www.RogerWendell.com
Roger J. Wendell
Defending 3.8 Billion Years of Organic Evolution^SM

Snow Caves and Quinzhees
Plus Avalanche Safety and Awareness!!

Quinzhee entrance

Knowing how to build a snow shelter is an essential backcountry and mountaineering skill. Although my little page should point you in the right direction I strongly encourage you to thoroughly study other sources as well!   There are times when winter survival can become a life and death struggle so be sure you have the skills necessary to build not only the couple of shelters I have on this page, but the many other options that may be available to you as well. (other options include snow trenches, tree pits, and igloos - among others!)   Caution: Snow caves, quinzhees, and other snow shelters can be dangerous! I had a quinzhee collapse on me while I was digging it! (Luckily my friend was standing by, as he should, and was able to dig me out...). There's also the possibility of asphyxiation, frostbite, avalanche, and other dangers when in winter conditions and working with snow structures, tents, and other shelters.   A Quinzhee (also spelled "Quinzee") is a Canadian snow shelter made from a large pile of loose snow that is shaped, then hollowed. The word is of Athabaskan origin. The structure is different than an igloo which is built up from blocks of hard snow. A quinzhee is also different from a snow cave. A similar, but more elaborate snow house is called a lumitalo.   Quinzhees are typically built in flat areas where snow is abundant, on days colder than −4 °C (25 °F)   Always be safe when building any type of snow shelter! You can be crushed and suffocated by collapsing snow in addition to becoming hypothermic while building them. My experience has been that I sweat profusely from the hard work, therefore becoming very wet and cold. Dress appropriately for the weather and your work on the snow.   Also, before crawling under or beneath any snow structure you'll need to give if a few hours to solidify. This is called, "Snow Sintering" and happens when snow crystals lose their points due to molecular motion, wind, and direct pressure. And, of course, make sure you have plenty of air holes around the structure!

Click Here for my page on climbing and mountaineering...

Click Here for the Ten Essentials - Don't leave home without 'em!

Click Here for my page on backcountry survival...

Click Here for my Snow Day page...

Click Here for my page on skiing...

Building a Snow Cave

My snow cave entrance...

Although I've built a few snow caves over the years I'm not an expert and strongly recommend you research the subject as much as possible before relying on one for your survival. The nights I've spent in snow caves were warm, peaceful and quiet. Despite such comfort, they take a lot of energy to build and can be dangerous if they collapse on you or there isn't enough oxygen. Also, constructing them can get you really wet - both from the melting snow and your own sweat, so be careful to avoid hypothermia!   (Click on this drawing) Anyway, the main idea is to build a dome-shaped structure, beneath the snow, with the entrance lower than the "living" or sleeping area. The low entry keeps colder air "pooled" lower than where you're at thus creating a warm "bubble" in the living area of the cave. A flapping tent, during a storm, might keep you 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the outside air. A well built snow cave, on the other hand, can maintain a constant temperature in the low 30s - definately much more comfortable than a tent! The snow cave's interior dome shape not only strengthens the structure but allows condensation and meltwater to run down along the walls and not on you! I also recommend punching a few breathing and ventilation holes through the roof area with your ice axe or ski pole. You can deplete the oxygen inside a snow cave so make sure you have air flow!

The pix below were taken by Kevin Friesen and I for a snow cave I dug near Mills Lake in Glacier Gorge at Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. We started on February 18, 1996 with Kevin having to leave for a commitment back in town that night. Despite a huge storm rolling in I was quite comfortable and fell sound asleep inside the cave. Luckily I woke up, sometime after midnight, to find my six foot cave entrance completely filled-in with fresh snow! Not a good sign as I'm sure the oxygen level had dropped considerably despite the holes I had punched through the roof (they, too, were filled with blowing snow).

