Winter Camping: Building My First Snow Shelter

There are a few different ways to build a snow shelter. I did some reading on the subject and watched a few on-line videos. I decided to go with a “snow mound” type of snow shelter.



My Voile avalanche shovel (left) strapped to my back (right)

But first I needed to get a shovel. The avalanche snow shovel is a very popular item to have if you enjoy any kind of winter activity in the mountains. They are not cheap, most run from $36-$60. I found a very good deal on-line ($15 off retail price) on a Voile avalanche shovel. It weighs just a pound and the handle detaches from the shovel for easily carrying. Having used this shovel for about 4 hours I have to say I’m very happy with it. Comparing it to others, it’s very light and the actual surface of the shovel is larger then some of the other brands.



My mound is on the bottom left, my hole is where I'd be building my snow "cave"



The hole and the stairs



Posing inside my hole to show how deep it is



I also fell inside a deep hole in the snow just on the other side of my mound, those holes are usually located next to trees



The opening to my snow "cave"



My snow cave is done

The first thing to do when building a snow shelter is to pack down the area you are going to build on by walking on it with snowshoes. Then start building the “mound“. The mound is the part where you will end up sleeping, once you hollow it out. Mary built a classic type of “mound” snow shelter. Packing down the snow on the mound makes the snow hard and easy to hollow out.
I don’t know what went through my head when I starting to make my mound. I was planning on building a “mound” shelter but as I was digging a hole to get snow for my mound I decided to build a “cave” instead. The original snow pack was about 5 feet deep and in my opinion way more packed down then the mound I would making.



Mary packing down her snow mound with her shovel



Mary's finished snow shelter




Mary inside her snow shelter

So my plans changed. I dug out a hole all the way to the ground. Then I had make stairs to get back up to the surface. Then I started to dig out the “hole” or "cave "where I would be sleeping. This was the hardest part of the whole process. Especially carving out the ceiling. I wanted the interior of the cave to be lager then the door way, this was hard to do. There was no way of not getting snow all over me in the process. The deeper I dug the more snow I got on me. Half way through the digging of the hole I became uncomfortable, thinking what if this thing collapses on me, my head was deep inside the cave and my legs were sticking out of the entrance . So I turned around and finished digging out my “the cave” with my feet. I basically just kicked snow with my boots, loosed it up, then scooped it out with the shovel. Then at the end I smoothed out the ceiling with my gloves as best as I could. The smooth ceiling would mean less dripping of condensation.



Tom using a saw and cutting blocks out of the snow



Tom's snow shelter is a trench with igloo type blocks for the roof



Tom's roof is almost done

I wanted to build a small hole on the other side of my “sleeping quarters” to store my backpack in since it wouldn‘t fit in to my “sleeping quarters“ but my back and shoulders were already getting sore from shoveling snow so I decided just leave my backpack on the ground and step over it. I should have made a hole for it, stepping over the pack was a pain, especially since it sitting in front of the stairs.

So lets talk about the mistakes. I made a few in building my shelter and honestly I can’t wait to do this again. The next time I build a snow shelter it will be way better, I’ve learned so much by building this first shelter. Although, I can wait until next March to do this again. I’m not in any hurry.

The first mistake was digging out the “sleeping quarters” at the ground level. The next shelter I will build, the sleeping platform will be elevated, off the floor. It will be warmer this way.

Another mistake I did, I built my shelter too close to the trees. I ran in to the tree trunks when I was digging out my “sleeping quarters”. It actually worked out for the best though. I originally was going to dig a hole straight in to the wall, but when I ran in to a tree trunk I had to make a “L” shape cave. This was nice because I could face the door when I was laying down.

The biggest mistake I made was making my ceiling too low. I did that by mistake. I basically just wasn’t thinking. When I finished my “sleeping quarters” I climbed in to it and checked to see if I fit. I did fit, the cave was perfect for me, snug - I wanted it that way, thinking snug would be warmer. What didn’t occur to me at that time was that my sleeping pad was 3” thick, and I was going to be sleeping on two sleeping bags and a bivi, adding even more bulk.

