The Boy Scouts accomplished a feat that VERY few people accomplish - the
Zero Hero Award...
...they began setting up camp early in the morning by getting out their snow dome form...
...lacing it up...
...and stretching it around the pile of snow they had already started...
...the form needs to be as round as possible...
...and as snug as possible...
...then the final side has to be laced up...
...then everyone piles on more and more snow...
...and a scout tramps around the edge to pack the snow walls...
...Scout had a turn at the tramping...
...time to start the Charcoal for the Pie Iron Pizzas that Scout had planned for lunch...
...back to packing and lacing and building...
...the snow on top gets packed with a shovel...
...and the form comes off - to reveal a solid dome of snow...now on to snow dome #2...
...and the coals are ready for cooking...
...Scout was serving as the camp cook for his First Class Scout requirements...
...he did an awesome job and everyone loved the menu and the foods he cooked...
...the pie iron cooks two pizzas at a time...
...so no one had to wait too long...Note: the pie iron is melting the ice where Scout is preparing the pizzas - remember we're on top of a frozen lake...
...lunch over - it was time to dig out the inside of the dome...
...Scout starts by carving out a doorway...
...the little sticks are poked in around the outside...
....as a depth gauge to keep the walls the right thickness...
...you shovel away snow just until you hit the inside of the stick...
...at first you're in a pretty tight little tunnel...
...but the work gets easier the more snow you remove as you have more room to work in...
...eventually you'll get a space big enough for 4 or 5 people to sleep...
...Snow Dome #1...
...and Snow Dome #2...
...the view from inside looking out...it's eerily quiet and bright inside a snow dome...
...not to mention - a whole lot warmer - mainly right now - that's because there's no wind - but tonight with 4 warm bodies in here - it'll get toasty - well maybe not toasty - but 30-40 degrees ABOVE zero anyway...this is the roof of the snow dome...
...looking into the dome - almost like a cave...
...Ok...now it's time for supper...
beanie weenies (we brought a vegan version of course)...and cream style corn...and juice and applesauce and cookies for dessert...how's that for a balanced Scout meal...
...everything takes at least twice as long to cook when it's 6 degrees below zero (-21 C)...
...it's getting dark...so it's time to bed down...
...unlike at summer camp...no one really wants to sit around the campfire tonight...
...All tucked in with a rug covering the opening...
...Night...Night...
...Zero Hero Camp...
...Everyone crawled out about dawn...and had a quick breakfast...packed up and headed home...
...Scout is such a good scout...washing up all the dishes from camp...they froze so quickly that we couldn't really wash them at camp - so we just brought them home dirty...HA
