A Service of The Arrow           Monday March 27, 2000 8:56 PM

By: Amber Ardvidson

ARROW STAFF

As spring vacationers turned their eyes towards Hawaii and the Caribbean, 11 Alpine Club members snowshoed into the woods February 25-27 to try their hands at winter camping.

"I learned how to build a snow cave and I guess how to survive in the wilderness in winter," said sophomore Lisa Hartman. "When we were beginning to dig Lindsey (Judge) found out we had a tree in our room. We had a nice air freshener."

Hartman and Judge weren’t the only ones to have tree trouble. Chemistry teacher Todd Morstein and senior Patrick Murphy ran into a stump. Fortunately it worked out for the best and they were able to build a two-story snow cave.

As Murphy said: "When life gives you a stump, make a duplex."

The snow caves were not only fun to build but they kept the warmth in.

"Snow caves rule. I stayed very warm, but I had multiple layers on so that probably helped," said Judge. "They take a lot of work to get started but once you have them going it’s amazing how they come together."

Everyone agreed the snow caves were warm but when junior Roger Rowe woke up, he found out that the laws of physics also apply to making snow caves.

"Our ceiling sunk a couple inches," said Rowe.

Building caves and snowshoeing wasn’t all the campers did; they learned about winter ecology from the guide R.J. Devitt.

"The guide was a really nice guy and we learned a lot about winter ecology, tracks and how animals survive in the winter," said Rowe.

Devitt runs the Glacier Institute and wanted to lead a camping trip last year but it didn’t work out.

"This year I made it a priority to do the camping trip," said Morstein. "I thought it went great; I thought it was a great experience for me as well as all the students."

So trekking out into the snow can be as much fun as the sun — just don’t forget the proper provisions.

"I was under-prepared a little bit, but as we went hiking I got warm," said Hartman.

And just as important as having the right clothes is having the right food.

"You need Little Smokies if you’re going to go camping," said Rowe, adding:

"They’re an essential part of survival."

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