I didn’t think of that at the time I was making my cave and didn’t make any extra space. So my cave was tight, really tight. My head was very close to the ceiling, and getting in to my cave was a pain. I basically had to pull my sleeping pad out of the cave, climb into my sleeping bags and bivi and then pull myself and the sleeping pad into the cave. It ws hard but I finally managed to get in there but by then the bivi was covered in snow, which was falling off the walls and ceiling of my cave as I scraped up against it trying to push myself back in.

In the end I didn’t even use my sleeping bag liner, because getting into two sleeping bags and a bivi in such tight quarters was problematic enough, the extra layer might of made it impossible. Too bad, I needed the extra warmth. That’s the thing about tents, you can sit up in them, so getting in to one or two sleeping bags isn’t a big deal. The next shelter I will make will be larger inside, I’d like to be able to sit up inside like in my tent.

In the end my snow shelter was like a deep trench, which is way warmer then sleeping on the surface. The cave gave me protection from the elements, although I was sleeping very close to the door way, so cold air still managed to enter my shelter. In the end I was pretty happy with my shelter But next time I think I will attempt to build a “mound“ shelter.



My snow cave

There are pros and cons to each snow shelter design. By me sleeping 4.5 feet under snow, an animal like a deer would not be able to fall through the roof of my shelter. The roof was very thick. A mound shelter with a thin roof would collapse much easier with any weight on top of it.



A diagram of my snow cave, it's not exact but you get the idea

But if it did collapse the person wouldn’t have that much snow on top of them. If my shelter collapsed on top of me I might be trapped, but I thought of that before climbing in it to sleep. Having my face by the door way would save me should my roof collapse, it wouldn’t be hard to break through someof the snow to exit. I purposely left my shovel by the door way in case of any emergency.

Snowshoeing: Vail Pass Winter Rec Area

This weekend I was snowshoeing, backpacking and camping in the mountains. Camping without a tent, in a snow shelter that I have to build! The early spring time is the best time to do a winter camping trip here in the Rockies. The days are longer now, so there is more daylight. And there is still a lot of snow in the mountains to build a snow shelters. Because this winter was one of the driest on the record we had to go kind of far to find a lot of snow.

I met the group in the morning west of Denver off of I-70 and we drove west toward Vail Pass. We took the 190 exit for the Vail Pass Winter Recreational Area. We each paid $6 and parked our vehicles in the lot and acquired a backcountry camping permit. This area is very popular for snowmobiles, the parking lot was full of them. We gathered our gear and walked across I-70 to the trail.



To get to Vail Pass from Fort Collins is 160 miles and just under 3 hours

There was 5 of us. I was new to the group and had only met Tom the organizer once before on a snowshoe outing. The others were Mary, Mike and John. Neither of us has ever slept in a snow shelter and we were all very excited to be building one today.



Parking lot at Vail Pass Winter Rec Area, everyone brought a snowmobile here



This is where we paid our $6 each and got our camping permit



Signs at Vail Pass



We crossed I-70 and got our snowshoes on

The sun was out and it was already pretty warm. I had two of my layers already stowed in my backpack, which was filled to capacity now. My pack was so heavy that I had a hard time getting it in to and out of the car, but once on my back it didn’t feel that bad. After going across I-70 we put our snowshoes on and started climbing the trail. We were not planning on snowshoeing very far, just far enough to get away from the buzz of the interstate, and off the trail and away from people. We continued on the trail for about a mile until it reached an open area. The trail continued straight ahead and down but we stepped off the trail and went to the right. After another half a mile or more we came upon a really pretty area. We went down a bit to a spot that leveled off for a while before sloping downward again and decided to make this our camping area. He views were great here.



Heading out to find our perfect backcountry camping spot



Off the trail now exploring the area



We spotted a good place to camp



All these pics have some thing, probably dirt, on the lens



Tom took this one of me, why is my pack crooked?



Going further off the trail



Down this hill is our perfect camping spot



Mary fell in to a hole in the snow, Tom is going to pull her out

We established the areas where we were going to build our snow shelters and started the process of shoveling snow. But more on that actual building of the snow shelters later in a separate post. Lets just say it took many hours to built our snow shelters, which also included a lunch break.



