll make sure my group builds up our pile extra big so that when we dig it out there will still be a comfortable amount of space. My group brought all of the essential equipment for the night, but we did make a small mistake with our meal. We decided to take the easy way out and walk to subway for dinner instead of embracing the outdoors and making our meal on the camp fire. Lucky for us we still got to enjoy a fire side meal thanks to Mr. Brouwer kindly sharing some of the food made by his alumni students. <br /> In comparison to the first trip of the year, the hiking trip, I think the winter camping went much better. First of all, the cleanup was really quick and went smoothly. Everyone cleaned up after themselves and we weren’t waiting around for anyone this time. On the hiking trip we left a big mess at the campsite with all our garbage, but on this trip the garbage was minimal. On the first trip I learned that it is very important to help out others once you have finished the task at hand. Once our group had finished building our shelter we took to helping other groups put the finishing touches on theirs, ensuring that everyone was ready for the night. <br /> Overall I was happy with the way the trip went. I had already been planning on taking outdoor ed next year, but this trip made it even more appealing to try it all again next year. It was a really fun learning experience. <br /> <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00393146547025124114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-49829569947754046892014-01-19T17:03:49.784-05:002014-01-19T17:03:49.784-05:00This years wintercamp had its ups and downs but wa...This years wintercamp had its ups and downs but was an overall success and such a great experience compared to last year.<br /><br /> This year I was part of the biggest group consisting of 8 people. The planning and construction of our quinzee was the only thing that abled us to complete it on time for the night and sleep comfortably. With the 8 people we figured work would move much more quickly, and yes it did. Piling the snow was a breeze but with 2 entrances on our quinzee it was much slower digging out the giant pile. To my amaze it seemed that everyone was eager to work and we finished off with a beautiful quinzee and a very comfortable sleep. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to work with, without all the effort I think it would have been a cold sleep.<br /><br /> Even though it wasn’t the biggest or most well planned dinner I found it was much better than the traditional hot dogs over the fire. We had some tasty chicken fajitas so I don’t think anyone was hunger the rest of the night. We just hung out around the fire and had a fun time talking with everyone from other groups to see how their night was going.<br /><br /> It wasn’t really the weather I was hoping for. At the start of construction the weather was cold and windy which left the snow very light and fluffy which is next to impossible to pack down. But with the well constructed quinzee blocking the wind it lead to a surprising comfortable sleep. What we did not expect was the weather to warm up so fast over night. So our light fluffy snow soon started to pack itself and sink. By morning our roof had sunk in about a foot so it wasn’t fun waking up in the morning to put my head in the ceiling and have snow fall over me.<br /><br /> All in all it was another great experience you get to have and I would highly recommend to anyone to give it a try, you will regret nothing. It was another great camp and I can’t wait to see what the future has to offer.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14746585031494580024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-4808099177007550272014-01-19T14:35:38.583-05:002014-01-19T14:35:38.583-05:00PAD3O Winter Camp Reflection
Our second year back ...PAD3O Winter Camp Reflection<br />Our second year back to the winter camp was great and certainly an improvement over the previous year. There isn't much I would have wanted to do differently this time.<br />To start with, I think we had a great location for our Quinzhee on a little hill just outside the classroom door, as opposed to last year where it was on the complete opposite side of the field, which was very annoying to walk back and forth from the school. This year, if we forgot something it was really quick and easy to get to the school. When it came to piling the snow, our group was fast and efficient, and we got the snow pile done very quickly. This was helped a lot by the recent heavy snow falls. Once the snow mound was built, the digging out effort followed, although it started off a little slowly, but only because forming a safe tunnel was tricky at the very start. A terrible mistake we did last year was making the tunnel far too long, so I applied this lesson to make sure that we were not crawling several meters to get in or out of our Quinzhee. The digging seemed to finish quickly which was nice because it meant that we had the entire evening to relax around our fire.<br />The dinner that we chose was spaghetti and meatballs, which was a good choice because it tasted great and filled us up, although it did dirty lots of dishes. Also, when we were buying the ingredients we didn't realize we were buying so many noodles and this minor judgement error left us with far more pasta than the four of us could eat. The morning breakfast simply consisted of pouches of quick oatmeal in the classroom and this seemed like an appropriate choice with which to end the camp.<br />During the evening and night I was actually very comfortable. I chose a variety of good winter cloths for the camp that I could layer and therefore be prepared for any condition. As a result, I was never cold or wet because I also had a change for almost everything. Something I did differently from the previous winter camp was to ensure that the tarp on the floor of our Quinzhee covered my complete sleeping area. This was not the case last year because much of my sleeping bag ended up on the snow floor and got quite wet during the night from my body heat. The trick this time was to keep a good isolation layer, consisting of my self-inflating mattress and the tarp, between the snow and my sleeping bag - this proved to be the trick to keep dry and warm. Also, my sleeping bag was a multi-layered military winter one so it was very warm and relatively comfortable so I had no problems trying to sleep. When everything stays dry, it seems the morning clean up goes quicker as it is easier to pack up personal kit.