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Quinzees!

Our Junior Forest Warden adventure for the weekend was to teach the kids how to make a quinzee.

A quinzee is a snow shelter built out of a pile of snow, snowdrift or snowbank.  If you don't have a natural snow pile of some sort to work with, you need to make one first and let it sit for at least 2 hours before digging it out.

One of our Forest Warden families has a farm and offered to make us a few snow piles in one of their fields.  This dad also has quinzee making experience so he helped lead this activity.  He made the piles the day before.  We were a little bit worried about the weather and how it might affect the building of our quinzees.   It was above zero the day before and the day of our building.  Quinzees work best with fresh snow and below freezing temperatures.  We were worried that the snow wouldn't hold together and be too wet or would be a solid block of ice on the inside of the pile.  It turned out very well though and we weren't worried about how long our structures  were going to last as we weren't planning on actually sleeping in them.  At least the kids got to learn how to build them and learn how they work.

Four of the younger kids worked on the larger pile of snow, digging several tunnels into it to start and then hollowing out the middle to make a room.

My family worked on the smaller pile, taking turns digging just one entrance.  We all took turns digging, helping each other out with each shelter for almost 2 hours.

Russ set up a Halton Hacienda to show the kids a different type of shelter and the host dad built a little fire so we could warm up or dry off a little.  Then we gathered everyone up and did a little tour of all of the shelters.




We were able to fit 6 kids in the big quinzee.  They were sitting up though, not laying down.


In the smaller quinzee they were able to squeeze 3 small kids.  Everyone had fun digging out and exploring quinzees.   A few of the kids thought it was interesting how the snow blocks outside noise and how quiet the quinzees were inside.  Most of the kids said they wouldn't sleep in one though.

We also demoed a Halton Hacienda.  It is made from a large sheet of clear plastic with an emergency foil blanket attached off  center.   You drape it like a tent from a ridgeline tied between two trees.   We threw a couple of blue closed cell foam mats inside so the kids could crawl inside and test it out.  The way we set it up, the emergency blanket was facing the sun, so the kids could see how it warms up inside.  At night you would set up a fire a pace away and 2 paces long.  The fire reflecting off the emergency blanket would help keep you warm and the plastic would keep the warm air in and the wind/rain/snow out. 

It's a nice simple shelter you can carry with you instead of a traditional tent.  My oldest son slept in one on his own in the fall in 4°C weather without a fire, just a good warm sleeping bag and he was fine.  He really enjoyed the experience.  We are thinking of making these with our club for the kids to try sleeping in, in the spring.

Next we took the kids down to a little creek bed to explore a more natural area, to look for places you could use as shelter.  We also talked about looking for potential hazards such as dead trees and the creek swelling in a rainstorm.

After all this we enjoyed some marshmallows around the fire before heading home.  Weather wise, we couldn't have asked for a better day for this activity. 
Now we are prepping for twig burner tin can stoves for outdoor cooking.  Stay tuned!

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