Scoutmaster Musings

This was the perfect weekend for tons of snow fun! The snow pack has been building for the past month or so and we finally had plenty to build quinzees with snow to spare. The temperature ranged from 10F down to -15F during our campout.
In past outings, the snow depth was not enough to cut blocks, but this year I finally got to complete my snow block shelter and here it is. I still needed to finish the door at this point.

Not like an igloo which requires larger blocks tapered and banked, this hut has vertical walls with the last few layers starting to lean in. It then has rows of two blocks leaning together at the top to make a vaulted ceiling. This uses less snow than a quinzee and I think it is less work and more fun. Certainly more room inside. I shoveled snow all over it to fill the cracks.

Friday night, I slept in it before the roof was put on. Saturday night, two scouts borrowed it since their shelter collapsed while they were digging it out. That's their story anyway and they're sticking to it. :-)

Most of the experienced scouts are skilled in making quinzees, but I'm hoping next year some of them might try a block house since there were some interested observers. If nothing else, they enjoyed smashing it on Sunday.

In all, the scouts built 8 quinzees and 14 scouts slept out - the rest opted for the indoor shelter.

Scout On