The Slippery Task of Building a Snow Shelter

The Slippery Task of Building a Snow Shelter

When I first saw this assignment I really was not sure what do to first.  I began thinking of different ideas but was not really sure if any of them would be sufficient for the weather conditions.  Considering Thursday was much too windy and snowy to head outside and begin to adventure, I decided that I would start my experimenting on Friday.  I asked opinions from several people and decided what I thought would be the best idea for the final creation.  I attempted my creations on three different days.  I began on Friday, and with continued thought I came up with four totally different creations.  

My first attempt at building this snow shelter was to make a whole within a mound that was created from shoveling and plowing the snow.  I got a shovel and inserted it into the mound and from there tried to make a place that someone could lay in.  However, this initial plan did not really work out perfectly.

Friday's First Attempt:  

As you can see from the above image this was not really the ideal comfortable shelter to be in.  It was probably a bit too small for one or two people and there was not a very good covering or floor to the shelter.  It was a start but really not the best solution.  Also, the lack of sticks I was able to collect did not make the creation any better.  I thought the sticks could make a floor for the creation but that also did not really work.  I decided I needed to find either a bigger mound or a new idea.  This first creation was put to rest.  I ventured onto my new idea which was quite different.


Friday's Second Attempt:

So my second attempt was to make an igloo.  Truthfully, I have always wanted to make one in my childhood and never did so I thought well maybe I will make one and maybe it will be easier than I imagine.  So I decided to watch some Youtube videos on how to build the best igloo.  Well, really not sure if that was a good or bad idea.  After watching a video that said "this took us three days of hard work" I was a little startled to even attempt.  Anyways, I decided I would try.  I asked a friend to help me and we ventured outside at about 4:00 thinking we could have enough daylight to make a good dent and we could finish the next morning or into the dark with a light.  We were going to use containers to make some snow rectangles however we could not find any good ones around the house and we also thought the conditions of the snow would be too difficult to work with.  So yes, we did use a sand castle bucket.  However, this was still a VERY hard task.  We worked for a good amount of time, through darkness but then decided we needed to give up.  I realized at this point that the last of building an igloo was much much harder than I anticipated.  I would now be moving onto my next attempt.  I think if we had made a full circle and then made a few layers it would've had good potential for success but the snow was so powdery that it was almost impossible to do even with using pots of water to make the snow firmer.  Onto a new day of adventures.

Saturday's Attempt:

I unfortunately do not have an image of this attempt.  I was at dance from 10-4:30 on Saturday and had some free time when I did not have class.  Considering I would be spending most of my time with daylight at my dance studio I decided to make the most of it.  I went outside all bundled in my snowsuit and grabbed a shovel.  I headed up into the huge mound that had been made from plowing the parking lot.  This attempt was truthfully not that bad.  I was able to make a hole that was big enough for me to sit down in and it even had a partial cover from the snow.  However, I did not have plastic to put on the bottom and also I did not have anything to close it and create a top with.  It was definitely a good attempt but it was not great success.  And I also forgot to take a picture of it so off I was onto attempt number three on Sunday.  Improvement but not the best.

Sunday's Final Attempt:

So considering we were allowed to use plastic I decided that I would use a tarp that I had.  I went over to the house of the children I babysit so that I could use them as a model.  I found a small arborvitae tree that was growing and decided to take that to my advantage.  There was also mulch that was under the tree.  Although in the image it is not completely visible, it was right below the layer of snow that was frozen to the mulch.  With the plastic tarp I had, I draped it over the tree and on eat edges put rocks so that it would prevent it from closing away.  I opened the tarp to take this picture of the inside however from the outside it had the look of a tipi and it had the support of the tree that was small enough to use the piece of plastic that was allowed.  I took a picture and video explaining my idea and decided this was probably the best creation I had made although it did not really involve that much digging in the snow except for clearing the snow off the mulch.  I asked Serena and Sophia if they would live in this and they said they would!  They enjoyed staying in there and wanted to stay outside longer than I did!

Overall, this project really did make me look outside the box and think of different ideas.  I tried many different things and I am really not sure if any of them were fabulous but they were all attempts and they all used the different ideas I had.  I definitely spent a lot more time outside in the snow than I would have if I had never gotten this project assigned so I guess it was a good thing in a way except that it was very cold.