So, I have never dug a snow cave and slept in it. Until this weekend. I went up with the my scout troop (which I serve as Asst. Troublemaker, I mean Scoutmaster) to dig caves, some with the intention of sleeping, some with the intention of just digging. Here are a couple of lessons I learned.
- It takes about 2 1/2 hours to dig a quality cave.
- You get really wet. In the effort of full disclosure, we were caving in snowbanks at one of our scouts cabins. So after getting really wet, I was able to go change and sit by the fire for 3 hours before returning for my slumber. I was still glad to have many layers.
- When you wake up in the morning you wake up with really sore shouders from chipping and hauling snow, and suprisingly really bruised knees from kneeling in small confined areas chippng and hauling snow.
- While sleeping in a snow cave the mind plays some wierd tricks on you. You think, "What if a cougar (Not a BYU cougar, although that might be uncomfortable as well) thinks my awesome cave is an awesome cave? Could I fight if off? Would it be afraid of my headlamp?" You also think, "Wow, that cave ceiling is awful close to my head." Then you actually fall asleep, sit up, to roll over and think "Crap/Ouch, that hurt, I knew that celing was too close to my head"
- Things I am glad I had for a quality snow caving experience: Big Blue Tarp, 2 crazy creek chairs (folded out for insulation) 1 Thermarest Pad, 2 sleeping bags, 2 socks, fleece pants, rain pants, 1 Poly-pro shirt, 1 fleece turtleneck, 1 fleece jacket, 2 sets of gloves, 1 beanie cap, 1 camp pillow, head lamp (to fend of the cougras), Sorels, and a short shovel with a hand grip (and a cabin close by to change and get warm and dry!)
I have to say that I was the only person to make it through the night outside. Man vs Wild, here I come. I have also had many nights camping where I was colder then than I was in the snow cave. I would do it again, minus the visions of cougars.
For more Snow Cave fun check out the Troop 181 blog link. See you in the snowbank.
3 comments:
If you click on the link in the comment it starts downloading what it says is antivirus software. Same thing if you click on fenrisar. Just thought I'd warn you if you don't know who it is.
Now for the comment I wanted to leave: I've decided that I really don't need any more guilt-inducing to-do lists, so I'm going to start an "I-never-need-to-do" list. This will be at the top of the list. :)
thank you michelle.. deleted that nasty fenrisar. Why does he care about snow caves. Jerk.
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