The-Atlantic-thefemalesurvivalist

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!


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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.

Eight inches of snow fell in North East Georgia, so of course I had to get out and bushwhack up to the favorite overhang and test this concept.

I'd always heard about the two fires. Instead of one big white man fire whereby you burn your front off and freeze your behind, or visa versa, you create two small safe fires. The trick is to build the fires with a sitting/sleeping place between them. The whole thing is done with a safe zone, so that the fires can not escape or threaten to overwhelm the person tucked between them.

In reality, this is not hard. If you were sleeping near one big fire, you would know how to do this. Clear all dry leaves, possible natural fuels, or gear from close proximity. If possible, surround the fire with large stones, creating the fire ring. This is very important if the ground is not perfectly level. As the branches burn in half, they can break and roll off the fire onto surrounding area.

As the video shows, its not hard at all to maintain two small fires. Of course, a great bed of coals goes a long way in warming and securing long term comfort.

A person can eat snow if they are warm enough. But, its pretty nice to drink warm, if not hot, beverages in winter conditions.

The survival can, with plastic sheeting, matches, petroleum jelly fire starter, a knife, compass, and other treats is always nice when playing in the woods.