We woke in the morning, however, to find the fire had died. We were bitterly cold: the overnight temperature having lingered around minus 16
with a small wood burner in the middle. We collected a large pile of wood with which to feed the fire, and then cooked our military rations as we devised a sentry system to ensure the fire didn’t go out in the night. The next morning meant discussing the next night – which we would spend in a ‘natural shelter’. We decided that it would be best to renovate one of the old shelters left long ago by another group, and set to work repairing and improving on its design and layout (we prioritised a fire pit and a seating area, aware, again, that we would have to keep the fire going overnight). We woke in the morning, however, to find the fire had died. We were bitterly cold: the overnight temperature having lingered around minus 16. Relighting the fire, we contemplated our last night out – sleeping in a ‘snow hole’. We ventured back to the snow pile accumulated earlier in the week and divided our group. Half ventured out to collect wood; the others began to hollow out the mound of ice and snow, creating a space inside about 12ft long, 5ft wide and 5ft tall. At around 6pm, we had finished our activities: a large number of trees had become a pile of burnable logs, and the snow holes were finished. Standing around a large fire, we launched into a medley – from CCF marching tunes to the school song. Finally, we climbed into the snow hole, with nothing but a candle inside to keep the air flowing, and a reindeer pelt over the door to keep us warm. After a cold, difficult night’s sleep, we awoke,
clambered out of our shelters and carried our bags back to the cabin, looking forward to having a proper roof over our heads. We lit all the fires – including the one for the hot tub! – and spent a day recovering: sleeping, eating our remaining rations, and taking our first shower of the week by dropping buckets of hot water on our heads. We fell asleep proud of what we had achieved. We’re deeply grateful to Mr Swalwell, Mr Rutter and Mr Millward for organising such a fantastic trip – we are all a little wiser and a lot more resilient than when we set off.
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