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Building shelter in snow?

OK, so I have been thinking a lot about you all up in the snow belt. Which this years seems to include everyone north of FL. What knife would you use to build a shelter in the snow? The Inuits have been doing this for many generations and they seem to have developed some interesting shapes and blades.

Tags: cold, knives, shelter, snow, surviving, the

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Shlomo ben Maved on September 15, 2014 at 15:21

Well, first off, I wouldn't build an igluit for the simple reason that I don't know how...Not quite true as I have helped build them numerous times with our Inuit guides but I only schlepped the snow blocks and they cut, shaped and inserted them...Build it wrong and they will collapse on you...The tool (pana) just has to be long as snow blocks can be 8" thick.

I've built many a snow cave and the first rule of them is to turn over the snow and then tunnel in--adds extra air pockets.

I have a similar one to this -- a 12" butcher's knife from the HBCo --bone handle wrapped in babiche (moose or caribou sinew)

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Charles Sample on November 19, 2014 at 20:11

Well, I'm not sure I know how to do it, but if I had to try I would probably use my 16 inch Frost Bowie.

In MemoriamPermalink Reply by John McCain on November 20, 2014 at 16:44

When I was a teen, a buddy of mine (he was a little nuts,LOL). made an igloo in his back yard and slept in it after a particularly nasty and frigid Illinois snowstorm, just to prove he could??- He used a corn knife, (basically a bolo or machete with a squared off tip) The corn knife has a little wider blade width and is a little heavier than a typical machete.-- Anyhow, he made a beautiful igloo and along with a mummy sleeping bag, claimed to spend the night very comfortably. Temperatures were well below zero that night.