This clearing will be our camping spot, what a view



A self photo with the mountains to the east behind me

By the afternoon we were done building our snow shelters and ready to explore this area. Since we arrived here in the late morning, we have seen anyone else, although someone did cross country ski though our backcountry camp site while we were busy building our snow shelters. There was a long ski track left behind, which disappeared far away in to the trees. Maybe this skier saw our snowshoes tracks and thought this was a trail.



Fresh snow and amazing views



Looking behind me at all the tracks I've made



Closer to the mountains now, this is where I turned around, the snow was getting very deep here with snow drifts



Looking back at my snowshoe prints again



Now I'm not too far from the campsite

By now we were too tired from shoveling snow to do a long snowshoe trek like we had hoped to do, so we just decided to each do an individual short snowshoe excursion by ourselves and meet up at the camp site around dinner time. But first we all collected some wood to make a fire later on.



Hanging out in the "kitchen"

I headed east on my snowshoes from the camp. I saw the others heading in other directions. I was breaking my trail in some deep snow, at times running in to very deep snowdrifts. There were some amazing looking mountains ahead of me. This landscape just makes you forget about everything. The mountains and hills are so beautiful covered in snow. The snow shimmers here like diamonds in the bright sun. The sky perfectly blue and clear, almost navy at these high elevations. Not sure how far I snowshoed, it was an amazing sight to kept turning around and seeing my lonely snowshoe prints in the snow. I was in an open area now and the wind was blowing hard at times. I could feel the temperatures falling already as the sun started to hover low over the mountains. It was 55 degrees earlier today. All I was wearing was my wicking insulated turtleneck and I was warm at times while shoveling snow. Now it was probably in the low 40’s. I had my turtle neck on, my fleece pull over and my shell, but I could feel the chill of the wind. I headed back to our campsite to put some more layers on before I became cold. The sun was gone now, the others were coming back to the campsite also.



This is where I'll be sleeping tonight, my snow shelter (more on that in the next post)



I love this picture - as the night falls, boots and gloves up on trekking poles being dried by the warmth of the fire

Tom had built a kitchen area, which was centrally located to our snow shelters. This is where we would be hanging out. After we started the fire, we all prepared our dinners. Mine was already prepared. I had one peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch and now I was having the other for dinner with my white tea which was still warm in my thermos. I had all my warm layers on now except for my fleece leggings, since I didn’t feel like taking off my boots, gaiters and pants to put those on. I was planning to put them on before I went to bed.



It was 0 degrees overnight, 7 when we finally went to bed, but we were warm sitting by the fire

It was warm sitting by the fire, according to my thermometer it was low 30’s by the fire. When I walked back to my snow shelter and got back to the fire, my thermometer displayed 16 degrees. Sitting by the fire was definitely nice and a lot warmer. I can’t imagine sitting here without the fire, it would be miserable and cold. Too bad so many places out here in Colorado don’t allow camp fires. We sat and talked for a few hours by the fire. The sun had set, the starts were coming out. There was quite a bit of them in the sky by the time we called it a day. We buried our camp fire in the snow until the last flame was out and made sure that everyone knew to get help if they were not warm enough in their snow shelters during the night.

After 10PM I made it back to my snow shelter. I had already put my big Agnes sleeping pad in to my snow shelter, now I needed to get my two sleeping bags out of their stuff sacks, and get my bivy out as well. I put my fleece leggings on under my pants and over my other leggings. I had my second pair of wool socks on too. And I was tucked inside my snow shelter as best as I could with my two sleeping bags and bivi. Even though it was now only 7 degrees outside, I felt that it was definitely warmer inside my snowshelter, I’d say at least 15 - 20 degrees.

(See my previous post for my packing list ).

My First Winter Backpacking Camping Trip

Tomorrow I will be doing my first winter backpacking camping trip. Being that it’s still winter we will need our snowshoes as well. What I will not be bringing is a tent. Instead I will be bringing a shovel and I will be building a snow shelter to sleep in.

Preparation

I’m no stranger to camping in the winter months, but I have never camped in temps lower then low 20's. And I have never camped without a tent. About a month ago, before I even heard about this winter backpacking camping trip, I attended a Winter Backcountry Essential’s clinic at REI which thought me a few things and definitely helped me assemble a list of items that I will need for this weekend. I am sure through this experience I will learn a thing or two on my own and by the time I get home I hope to have a few more items added to my winter camping list.

