Art, K1BX was the guest op for the ten meter weekend. For my part, I got the station ready beforehand. There had been some minor antenna damage and broken rotators courtesy of the last semi hurricane that passed through.  He was single op so I went off and did other things, but the activity level was so low that I spent time up at the shack keeping him company in between QSOs. This was just like a VHF contest  on six meters in September with no E skip at all. Friday night was flat. Saturday was pretty quiet with some South Americans worked in mid day.  Sunday was quiet as well with one EU station worked along with V51. Only on Sunday evening before the contest ended was there a bonafide Es opening to mostly MN, but Art also worked SD and IA along with a few more more common states. The shack is at a remote site in the woods behind the house and up on a ridge. Our restroom facilities were pretty meager. (no running water)  There was a microwave oven to heat up food or drink. We did have heat in the building too, so it was quite comfortable. Antennas were two 5 el yagis fixed on South America, and a rotatable stack of three 5 el yagis on a 70 ft tower.  Rig was a K3 with a SPE 2K solid state amplifier. 

Art participated as a single op with no assistance in the CW&SSB (mixed) category.  He should have stayed on CW as it was much more  productive with the weak signals involved. He made 42 sections and 400+ Qs on CW with just 32 and 150 Qs on SSB. Final score was 147K before log checking. Most all of the contacts beyond local range were on meteors or ionospheric scatter. It helped to have the amplifier for sure. The gear held up just fine all weekend even with the snowstorm and icy conditions.  There is a special mindset needed in these dead band condition events.  Art has operated six meters from here in many September ARRL VHF contests and is an expert at pulling stuff out of the noise.