Standing guard

[GlennM]

Can someone give me an explanation for the process of standing guard duty overnight?

[Ziljoe]

My understanding is it's quite sensible and normal with all hiking groups.

Tending the wood stove , drying wood , gloves , boots, clothes,watching snow build up on the tent, unwanted fires from sparks , back draft , air holes in snow caves etc. this is winter.

In summer an extra observation for animals, rising rivers, changes in weather .

I have read it in action in other hiking reports and how the shifts change amongst a group.

Usually at the entrance and next to a stove but stoves and tent shapes were different..

It's just for practical safety. I believe?

[Hunter]

There were two types of shifts that are often confused. Regular shifts, where designated people were responsible for preparing food during the day, and night shifts. In the former case, those on duty were typically assigned for the entire day. Their job was to prepare breakfast in the morning before everyone woke up, perhaps even a snack for lunch, and wake up the others, and then prepare dinner in the evening. Typically, this was done by two or three people per day. The next day, others. And so on, rotating. At night, each group member took turns keeping watch by the stove. The time was calculated using the formula: the number of hours of sleep divided by the number of participants. This was usually up to two hours. Night shifts were planned so that the last person on duty by the stove was one of the day's shifts.

[GlennM]

Zoljoe, Hunter, thank you both for the information. I would like to put this in the context of the DPI. In the dead of winter, I can't imagine anybody doing outside the tent guard duty,  so I do not think they, the guards, would be bundled up compared to tentmates. That said, who among the hikers would have the duty on the fateful night? Is there any reason to believe that anyone was actually outside the tent when knifing the canvas was done? Any ideas about how much the guard(s) had to wear? I say this because any getting in and out of overclothes while othere were trying to sleep is bound to create a fuss.

[Hunter]

The only time a night watch could be outside the tent was if a fire of the "nodia" type was used for heating. In the US, this type is known as a "trapper's fire." In this case, the watchman would need to be outside the tent to monitor it.

[GlennM]

Hunter, this comment makes me believe they were all in the tent when it was time to leave. Some people would argue that some one or two people could have been answering the call of Nature at the crisis. It seems to me it made no difference whether some or all of them were in the tent.There was enough of a problem to make them give up any attempts to salvage anything. I think of Everest blizzards I've seen on film. It would be selfish for 8 people to wait because one person wanted to get something. Better to come back later. Whatever was wanted was not going anywhere. Then again, maybe it would.

[GlennM]

How does this sound, on the night of the 1st, there was not stove set up. It was going to be a cold night. We know the stove was packed away when the tent was found.

Therefore, night watchmen would be required duty probably out of habit. Other than that, if the weather got bad, night watchmen would be assigned guard duty to monitor the integrity of the tent.

Let's say it was to guard the tent . At some point at night during others efforts to sleep in a howling wind, the the middle of the tent fell on them. If the night watchman was awake, he/she would rouse the rest. On the other hand, if nobody was getting much sleep then everyone would be up. What next?

It might be true that someone nearest the front flap could get out that way, but to dig away snow when someone on the inside pulls out a Finnish knife would be risky.