A well-built show shelter will be warmer than a tent to sleep in.
Building a snow hut is a favorite activity for many children who live in areas that get a good amount of snow in the winter. Also, cold-weather survivalists use snow shelters, also known as quinzees, to stay warm on winter nights spent camping in the wild. A quinzee can take a few hours to build, but when you're done you will have a place to keep you warm and protected in the outdoors.
Instructions
1. Shovel snow into a dome-shaped pile about seven feet high and about seven feet in diameter. Walk around on top of the pile, to pack it down, after every foot or so of height. When it gets too tall, just pack it as much as possible with your hands. You can make the hut smaller, but remember that the walls will need to be at least one foot thick to keep the hut warm inside.
2. Allow the snow pile to rest for at least 90 minutes. This allows the snow to harden, or "sinster."
3. Dig a small entrance into the mound on the downhill side of the hut. Cold air sinks, and this will allow the coldest air to flow out of the shelter. The entrance should be big enough to crawl through.
4. Poke sticks -- at least a foot deep -- into the hut from the outside. Evenly space the sticks all over the hut. When you reach the inside tips of the sticks while digging out the inside the hut, you will know when to stop digging, since the sticks will be the same length as the thickness that your walls should be.
5. Dig out the inside of the hut, starting toward the top and working your way down. You can use a gardening trowel or a shovel to do the job quicker. Stop digging when you reach the inside tip of one of the sticks, and continue to use the stick tips as a guide for making your walls uniformly thick.
6. Poke an air hole in the top of the shelter and make sure that it stays open. Your breath will create an airtight film around the walls, and this will help air to circulate.
Tags: about seven, about seven feet, keep warm, least foot, reach inside, seven feet