Ok. To put you into context : a quinzee is kinda like a cheap version of an igloo. You make a node of snow, wait a few hours for it to harden, and then you dig the interior, leaving about a foot thick of snow for walls. And then, you sleep in it. Yes.
My friends had prepared the quinzees the weekend before and last Friday, we decided to test them out. They were nice and solid by the time we got there and we could just relax by the fire and have a good time.
I followed all the rules and dressed warmly, brought an extra pair of everything and rented a super extreme sleeping bag supposed to go to minus 20 degrees. I thought this would be a fun activity to do with my friends before I leave for my two-week journalism internship at the CBC radio in Quebec City !
But apparently, you need to be in good shape and well-rested if you want to survive a night in a quinzee. Being a journalism student, I was at the other end of that spectrum !
I had been sleeping an average of 6 hours a night for the past 2 weeks and spent my whole Friday running around in our radio class, trying to put together our broadcast and current affairs show. By 6:00 pm, I was ready for bed.
But instead, I drove to Gatineau, near the airport where my boyfriend’s dad owns a farm (that’s were our quinzees were waiting for us). After twenty minutes of cross-country skiing in the dark – my first attempt at cross-country skiing since I completely destroyed my elbow last winter under very similar conditions – we got to the camp ground. I managed to fall only, hum, a couple of times but luckily there were no dislocation of any body parts this time.
My friends and I crowded over the fire for a couple of hours, trying with all our might to remain alive. At around midnight, we called it a night, whished everyone good luck, crawled into our respective quinzees and curled up in the foetal position.
My boyfriend and I actually had the best looking quinzee. It was high enough to stand on our knees and just wide enough for us and our luggage. I slipped into my super extreme sleeping bag, which was suprisingly pretty warm. A couple of minutes later, my boyfriend was already snorring and I managed to fall asleep a couple of hours later !
Everything was going according to plan.
And then, at around 3:30 a.m., I woke up in a panic. There was a big dark figure standing on top of me, breathing in my face. My first thought was "Oh God, my boyfriend is sleepwalking, again !"
Upon further inspection, I realized the hairy beast walking on my stomach was not my boyfriend but his big labrador, Bosco.
The poor thing had been freezing outside and thought he could brake into our quinzee and curl up between my boyfriend and I. We were too tired to try to get him out and allowed Bosco to stay.
The problem is that Bosco brought in a lot of heat with him (he is that kind of dog) and after a few minutes, I started shivering from the change of temperature. I thought I could tough it out and that the shakes would go away, but then I started almost convulsing and had to tell my boyfriend something was wrong. I was having a panick attack, could barely breath and had to get out as fast as possible. I guess I suffered mild hypothermia mixed with exhaustion and lack of oxygen !
(I think I’m just not cut out for extreme winter sports. At least, not until my master is done)
Defeated, we abandonned our quinzee and headed for our car. We drove back to our apartment in downtown Ottawa and by 5:00, we were in our warm bed.
I’m alive. But I’m still trying to recover from it.
While starting my internship at the CBC in Quebec.
(It was my first day at work yesterday and I think it will be great ! The crew is fun and the show I work on is pretty cool. You can check it out by streaming it live)
There will be more coming !! Stay tuned
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