Posted: 12/26/2009 10:54:55 AM EDT
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Me and my daughter are 8 feet in to a snow tunnel, should end up about 12 feet long with a snow cave at the end.
Got a nice 4 ft high drift to work with. Most fun I've had in ages 
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I posted a thread last winter about the daughter's & my "snow expedition" and our long trek (all the way to the end of the block) to where the city plowed up a huge snow berm. She learned how to use an E-tool and that her and Daddy could make a really kewl snow cave big enough to hold us both. HH6 wasn't too thrilled, but the daughter was ecstatic. In fact as soon as it started snowing, she started asking about doing it again.
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Lemme resurrect this one from the archives: http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=804085 After endless badgering, I'm foing - now with AAR & pics in OP! (56K? <-that way) ... to build a snow cave with Big Adventure Girl in the plow pile at the end of the street. She has her sled, and I have my E-tool, and we've had 10" in the last 2 days. Will update with AAR and pics - if we can find the camera. Don't tell Momma - she hates snow caves. OK - after getting soaking wet and helping the aforementioned Big Adventure Girl slide down the "coolest hill ever" (the snow pile), then coming home to warm clothes and hot dinner, here are the promised pics. The great white stuff hunters in full kit (note cookies, just in case):  Implements of construction:  The long walk from the outpost:  A last look back at civilization:  Early in the process:  Just big enough for a five year old:   A little further along:  Finally big enough to fit inside:  Hey Dad, are you in there?  I'm comin' in too!  And with traces of new snow starting to fall, we decide to head home (all the way down the block), so we do what any good survival forum lurker would do: conceal our hide from observation.  Final thoughts: I could make a space big enough to just get into in about 20 minutes. Good to know. This is not a real snow survival cave. If this had been an actual snow survival cave, I wouldn't have gone down to ground all the way across, I would have left a sleeping shelf, scrounged some boughs for additional insulation / bedding, probably made a vent/smoke hole, made sure there was a windbreak at the entrance and made sure I fluffed the pillows on the bed at Mr. Grylls' hotel suite down the road.  5 year olds have an attention span that's shorter than a... hey look, something shiny! You have to make a bigger hole when you're 40 something than you did when you were 10... probably has to do with the economy. E-tools ROCK! Of course I knew this already, but this is my first snow dig with one. If I'd had one of these when I was a kid, I'd have lived outside all winter. Snow caves can be tight. Not like the "first time in the MRI OHMYG-DI'MGONNADIE" tight, but enough where a lot of folks might not like it. Of course, I crawl into confined spaces and collapsed buildings for fun and profit for the FD so this was easy.  Cold is colder when you're wet, and you notice it more when you're older, but cookies and cocoa are still best when served after a few hours afield. |