Calculate Your Snow Needs

 

 

This is the top of Bob's Igloo. He used branches to help hold the roof in place, so it wouldn't collapse.

 

 

 

These logs were leaned against a steep section of the Lake enbankment. The sun warms this area and melts the snow. Eventually, I think the snow will ice up and can be counted on to break the wind. Wind coming off Yellowstone Lake is very cold.

 

I recently did a blog about the snow forts we're building up here at Man Camp in our spare time. The Chef built an actual igloo, I finished burying a picnic table, crawled into it and spent part of the night.

The photo to the left is a "cave" of blowdowns nestled close to a tall pine tree.


Its fun to mess around on days off, practicing skills. I soon learned how much effort it took to build an actual snow fort from the ground up.

I received this nice e-mail with a link to a page that talks about the weight of snow and provides and interactive tool for caluculating how much snow you need for the size house you intend to build.



Hey Brawny,

I'm Sally from the Movoto blog, a real estate site that talks about the fun side of housing. Since you wrote about the igloo that was built at Man Camp for survival skills I thought your readers would also enjoy our interactive snow fort–building tool. Just enter the size of the fort you want to build and the calculator will tell you how many ice blocks it will take to build it!

http://www.movoto.com/blog/novelty-real-estate/house-of-snow/

Have a great week!
Sally

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My whole conclusion as a minimalist and survivalist is that if you've got some natural features, such as blowdowns, caves or steep banks along a water source, use them. You'll save alot of energy. You can add to your improvised shelter as needed, depending on how long you plan to be there.