the Handbook for Primitive Living

in the Twenty-First Century.

Imagine if tomorrow you had no hydro, no running water, no fuel, no phone. How could you survive? This site is a thought experiment designed to answer that question.

Snow Shelters

A debris hut is good shelter when you can readily find dry leaves, branches, grasses, and other materials. What happens if all of that useful shelter-building material is hidden under a big pile of snow? Naturally, you build a snow shelter instead.

There are many different ways to build a snow shelter, but all of them share a few key features:

• Thick walls: Snow is a good insulator, but not exactly a stellar building material. Make sure you walls are good and thick to prevent collapse.
• Elevated sleep platform: Cold air sinks, so it’s a good idea to dig a trench beside your sleep or rest platform, or dig such a space above your ‘floor’.
• Ventilation: A good snow shelter can also be very airtight. Be sure you have a small hole in the top of your structure to provide you with some fresh air. Warm and cozy should not equal ‘suffocated’.

You can decide for yourself what kind of structure you want to build, but it will largely be dictated by the quantity and quality of snow around you. Just remember that snow insulates well but also melts, so you can surround yourself and keep warm, but try to also find a method to keep dry.