<br />My favourite part this year about winter camp was the actual building of the Quinzhee. I just think that its fun to watch it evolve and get bigger. This was especially true because of the speed we built it, as it happened so fast. The worst part of this winter camp was waking up from our cozy Quinzhee and having to go into the cold outside, although that said, it was shockingly refreshing and it does wake you up.<br />Overall I would definitely say that this year was much more fun only because we knew how to do things and what mistakes to avoid, making the whole event a much more enjoyable experience. Being considerably more organized and efficient this year in building the camp and preparing our sleeping area, allowed us to spend more time cooking dinner and then hanging out around the fire. To me an evening campfire is one of the best parts of camping at any time of year and this one was fun. Overall, it was another great Canadian experience and will be memorable indeed!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09666274785491384842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-55460013673918782762014-01-19T13:21:24.273-05:002014-01-19T13:21:24.273-05:00The winter camp this year was a lot more fun than ...The winter camp this year was a lot more fun than last year's.<br />I felt that this year we were a lot more prepared with everything. <br />When building the quinzhee i felt every did a great job. We were about to build two quinzhee’s side by side but in the end we just ended building one giant quinzhee. The only problem with it was that there was no sink hole. We even went to help some people with their quinzhee at one point instead of just standing around because we can’t have too many people inside our quinzhee at once.<br />I arrived a few hours late because Dylan and I had to help with the Christmas concert but I feel we didn’t miss too much.<br />During the night we ate Enchiladas with beans and chicken, the meal was a lot more enjoyable than last year’s. During the night I got a good and long sleep of around 20 minutes. It was my choice so it didn’t bother me much. I’m just glad there were people who also stayed up so I had company. I wasn’t that cold this time around because of the fire we kept going. I got a front row seat to a collapsing quinzhee which was pretty interesting. I had two sleeping bags and one was in the quinzhee. I had one around me while we were sitting around the fire. It actually helped someone in the quinzhee because they took that sleeping bag in the middle of the night and was warmer because of it. I think the worst part of trip was at one point trying to help someone during a part of the night and almost freezing to death. I like to help people and I’m glad I did it but it was a struggle because we couldn’t get the sleeping bag out of the bag…. The best part of the trip was spread out, just hanging around outside and talking to people around the quinzhee’s or around the campfire. When morning came and I had accidentally fallen asleep, I went inside to started putting my stuff away. I went back to our quinzhee after my group was awake and helped clean up the last of what we had in our quinzhee and I collected a few shovel’s from other groups when coming back. I would have helped my group with dishes after but I had to go and help with the Christmas concert. I just ate a muffin from the caf. Thankfully the lack of sleep didn’t affect the way we set up and took things down on stage for each performance.<br />The things I learnt from this trip was mostly during the night when we stayed up. I learnt that even if you don’t need your coat for your sleeping bag you should bring it anyways in case of a change of plans like staying up all night. I also learnt that we should collect a lot more firewood than we think we might need because it is consumed very quickly after a long period of time. <br />Overall this was an amazing trip and it was a lot better than last year and I would definitely do this again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-16451866628652746262014-01-19T13:21:11.300-05:002014-01-19T13:21:11.300-05:00The winter camp this year was a lot more fun than ...The winter camp this year was a lot more fun than last year's.<br />I felt that this year we were a lot more prepared with everything. <br />When building the quinzhee i felt every did a great job. We were about to build two quinzhee’s side by side but in the end we just ended building one giant quinzhee. The only problem with it was that there was no sink hole. We even went to help some people with their quinzhee at one point instead of just standing around because we can’t have too many people inside our quinzhee at once.<br />I arrived a few hours late because Dylan and I had to help with the Christmas concert but I feel we didn’t miss too much.<br />During the night we ate Enchiladas with beans and chicken, the meal was a lot more enjoyable than last year’s. During the night I got a good and long sleep of around 20 minutes. It was my choice so it didn’t bother me much. I’m just glad there were people who also stayed up so I had company. I wasn’t that cold this time around because of the fire we kept going. I got a front row seat to a collapsing quinzhee which was pretty interesting. I had two sleeping bags and one was in the quinzhee. I had one around me while we were sitting around the fire. It actually helped someone in the quinzhee because they took that sleeping bag in the middle of the night and was warmer because of it. I think the worst part of trip was at one point trying to help someone during a part of the night and almost freezing to death. I like to help people and I’m glad I did it but it was a struggle because we couldn’t get the sleeping bag out of the bag…. The best part of the trip was spread out, just hanging around outside and talking to people around the quinzhee’s or around the campfire. When morning came and I had accidentally fallen asleep, I went inside to started putting my stuff away. I went back to our quinzhee after my group was awake and helped clean up the last of what we had in our quinzhee and I collected a few shovel’s from other groups when coming back. I would have helped my group with dishes after but I had to go and help with the Christmas concert. I just ate a muffin from the caf. Thankfully the lack of sleep didn’t affect the way we set up and took things down on stage for each performance.