Quinzhee for survival, or just for kicks

I had the sudden urge last week to head into the mountains and build an igloo. Why? Because I can! Well, in theory that is. I wanted to see if my friend and I could construct a snow shelter fit for survival. The plan was to build it and then sleep in it.

After a little research, we decided to go with a quinzhee instead of a technical igloo because we had no shovel or saw, or whatever else people use to make ice blocks. We piled up a massive mound of snow, which took about 2 hours. Because we were working with 100% fresh powder, we let the pile settle for about an hour. I was surprised at how packed and firm the snow became in such a short amount of time. The next step was to burrow into the mound and hollow it out. We had already stomped down the floor before making the pile, so once we dug out the inside, our quinzhee was ready to go. 

We crawled inside, and to my sweet relief, it was amazingly warm.

After 2 minutes of laying inside, we had a conversation that went like this:

"Do you really want to stay inside this thing for 14 hours?"

"Nah, not really. Do you?"

"Yeah, not really..."

So we peaced out and I had a good night's sleep in my warm, cozy bed.

But the point is we made a quinzhee! And it was fit for survival. If we needed to, we could have slept in it, and woken up alive and (possibly) comfortable. Mission accomplished.

Access: With snow shoes- take a cross country ski trail and find a spot that is out of the way, but one that steers clear of tree banks. 

The entrance; the inside chamber expands as you go deeper.