The Snow Coffin: An Emergency Ice Shelter

Winter is coming soon. I’m fortunate to live in Western Washington which is bathed year round by a warm tropical current, but less than an hour’s drive from my house, you can walk a trail or make a wrong turn on a country road and find yourself in deep snowy trouble. You may not even be trying to get out into the wilderness, but just traveling through. But out in the big between spaces like we especially have out here in the West, a navigational error or a sudden change in the weather can kill you quick. Every year people lose their lives because they are unprepared to make a mistake.

So what happens if you are caught out in a blizzard and can’t get to safety. Unless you really know what you’re doing and your survival skills are top notch and you are well-equipped with winter gear, hiking out is probably not a good idea. Shelter, then is your top priority. Other issues can be dealt with. Keeping a bug-out bag in the trunk or carrying a fanny pack or light pack with some basic emergency supplies is the height of wisdom, even if you're only passing through the wild country. If snow start’s really coming down, this ice, shelter could save your life.

You need to make shelter quickly, if the snow is piling up. You absolutely have to limit your exposure to wind and low temperatures. Wind and cold can lower your body’s core temperature dramatically. That happens and you are on your way to dead. Fortunately, you have a rather effective insulation available to you.

And, though it's called an ice shelter, it’s not made of solid blocks of ice.  I know about igloos and they make great hunting shelters and look great in books about Eskimos. You can even build fires inside them. But unless you’ve got a handy iced over lake and a big ice saw and a lot of help, solid ice isn’t very practical as a building material and then, there’s the whole finding enough wood and getting a fire started sufficient to heat all that space..

Snow, though not solid like a block of ice, makes far more useful shelter material. Even though snow is made up of ice crystals, it works better as an insulator than solid ice. Between the flakes of snow there is air trapped. If you make blocks of snow, you can build a quicker shelter than with ice and it insulates better. Also snow is easier to form into blocks and wall than solid ice and you can create a shelter more quickly. Any kid who ever built a snow fort knows the basic principle.

Remember, you have only a few hours to create an ice shelter before you start feeling the effects of the cold.

Materials:

• Snow
• Shovel, plank, limb or some type of saw if you have one in your trunk
• Branches
• Gloves and warm coat

How to Build It:

Snow coffin is a creepy name I know, but it describes this shelter quite vividly. This type of emergency cold-weather shelter is quick and reliable if you’re stuck out somewhere, the snow is piling up fast and it’s getting dark. You can always construct something roomier after the sun comes up tomorrow.

1. Build this shelter on a downhill slope. It makes construction faster. Choose a slope that faces away from the prevailing wind, if you can to reduce your exposure while building your snow coffin.
2. Dig a pit in the snow in a curved shape like a horseshoe about two to three 3 feet wide by eight feet long. Scoop out the middle of the pit and pack down the snow flat. The lower end of foot of the coffin should be narrower than at the top where it should be wider for your head and shoulders.
3. If the weather is turning bad, you can jump up and down and stamp down the center. Try to get the floor done quickly so you can start work on the walls of your shelter.
4. Make sure that the center area of the horseshoe-shaped depression slopes down hill. The head and shoulders end of the coffin or horseshoe shaped depression needs to be higher than the lower end. Your head will be on the high end and your feet on the lower end. Once it’s covered over, the cavity formed by the shelter creates a heat trap, trapping warm air as it rises.
5. The legs of the horseshoe shape should come together so that the opening will be wide enough to crawl through and wider inside than at the entrance, further trapping heat.
6. Pile snow around the outside of the depression, leaving an open space between the legs of horseshoe shape for you to crawl into the shelter.
7. Start cutting out or forming blocks of snow and stacking them around the outside of the depression. You can even roll up basketball-sized snowballs and stack them like a wall. You can use loose snow like mortar to pack into the gaps between the snowballs. If you have a saw you can make nice neat blocks that stack even more efficiently.
8. Keep building your wall until the wall is two to three feet high. The walls will also follow the slope and be higher up the slope. Make the angle of the walls as nearly 90-degree with the floor as possible.
9. Find some straw, grass or pine needles, or other vegetation and cover the floor of the floor of the depression to insulate you from the snow so you don’t lose body heat from your back and lower extremities as fast. Don’t rely on your clothes to keep out the cold. Do this before you cover the shelter, especially if you may have to use it for a few days till you can get help.
10. Now as quickly as you can, find some limbs – evergreen boughs work best because the needles provide cover. Lace them over the top like this. Create a grid of large branches across the walls to support the roof. Then add more layers using ever smaller branches and sticks and finally leaves. If you have a sheet of plastic, a tarp or something impermeable to keep out melting snow and wind, lay it over the top. Try to block up any holes around the edges where wind can seep through
11. Once the roof is in place and pretty well enclosed, then cover the whole thing with about two feet of snow. Block or snowballs or packed snow will help keep loose snow from dropping down inside while you are making your roof. Cover the entire structure with two feet of snow.
12. Now, you want someplace for moisture to escape the shelter or your clothes will get damp from the moisture of your breath collecting in an enclosed space. With a stick or sharp implement, poke a two-inch diameter hole in the roof. Find some sort of tube to push through the hole for ventilation. You can use a rolled up newspaper, cardboard or cut the ends out of a soda bottle and push it up through the hole to create a controlled vent. This allows excess warm moist air to vent up out of the shelter and at the same time pulls fresh air inside so you don’t suffocate.
13. Find a log or create a flap to block the door by your feet. You want some air coming in, but you need it to be easy to open. You’ll need to check the opening at your feet to make sure it doesn’t freeze shut and trap you inside or get buried by the blizzard.
14. One your shelter is ready, get your survival supplies, water, tools etc. and crawl inside the shelter headfirst. Your feet will be downhill near the door. The space will not be roomy, but your own body heat should keep you warm enough with the snow acting to insulate you against more frigid temperatures outside.

