Snow Trench

This weekend was the Scouts' winter camp at Yoho Lake. Expecting temperatures around -15 C at night, we spent the day Saturday building various types of shelters. One Scout slept in a tent, one in a hammock, and the rest slept in lean-tos. I decided to build a snow trench. This is a shelter that is very similar to a quinsee, but requires a lot less energy to build and allows you to stay a lot drier.



The first step was to make a waist-high mound of snow, let it sit for a few hours, and eventually dig out the middle to leave three walls. Since I had my winter sleeping kit with me and wanted a more spacious shelter, I just decided to build the walls without bothering to hollow out a mound of snow.



The second step, after allowing the walls to harden for a few hours, was to lay a cris-crossed pattern of sticks across the top for the roof supports...



...eventually ending up with something like this:

The third, and arguably most important step, is to gather a lot of spruce and fir boughs to lay on the floor of the shelter for insulation from the ground. This is a time-consuming step, but it pays off when you lay down on a thick mattress at the end of the day. And it smells good, too.



Finally, a tarp is placed on the roof supports and snow is piled on to a depth of at least 6 inches, and more if possible. This gives the shelter even more insulation. I used my sled as my door, but a large backpack could do the job as well. I found one of the main advantages of this shelter was that I could attach things to the roof from the inside, keeping them off the floor and out of the way. It was very warm inside at night, too. My long-burning candle gave off some heat and light. I had to step outside at one point and estimate the temperature difference to be at least 10 deg. C! Next time I will have to bring a couple of thermometers.

Winter Debris Hut - first attempt

Yesterday afternoon I had a couple of hours free and had been wanting to build a winter debris hut after reading about them on www.survivaltopics.com. Also, this coming weekend is the annual Scouts winter camp, and I was thinking of building one of these, so I figured it would be good to get some practice beforehand. After a 5-minute drive to the UNB woodlot, I had my snowshoes on and set out into the woods. Two days previous, we got about 20 cm of snow so the snowshoeing conditions were excellent. The woods were quite dense but eventually I came across a bit of a clearing with some evergreens around, so it seemed like a good place to set up the shelter.

Since I forgot my shovel, I had to use a snowshoe to remove the snow from the shelter site. It took about an hour to do this and gather enough spruce and fir boughs for the floor. Even then, I could have used more. (I was quickly learning not to underestimate the amount of time this shelter would take.) After that, I made a support for my ridgepole and then cut down a ridgepole using a small spruce tree. Next, I cut about 12 "ribs" and leaned them against the ridgepole along both sides. (The photo shows the shelter at this stage.) Next, I draped my tarp over the structure and started shovelling snow on for insulation. I found the tarp sagged in between the ribs under the weight of the snow. Also, it would have been helpful to tie the tarp to the support structure to prevent it from caving in. In all, it was a good learning experience and hopefully it will go better next weekend.