^In the above photo, Tyler is excited that we’re not stuck in a storm on a glacier, and we can ski back to the car if we want.
Snow is here in Alaska! At least, up high it seems to be here to stay. I’ve been wanting to get out on my skis for a few weeks now. Last weekend, I couldn’t pass up the amazing opportunity to attend a course on neurological visual impairments, so I spent the weekend soaking up information with other Occupational Therapists while my friends were off playing in the snow. After putting in my professional time, I knew this weekend was my weekend for skiing!
When it was time to make a plan for the weekend, Tyler asked if I wanted to go camping, so of course I said yes! I’m working on overcoming anxiety when it comes to camping near bears, so I’m all about winter camping. I know winter bears are out there, but I sleep much better in a tent when there is snow on the ground.
Our plan for the weekend was to try out our sled system and our new tent, and to put in a few laps on Hatcher Pass Road. We had a mellow morning on Saturday, packed up our gear, and drove up to Hatcher Pass. We set up our sled and gear, and started skinning up the road. The first lap wasn’t too bad, and we decided to stomp out our campsite, leave our gear, and ski another lap before setting up camp. We had a fun ski down the road, and I realized that I still feel very much like a beginner. On the second lap up the road, Tyler’s skins had snow clumping up on them and he had to scrape the snow off as we went. Since his skins were toast, we decided to just set up camp when we got back up to the top.
As the day progressed, the falling snow picked up, and we worked on setting up as the wind whipped around us. Finally, we settled in, made dinner, and hunkered down for the evening. I had a funny ostomy moment when I looked in my sleeping bag and noticed that my ostomy bag was hanging out right next to my food bag…..Cue the bad ostomy joke….I guess it’s hard not to shit where you eat when you have an ostomy.
Before falling asleep, I like to make sure my ostomy is empty, so that I don’t have to get up as much throughout the night. Unfortunately, I think I got up five times that night to empty my ostomy (too many bedtime snacks!). Each time, I braved the snow and wind and gathered my supplies to empty my ostomy. I’m still working on my winter system, but currently I’m using a trash compactor bag into which I drain the poop from my ostomy. I think it’s important to find a system that works to pack out your poop whether you have an ostomy or not. Poo in the snow is a no no.
The original plan was to add kitty litter to the bag to help things clump, but the cold temperatures helped keep things pretty solid overnight, since I forgot the kitty litter. After emptying my ostomy, I tucked the trash compactor in the back vestibule of the tent, so that I could grab in the next time I went to empty it. We were a little concerned about ravens getting into the bag, since we heard them earlier in the day, but luckily they didn’t come out into the storm. In the morning, I put the trash compactor bag full of poop into an odor proof bag, and strapped that to the sled for the ride back down to the car.
(I forgot to take photos while out in the field, so here’s a similar setup to my disposal system)
Now, all of that sounds like a pretty straight forward system for emptying my ostomy at night. But I should add that the storm got pretty intense overnight. Tyler said he woke up frequently because he was worried about the tent being blown over and having to shovel out. Luckily the wind kept the snow from accumulating too much. However, trying to empty an ostomy into a lightweight bag while the wind tries to rip it out of your hands is a hard task. I managed pretty well, but need to continue perfecting my system. If anyone has suggestions, I’d love to hear them!
All in all, we had a good test run for the winter to come. I’m still a beginner when it comes to skiing, but I love any opportunity to put in hard work in tough conditions!
