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Building a snow cave as a dugout survival shelter; 25-minute YouTube Video by Outdoor Boys
BEFORE WATCHING – REMEMBER.
“Don’t run off and do things you see on the internet without thinking it through. I’m just some dude who’s doing a bunch of stuff outdoors and hasn’t managed to kill himself yet.
“If you’re ever up in the mountains and you need to get out of the nasty weather, you dig down.
“The point of snow caves is to protect you from wind and extreme cold. If you build them right, they usually stay about 20 degrees Fahrenheit no matter what the weather’s doing outside.”
SO HE TAKES A FLIGHT TO JIUNEAU, ALASKA
The video opens with him walking towards Mendenhall Glacier. Per traveljuneau, “Mendenhall, one of the most beautiful and accessible glaciers in North America, is just 13 miles from downtown Juneau and a few minutes from the airport.”
DOUGLAS ISLAND; Avalanche Danger Zone
Eagle Nest Ski Resort is closed, so he puts his skis on to explore on his own. Brushing the snow off the Avalanche warning sign, he jokes that ‘danger’ is his middle name.
“Avalanches are a major concern, so I’m sticking close to the trees. Trees act like an anchor, they keep the snow from sloughing off the side of the mountain. If you stick close to the trees you’re less likely to hit an avalanche.”
Trees look small because he’s only seeing the top. They’re buried in snow.
“Snow’s kind of hard up here, makes it a lot easier to walk, Made it up to the top in a little less than two hours.”
HE HASN’T BEEN SKIING IN A LONG TIME
Skiing downhill was harder on his legs than going up.
He goes back to a cabin for the night and will set out early in the morning.
It’s a gorgeous, sunny day and he takes the lift to the top of the mountain; It “saved me about an hour and a half of hiking.”
ALMOST 11’ OF SNOW ON THE GROUND
“That’s why I came here, I wanted to try camping in some of the deepest snow in Alaska.
“When I was a kid we used to camp in snow caves all the time.” They were about the size of a coffin, “They were just miserable.” The ones he builds now are far more comfortable.
He uses his avalanche probe to measure the snow. Variations in depth can be significant.
HE FINDS THE PERFECT SPOT
“The snow is deeper than my probe plus look at the scenery here!”
The good news is the snow is so strong it’s good for building. The bad news is it’ll be more work to dig it.
BUILDING THE DUGOUT SURVIVAL SHELTER
It’s amazing to see how he marks, measures and smooths. It looks like he’s working with Styrofoam but the snow is heavy.
He digs to the tops of some pine trees.
“There’s just tons of trees down here. Dealing with these trees is the worst.”
The sun sets around 4:30. “I better get to work.”
SETTLING IN FOR THE NIGHT
Thirsty, he needs to melt some snow.
Dinner is bacon wrapped chicken shish kebabs and couscous.
Two stoves help warm the space.
He’s making brownies and whipped cream for dessert??? See how.
HE WAKES EXHAUSTED
Building the shelter was grueling work.
The sleeping bag is warm, the air is not. “Time to put on cold pants.”
He makes Scottish Steel Cut Oatmeal for breakfast.
Stepping outside, he’s delighted to see ptarmagin tracks at his entrance.
ALWAYS CONSIDER WORST CASE SCENARIO
“You know, growing up we did a lot of winter camping and more often than not we’d build snow caves and I couldn’t help but notice that if my snow cave collapsed on me in the middle of the night, I’d probably just die because – you know – unless somebody digs you out really quick, it’s not gonna end well.”
How does he deal with that possibility?
“I just kind of dig these holes in the snow and you know, kind of eyeball it and sleep in it and hope it doesn’t fall on me.”
TESTING THE ROOF
He’s going to see what it takes to collapse his snow cave. Which sounds dangerous.
The cave is big in terms of him being 6 ½’ tall with his boots on; and the cave is about 6’ wide.
”I think I moved about 12 cubic yards of snow to dig this thing.”
Enough to fill a full-sized dump truck.
“There’s not more than a foot or two of snow on this roof, so it’s pretty thin. This has been a really nice snow cave.”
He stands above the entrance and it holds his weight “no problem.”
He thinks that’s because he built with strong snow, not fluffy powder.
“THAT WAS A GOOD SHELTER”
He takes a look back and skis all the way down; which – with all the equipment on his back – is tougher than it looks.
THIS WAS A FASCINATING VIDEO.
Note the link to ‘Survival Camping Videos’ on Outdoor Boys’ page and please subscribe.