Note:

The thing about the snow coffin shelter is that it can be made entirely working from the outside. That way you don’t have to waste energy crawling in and out to finish it. The roof should be solid, the snow well-packed and the supports secure before you crawl in. The snow coffin is a one-man structure, or if you have a companion, it can be enlarged easily to accommodate two people. Just use longer heavier sticks for that first roof layer. Snow is heavy. Over engineer. Use heavier branches than you think you’ll need so your roof doesn’t collapse on you.

If you have time you can build a fire as shown in the picture by the opening at your feet. This will funnel warm air up into the shelter and keep your feet from developing frostbite. If you keep your feet warm it will help keep the rest of you warm too.

A snug and reasonably warm snow coffin can be made in a couple of hours. Be energetic. Don’t try to get fancy (you can do that later). For now you want to get out of the cold as quickly as possible. Keep your head. It's what's in your brain that will save you, so keep your hat on and get warm as soon as you can.

Disclaimer/Warning:

• You will probably want to take off your gloves and work with your bare hands at some point. PLEASE DON’T. Frost-bitten hands don’t work well for building shelters. Leave the gloves on.
• Stay warm. For goodness sake, don’t pull off your coat. You need to keep your body heat up. You don’t want to have to warm up your body core. It’s easier to keep it up than it is to bring it back up and if you develop hypothermia, your brain goes wonky and you’re dead.
• Mark where your snow coffin is. I like to make a humongous big arrow out of thick branches or green tree boughs placed up hill from the shelter and pointing at my snow coffin. You want the search parties to find you. You don’t want the snow coffin thing to be anything more than a bad joke.
  
  

References:

Captain Dave’s Survival Guide: Shelter

http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/shelter.htm

Wildwood Survival: Snow Coffin

http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/shelter/snow/snowcoffin/index.html

NASA Quest: Snow Shelters

http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/antarctica/background/NSF/field-guide/manual10.html

Call of the Wild: How to Build a Snow Quinzee

http://www.call-wild.com/quinzee.html

The Emergency Pantry

Stocking Up for Emergencies

My mom used to have an emergency pantry. It was full of stuff like dried beans, peanut butter, stuff she'd canned from the garden and a variety of non-perishables. Being what would in today's economy be called a “low-income” family, we often had emergencies that calle for us to dip into the emergency cupboard. My grandparents also had an emergency pantry in case another Great Depression broke out. My my grandpa kept about 20 giant jars of real roast peanut butter, bags of flour, beans and rice in there. They planted a garden every year until the year he died, canned vegetables and always had last season's potatos covered with lime under the house to keep cool for the winter. We were expected to come over and shell peas and snap beans. It was something you just did.

Since the dawn of time families have kept emergency food supplies. Now, for the first time in history, most of us no longer do. Most of us don't have food sufficient to get ourselves through the week, much less a long term emergency. That's why every time it looks like snow here in Texas, everybody runs to the grocery store. We aren're read shouls the vast complex of interlocking technologies, power, transportation and communications links that sustains us be disrupted by weather, war, economic collapse or natural disaster. If disaster were to happen today, without warning, most of us would be without food, water and basic essentials in a matter of days.

So what can we do about it?

First you'll need a storage place, preferably someplace cool in case the power goes out. If you're lucky enough to have abasement or cellar, you can probably fix up something there. The earth outside the walls of your basement stay a reliable 65 degrees most of the time, even in the summer, so your stuff will last longer. A storm cellar can also be a good food storage spot. It's not only underground, but it is also the place you'll likely find yourself stuck in most weather emergencies. With good ventilation your food should stay dry and cool and increase the shelf life of things stored there. If you don't have such a place, consider building an underground pantry. At the very least build your pantry on the north side of the house away from outside walls exposed to direct sunlight. Insulate and ventilate the pantry so that dry air circulates through it. If you can bring ventilation from a cool place it would be even better. Hot and muggy is the enemy of long term storage. Don't even thinkj about storing food in the attic!