Reason

I like to experience things first hand. Sure, I can attend clinics, and read about things, but there is nothing like doing it yourself and having that experience.

So three weeks ago when I found out a group was planning on doing an overnight camping trip and building snow shelters, I signed right up and spent the next two weeks doing research on the things I’d need for the trip. And also researching how to build snow shelters.

I believe the experience I will gain from this trip, might even help me in an emergency situation if one should ever arise. The mountains can be a dangerous place, especially in the winter time. There are possibilities of avalanches and severe snow storms. The weather can be very unpredictable in the mountains at any time of the year, but in the winter the weather can become deadly if one is unprepared. Having the right gear, knowing how to stay warm, hydrated and protected from the elements, and being prepared for emergencies can make a difference between a good day and a bad day in the mountains.

Gear

Everything I was bringing had to fit inside my Gregory Diva 60 liter pack. We were going to be camping at around 10,000 feet in elevation and the temperatures would probably be dropping in to the single digits overnight, and possibly even below zero.

I assembled my gear list very carefully. But the real challenge was fitting everything I wanted to bring in to my pack. My pack isn’t that big and after packing and re-packing, and re-packing again. I was left with some choices to make.

Since my zero degree sleeping bag is very heavy and huge (I didn’t buy it for backpacking) I was planning on bringing two sleeping bags. A +15 degree goose down sleeping back which I just bought last October which is very light and packs down very small and the old +40 synthetic sleeping bag which packs downs pretty small also. The two sleeping bags together are actually way smaller then my one cheap synthetic zero degree bag, and better quality, so hopefully warmer too. I also wanted to bring my insulated Columbia jacket and my insulated winter pants but there wasn't enough space for all of that since both items are kind of bulky. In the end I decided that bringing the two sleeping bags was more important then bringing some extra warm clothes. The clothes I was going to be wearing would probably be all the clothes I would have on this trip.

I also wasn’t bringing the Jet-Boil, I didn’t have any space for it and I knew others would have ways of heating up water. None of the food I was bringing needed to be heated up. Instead of bringing the water filter, I was going to bring all the water I would need for the two days. If I needed more water I could melt snow, which usually doesn't need to be filtered.

I also wanted to bring the footprint for my two person tent, to use as a floor for my snow shelter but after having everything loaded in to my pack, there was no more space inside. When I started to strap the foot print to the outside of my pack, I noticed how heavy it was and decided to leave it at home. I already had a few things strapped on to the outside of my pack and I was concerned the pack was going to be too heavy, especially trying to carry it while wearing snowshoes. I have never carried this my weight wearing snowshoes before. Plus I needed to leave some space in my pack for some of my layers, since during the day the temperatures would be much warmer then at night.

Packing list:

-Food

20 oz water bottle with water
3 liter platypus with water
20 oz thermos with warm white tea
2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
Trail mix
Crackers
Tuna
Energy bars
A few tea bags

-Clothing

Salomon snow boots
An extra pair of socks
A pair of thin fleece gloves (can be used as glove liners)
A pair of thick fleece gloves
A pair of goose down insulated mittens
A pair of thick insulated ski gloves
Thick fleece hat
Thin hat
Fleece neck gaiter
Insulated wicking turtle neck
Thin fleece pullover
Insulated quilted jacket liner
Thick fleece jacket
Gore-Tex thin jacket shell
Medium weight wicking leggings
Thick fleece leggings
Water resistant pants
Gaiters

-Equipment & Gear

Avalanche snow shovel
Snowshoes
Trekking poles
+40 degree synthetic sleeping bag
+15 degree goose down sleeping bag
Sleeping bag liner
Emergency bivy
Insulated sleeping pad
Sunglasses
Goggles
Altimeter with compass
Knife
Headlamp
Glow-stick
6 packets of Grabber Mycoal Mini Heater Hand and Pocket Warmer

-Personal

Lip balm
tissues
First aid kit
Excedrin
Hand wipes
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Small camping towel

-Misc

A few extra plastic shopping bags
Lighter
Matches
Some lint from the clothes dryer (to start a fire with)
Digital camera
Cell phone

XC Skiing: State Forest State Park - Gould Trail

I wanted to take my new-to-me cross country skis out for a spin today, and since Mike has never been on skis before, he wanted to go cross country skiing also. Mike went and rented a pair of skis, poles and boots from Jax in Fort Collins for $12, then we headed west on highway 14 towards Cameron Pass.



