[Democracyman]

My most likely place to be in trouble is coming down off a mountain and
if in winter conditions in the pacific northwest. This could be a situation
where there is a few feet to even 10 or more feet of snow over the
ground. In the Pacific North West if you not know, they have feet and
feet of snow on the western side of the mountains. What you have is
larger evergreen trees sticking up out of the snow.

So you have access to the dry under limbs of trees and you can get under a
tree and maybe you can get into a tree well. Also you can dig a snow shelter,
or snow hole or snow cave. I wonder how can one build a effective fire in this
kind of situation? I like the idea of a fire bed the best, but how practical is this
given the depth of the snow? Could one go into a tree well and dig in that to
make a fire bed? I doubt that would be possible.

I have not seen anything about this particular survival situation except to
get into a tree well. Maybe one could build a fire in this? I imagine a such
a place in reality would be a cold miserable location overnight. Another
option is to build a debris shelter on top of the snow by using materials
off of the trees. Could a fire be built for good effect? Of course rocks
will be hard to find.

I am trying to think on the best ways to deal with this situation.

Any thoughts?

Dan

[garret]

the best way to have a fire in snow is with a fire pole.


YouTube - Ray Mears in Sweden part 3/7

it starts at the 3 min mark, i have used theis one numerous times and it burns for 6-8 hours depending on the log size and does not melt the snow under it

[Celticwarrior]

Laying down a bed of green logs a couple of layers thick, then piling on pine boughs to create an ash bed into the nooks and crannies of the logs, insulating them from much of the fire, and then building your fire on top of all of that would be the way I would go. Adding rocks (not stream bed ones that might blow up, but regular rocks) would allow you to get them steaming hot, and bring them into your shelter when you go to bed, for warmth. I would probably stick with a log cabin style fire, to keep the fuel lying straight on top of the base, rather than able to fall over and extinguish in the snow. If you dig down to soil to build your fire, be careful of exposed roots or leaf litter that might allow fire to travel underground to a ready fuelsource. Leave enough room around the snow pit to accomodate melting, so it doesn't drip directly onto the fire. The water will pool under the log base and keep the logs saturated, which will keep them from burning with the rest of your fire for a while. If you are building on top of the snow pack, the base will eventually warm enough to start burrowing into the snow. Be careful that the outer walls don't collapse onto the fire in that case.

Originally Posted by Democracyman

My most likely place to be in trouble is coming down off a mountain and
if in winter conditions in the pacific northwest. This could be a situation
where there is a few feet to even 10 or more feet of snow over the
ground. In the Pacific North West if you not know, they have feet and
feet of snow on the western side of the mountains. What you have is
larger evergreen trees sticking up out of the snow.

So you have access to the dry under limbs of trees and you can get under a
tree and maybe you can get into a tree well. Also you can dig a snow shelter,
or snow hole or snow cave. I wonder how can one build a effective fire in this
kind of situation? I like the idea of a fire bed the best, but how practical is this
given the depth of the snow? Could one go into a tree well and dig in that to
make a fire bed? I doubt that would be possible.

I have not seen anything about this particular survival situation except to
get into a tree well. Maybe one could build a fire in this? I imagine a such
a place in reality would be a cold miserable location overnight. Another
option is to build a debris shelter on top of the snow by using materials
off of the trees. Could a fire be built for good effect? Of course rocks
will be hard to find.

I am trying to think on the best ways to deal with this situation.

Any thoughts?

Dan

[Democracyman]

Great, I guess you would need to find a dead stump or tree to do this
or cut off a dead tree to do this.

I am still thinking of best shelter options. I would normally carry a large
sheet of plastic painters plastic and a trash bag or two and a space
blanket. I suppose I could try to build a A framed shelter with a trash
bag door and use boughs for floor insulation. I wonder how warm
would such a shelter would be? Would one need to use some boughs
for the roof or will just a deep layer of snow do? Like a couple of feet?

If one crawled into such a shelter wet and cold could it warm up enough
to do well?

Human Popsicle by morning?

Thanks

[Celticwarrior]

I would either use the pine tree idea you stated already, or find a blow-down and build up a bough and log layer under it, and then cover it best you can with pine boughs and sticks. Use whatever plastic you have as a rain fly over the top of the tree to shed water away. I would use a contractor bag as a bivy bag, and wrap myself in the space blanket before entering the bag, but that's just me.

Piling up snow around the shelter would keep out further snowfall or winds, and serve to insulate the interior.

[Democracyman]

No matter how you think of it, it looks like a cold, cold, cold night. Night fall
is around 5pm in winter and daylight around 7am, a long time to freeze.

Ugg

[lpm67]

I cant remember where but I do remember reading once about a fire being made on a snow raft...all I can remember is that the raft was made using layers of green woods with fire built on top.
Also here our Mountain safety council recommend digging into the snow to make a shelter and building fire in it, to the side, with open air ventilation above that section.
I know I'm not explaining this well so you might want to try Mountain Safety Council NZ, Avalanche, Bush, River and Tramping Safety

[BlindWatcher]

Originally Posted by garret

the best way to have a fire in snow is with a fire pole.

Bravo! Now that mate is something I have never tried but will on my next outing!

[kevin]

i'd probably say forget hopes of a full fire (sounds like you are talking still above main treeline, not in the forest). either way, get into your tree well, pull out your 9hr candle (you have one right ) and set it up at your feet, sit on some insulation and wrap your space blanket around you and the candle. inside should get toasty warm

[cowgirlup]

Garrett! that fire poole is a great idea! Thanks for the link on that.