<br />The things I learnt from this trip was mostly during the night when we stayed up. I learnt that even if you don’t need your coat for your sleeping bag you should bring it anyways in case of a change of plans like staying up all night. I also learnt that we should collect a lot more firewood than we think we might need because it is consumed very quickly after a long period of time. <br />Overall this was an amazing trip and it was a lot better than last year and I would definitely do this again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-11133075291223206442014-01-14T19:26:40.254-05:002014-01-14T19:26:40.254-05:00On the night out at winter camp, I have to say I h...On the night out at winter camp, I have to say I had a really fun time. Although the quinzhee sleeping wasn’t all that fun, just sitting around the camp fire and eating was a really fun time.<br /><br /> I think that I came very prepared for sleeping in the quinzhee. Our group was Cooper, Jake, Mat, Mayville and me but since Jake, Mat, and Mayville “couldn’t” go it was just me and Cooper. Building the quinzhee wasn’t that hard because we had 10 people working on it at a time (We shared it with Danes group) and the whole process of stacking the snow was fast. Then we just had to dig it out and that’s when we learned that it was just going to be me and Coop so we dug it for the two of us but had a huge quinzhee; it was very insulated.<br /><br /> I brought homemade Spaghetti and garlic bread and brownies for snacks and that worked very good, I also brought a good winter sleeping bag that was very warm and layered my clothes correctly. I wouldn’t really change anything on what I brought except maybe some cards and other things to keep us occupied in the shelter.<br /><br /> After about 9:30 we had eaten all our food and sat by the camp fire for a while and the school was about to close, so me and Cooper went inside and got our sleeping bags and insulation pads. Once we got everything settled down we took Mr. Brouwers advice and right away went into our sleeping bags when we brought them out since the heat was still in them. Then after a bit we started to doze off but at times I would wake up and since our quinzhee wasn’t that big I was really close to the wall, the side of me would get really cold and there was water dripping onto me a little. If I did this trip again I would definitely make the quinzhee a little less thick, a little bigger inside and add more holes because since that and our platform was really good too It was very hot inside the quinzhee from me and Coopers body heat and it melted snow onto us.<br /><br /> If I could do this trip again next year I definitely would because it was tons of fun and interesting to sleep in a quinzhee. But I would bring more things to keep us entertained inside the quinzhee like cards and stuff, I would definitely also make the inside of the quinzee a little bit better and more breathable. All in all I had a great time though, thanks to Mr. Brouwer for sleeping out both those nights.<br /><br />Mark MerrimanAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16981804159962304145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-72815093892805190602014-01-14T13:28:24.277-05:002014-01-14T13:28:24.277-05:00I was in a group of 4 with Aren, David, Sunchips a...I was in a group of 4 with Aren, David, Sunchips and I. we started alone but on the second day Copper group join us so we made one Quinzhee for both nights. In my group only Aaren and I sleaped over. So we only hallowed enough for two Aren said we needed more room but it was perfect and warm. We ate Mr. Noodle and Arizone icetea dinner turned out well.<br /><br />Next time the only thing I would do different is fined fire wood before dark <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14101638580568969907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5586396691865552296.post-70699695733139747172014-01-14T13:23:16.070-05:002014-01-14T13:23:16.070-05:00I found the winter camp to be fun at times, and no...I found the winter camp to be fun at times, and not so much at others.<br /><br />The building of the quinzhee was a lot more work than I thought it would be, even though we were with a group from period one. The first day we were building, it was a bit of a struggle to actually figure out which was our quinzhee, because there were a bunch all together in the area ours was. Luckily, we ended up working on the right one. Because of the location we built ours, there wasn't much snow around so we ended up having to go to the field to get snow. It was taking longer than we had anticipated, so me and other members of my group stayed after school to finish building. It worked out quite well, leaving class time to collect firewood, however the other members of my group (in my class) ended up being tackled by some of our friends and not being able to help as much. I had heard about the importance of having a good cold sink, so during class on Wednesday I made sure that we had one that was good enough. <br /><br />After school on the actual day of the winter camp, we found out that there was another girl in my class who's group wasn't attending winter camp and her quinzhee wasn't finished, so she was going to stay in our quinzhee. The only problem was, our quinzhee wasn't big enough for six people to sleep in. We ended up finding another quinzhee that was not in use, unfortunately it had not been dug out so my group had to do that. Luckily, some of the guys decided to help us and with good, hard work it was done in no time. <br /><br />I dug out a fire pit and built a wall around it, and during the class that day I had managed to build a little place to keep all of our firewood, so that night I filled it up while Matt built the fire. Mya had to leave, and the rest of my group except Brianna vanished until dinner, which was pasta and spider dogs made by Erin. The one thing I would change about the menu was to maybe bring a few snacks, though one of my friend's dad brought us all McDonald's. We also didn't have breakfast, so I ended up eating my leftover McFlurry from the night before.<br /><br />I found I was well prepared throughout the night. I had read peoples reflections from previous winter camps, so I learned from their experiences on what to bring and what not to bring. I was fairly warm all night, and when I woke up I was well rested and prepared to take on the school day, though it was only a half day. In the morning, I heard all of the entertaining stories that I wasn't a part of, since I went to bed around 11.<br /><br />In conclusion, winter camp was really fun and I would definitely do it again, with minimal changes.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05990312940786450932noreply@blogger.com