Highway 14 heading toward Cameron Pass

I had a trail in mind for us to ski. I wanted to skis the Cameron Connection trail first, which would take us to the Michigan Ditch trail. Both trails are supposedly easy. We arrived at the Zimmerman Lake Trailhead parking lot around 11:30AM. It was going to be a warm day today, but at this hour it was still in the mid 30’s.



The mandatory poser pictures with skis

As we collected our gear the parking lot was filing up fast. With all the new snow that fell here yesterday, many people has the same idea but most of them were heading out to do the Zimmerman Lake trail or the Montgomery Pass trail.



We needed some help to get the 4Runner out of the parking lot, we really need a four-wheel-drive out here

We grabbed our skis and poles and crossed the roads to the Cameron Connection Trail. The snow was very deep here. We got our skis on and proceeded west but it was hard to make any forward progress. The snow was very deep and it didn’t look like anyone had been here yet since the new snow had fallen. There were some small hills on this trail, not even hills - more like bumps the size of large steps, but for whatever reason we couldn’t get over them with our skis. The skis were bending, if we tried to climb the hills sideways, we would just end up sliding backward sideways. We just weren’t ready to ski trails like these, after a few falls be got our skis off and walked back to the Zimmerman Lake Trailhead parking lot.



Amazing views from highway 14 of Cameron Pass

We needed a wide, groomed and mostly level trail and I knew exactly where we could go to ski one that wasn’t too far away. I was just there yesterday snowshoeing. We would have to pay $6 to cross country ski at the State Forest State Park , but I was certain that the Gould Trail would be a perfect trail for us newbies.



The Moose Visitor Center at the State Forest State Park

Unfortunately, with all the snow in the parking lot, the 4Runner was now stuck in the snow. The Toyota 4Runner is a very popular SUV around Colorado, but unlike all the other 4Runners around here that are four-wheel-drive, Mike‘s truck is rear-wheel-drive since he didn’t need a four-wheel-drive vehicle when he was living in Louisiana. With a little push we were on our way to the State Forest State Park just on the other side of Cameron Pass.



A groomed ski trail is exactly what we needed



Mike - first time on skis



I'm look like a pro now, having skied two whole times



Mike in action



I'm really moving on those things



Going downhill is so much fun



Cross country skiing and getting a tan - that's Colorado

There was only one other car in the lot at the State Forest State Park. We basically had the Gould Trail all to ourselves. The groomed trail was awesome to cross country ski and we were having a blast. The temperature was now in the 50’s, which felt like 67 degrees with the warm sun.



Notice the snow in the parking lot has all melted now (there was lots of snow in the parking lot when I shot a picture of the Moose Visitor Center a few hours earlier) the sun is very warm here, the snow melts very fast



I tried the Alpina skis that Mike rented, they had metal edges, they were much faster then my skis, shorter and wider too, but I didn't not like these Rottefella bindings - no button like on mine which you can press with your ski pole to release the boot from the ski - on this binding there was this grey locking mechanism that you needed to open and close using your hands

I have to say that I was much faster and better on the skis today, then the first time two weeks ago. Also, this trail being wide and groomed, with no obstacles to watch out for, gave me a lot of confidence. We didn’t ski the whole Gould Loop which is 6.5 miles long. We skied out about 1.5 - 2 miles and turned around. We probably ended up skiing about 3 - 4 miles today.



Mountain sheep along highway 14, I've never seen them out here, usually they hang out near Estes Park

Now that I’ve snowshoed and cross country skied the Gould Trail, I have to say that skiing it is more fun because it is such a wide trail and there isn’t much of an incline, it‘s prefect for cross country skiing. And I’m sure I get through the 6.5 mile loop faster on skies then on the snowshoes