How much food should you store?

Most emergencies are only going to last for a few days, but if you set up your storage system properly, you can keep months worth of food by rotating your stock so that nothing gets more than a few months old. If you are worrying about the “Big One”, experts suggest storing up to six months worth of food. This gives you time to set up greenhouses and gardens and start producing your own food. Don't just store food either. Include bottled water, medical supplies, toilet paper, soap and other essentials as well.

Stocking the Pantry

Stocking six months worth of food is going to be expensive if you try to do it all at once. Instead build your supplies a little at a time by adding extra things to the shopping cart every time you shop. That way you absorb the cost a little at a time and you can take advantage of those 10 for $10 specials on canned goods and peanut butter. You'll be surprised at what you are able to accumulate simply by keeping an eye out for good deals. Be careful that the things you buy are not close to their expiration dates or you won't be able to store them long. If you do find those kinds of deals, simply put the to the front of your shelves and use them ahead of the same things that you already have that have a longer shelp life.

Try to stock a nice variety. Food is a wonderful thing for relieving depression or cabin fever. You don’t want to have to live on hominy and lima beans for 3 months no matter how good a deal you got on them. And don't forget the sweets. They're not essential, but hard candies and cake mixes store well and really hit the spot sometimes.. Make yourself a comprehensive “survival pantry” list. You can find all sorts of suggestions on the Internet on survivalist sites. Tape your list to inside of the pantry door and tick off things as you buy them and add them to your stock.

What to Stock

The best guide to stocking your emergency supply is to pay attention to what your family is already buying. If you have a meal you particularly like, buy double of everything and substitute a non-perishable item where you have a perishable one. Substitute canned potato salad for the fresh stuff. Sub canned carrots for fresh ones (although carrots actually last quite a while when properly stored. Buy canned fish when you eat frozen. Buy jars of pasta sauce if you make fresh. Better yet, if you make favorite homemade sauces or special dishes, try canning or freezing it for your emergency supply. You can always use the stuff for a quick tasty meal some night when you are in a hurry. When you buy bread, pick up flour, oil, yeast and powdered eggs so you can make bread if you need to in an emergency. If you've got a barbecue, you can actually bake bread in it. Look up how to do that and practice in case you ever have to do it for real.

Grow your emergency supplies over time duplicating your family's food purchases and your emergency supply will pretty well reflect your normal eating patterns. Once you are fully stocked, continue to shop as you normally would, but add your recent purchases to the back of your pantry shelf and using the older stuff from the front for your regular meals. Always pull out the older stock as much as possible to keep things fresh. Use a black marker to write the expiration dates on top of all the cans so they are easy to see.

Don’t forget to stock cooking fuels like canned heat and camp stove fuel. Put a big basic first aid box in your pantry and double buy commonly used medical supplies and medicines like aspirin, cold and flu medications. Anything you buy regularly at the grocery store, you'll probably need in the event of an isolating disaster or emergency.

Storage

Take some thought as to how you are going to store all the different types of things. Read up in books and on the Internet about how to store flour, pasta, canned goods, and dried beans – things with a long shelf life. As you buy stuff at the grocery store, also begin buying the right kinds of containers to protect your food from bugs, mildew mold and rot. Set up the pantry so it naturally ventilates, but if you can run a powered vent through there, do so. It will mean your food will last longer if the power does go out.


Information

Learn how to can food and grow things in your own garden. Get a book on gardening that tells how to harvest seeds for next year's garden. Even if you never need it, the information will be there just in case. Make up a notebook you can use to collect information about outdoor cooking, how to use tools and how to make things. Learn all you can about how to preserve, store and cook foods by alternate means. Have an organized place where you keep knives, axes, blankets, generators, and other survival gear.

Keep things you will need in case of sudden disaster. Everything needs to be within easy reach and everyone should know where it is. In an emergency you don't want to be fumbling for a flashlight or length of rope if you need it in a hurry. If you know where your gear is and have a good supply of food staples and supplies, you can hold out on your own for weeks – months if need be - till the phone and lights come back up again.

Which brings up another thing – power!

Power comes in a variety of forms. Think about what you will need. You'll have to have a way to cook, heat, cool and get supplies. A generator with a supply of fuel comes in really handy when the ice storm knocks out the power for a few days. If you have an effective fireplace or wood stove, you can hold out against the cold. If you have windows that open and some power to run the fridge and the fans, you can make it during the summer. For more long term disasters, you should have an axe and/or chain saw handy for breaking up wood for fuel. You should have a camp stove or cooking gear in case you have to cook over an open fire.

References:

The Well-Stocked Pantry
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1993-08-01/Stock-Food-Supplies.aspx

Survival Food Facts
http://www.preparedpantry.com/Survival-Foodie.html

Stocking an Emergency Food 'Survival Pantry'
http://extension.missouri.edu/webster/webster/security/survivalpantry.html