Kevin scouting a site

I start digging

Roger's rain gear

So, I usually try to dig into the side of a drift or "hill" of snow. Sometimes, depending on the situation, I'll actually walk across the roof to ensure structural integrity. At other times, when a hillside or drift isn't available, I scoop-up all of the surrounding snow into a big pile nearly the size of a garage. After it sits or "settles" awhile (the process of allowing the snow crystals to interlock with each other is called "sintering') I then start digging into it. Of course there are all kinds of ways to cut blocks of snow to create an iglo but that's not something I've yet tried.

Something I've also not tried is cooking in a snow cave (or even a tent for that matter!). Again, it's the old oxygen depletion problem that I mentioned earlier so I recommend cooking outside the cave on a small platform to keep the stove from melting through the snow. A windshield, for your stove, is also an obvious necessity as well. I also never use candles unless its for some emergency situation - snow caves become quite warm and comfortable with just human body heat so there's no need to artificially warm things up!

Digging Down

Looking out the entrance

My snow cave bedroom

Obviously staying warm and dry is the key to a succesful night's sleep in a snow cave! Although the cave's interior dome can be quite warm, for reasons I've explained above, you can still lose a lot of body heat by sitting on a snow bench or leaning into an icy cave wall. Soooo, a thin insulated-type mattress or pad will keep your body from losing heat through the snow. A water-proof ground tarp helps keep my gear and other body parts from resting on ice and snow as well.

Finally, winter camping (and the use of snow caves) requires all of the low impact, safety, and preparedness techniques you use during the summer and then some! Winter can afford all kinds of new sights and experiences not to mention the complete solitude and a remote feeling you'll get during blizzards and white-outs - all the more reason to be extra prepared and extra careful!

Roger J. Wendell, 2005

A Different View:

"Just below the col, in a 15-dgree slope, we dug a snow cave to serve as advance base camp. Eventually enlarged to accommodate an entrance vestibule giving onto twin elevated 'bedroom' shelves, the cave, in which we spent many a day and night, would prove a gloomy place. Outside, in the sun, the temperature often rose into the mid 40s, but inside the cave, it was always 16 degreees Fahrenheit, thanks to the eternal cold of the subarctic."

- David Roberts, in his book On the Ridge Between Life and Death (a Climbing Life Reexamined)
This passage was from page 128 where Roberts is describing the start of a climb up Alaska's Mount Hunter

Books:

• Mountaineering The Freedom of the Hills - published by the Mountaineers
• Snow Caves For Fun & Survival - by Ernest Wilkinson
• Snow Sense A Guide to Evaluating Snow Avalanche Hazard - By Jill Fredston and Doug Fesler
• The Avalanche Handbook - published by the Mountaineers

References:

• Camp Stoves a Lab - Snow Cave Study Hits New Heights by Steve Lipsher, Denver Post, February 24, 1998 (front page)

  In the article Lipsher followed a high-altitude study conducted by Dr. Linda Keyes, Dr. Robert Hamilton, and the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group at Niwot Ridge. The idea was to study the confusing interactions between carbon monoxide (from cooking stoves), altitude, and the body. "Some of the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are exactly the same as altitude sickness - headache, nausea, lack of appetite, shortness of breath," Hamilton said. "Indications are that altitude may also play a role in increasing the adverse effects of the gas, a byproduct of combustion. Levels that may be OK at sea level could be deadly at altitude," Hamilton said. "The problem is, it's kind of insidious. It's colorless and odorless. You could just not wake up some day, and that'd be the end."

Avalanche Safety:

Avlanche danger is real and present in the backcountry - know what terrain
to avoid before you start looking for a place to construct that snow structure!

Snow saw Digging a snow pit Digging a snow pit Digging a snow pit Avalanche compression test Avalanche compression test Avalanche beacon search Avalanche beacon search

Click Here for one of my YouTube videos during an AIARE Level 1 Avalanche training session sponsored by the Colorado Mountain Club...

Click Here for red, pink, and "Watermelon Snow" at the bottom of my Snow Day page...

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