Saturday, February 07, 2009

Survival Skills

My Webelos scouts met to try their hand at building a snow shelter...

It was cold and clear - we even had Sun Dogs...

They started by piling up a big mound of snow - about 10 feet in diameter and about 5 feet high...

I don't know if you can see it in the picture - but they broke off sticks the length of their forearm and placed those around the outside edge - this will be their guide for the thickness of the walls when they are digging out the inside...

After we let it settle for about an hour - we came inside and had lunch and warmed up - they were able to start tunneling into the structure...

At first it was a good thing that no one was claustrophobic - but they took turns digging for a few minutes each and then two were able to get inside and pile snow on a sled to be emptied outside and then all three boys fit inside and then we all fit inside - the structure will sleep 4 - but the new scouts won't be able to try out cold weather camping until they have 3 fair weather campouts under their belts as Scouts...

4 comments:

  1. wow, that is a big pile of snow! i bet it will still be there in april....i'm sure it will provide lots of fun...love, k

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  2. That's so cool, the kids must have a great time at scouts.

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  3. Reminds me of the one you kids built in front of kitchen window many years ago. I think you used blocks of snow for walls then roof. The snow pile method works good too. Ours did stay there for weeks. E

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  4. What fun! I loved doing that as a child.

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