Emergency Survival Shelter

“I'm teaching a merit badge class to scouts, and they have to build an emergency shelter using natural materials. Anybody got an good ideas or unusual experiences of such structures?

About the most efficient I have seen was on a mountain rescue trip where we were looking for a lost bow hunter. He popped out of a hollow log as we walked by, dry and in good shape after 3 days and nights in cold and wet weather.

The typical shelter I think of is a lean-to or teepee, with sticks covered by branches, with leaves or needle covered branches on the outside, making it somewhat waterproof. Those are hard to do if you don't have an axe or saw.”

“I have a good book on shelters. but it is at home. do you need the info NOW or can i get it to you over the weeekend?”

“over the weekend would be fine. Monday we are starting fires without matches, and the next monday we'll do shelters.”

“You might check out one of the Survivorman episodes if you can catch one in time.”

“debris shelter

(google images for examples)

scouts easily build these”

“There's also the detritus shelter made of belly button lint. It's snug and cozy, but material gathering can be hairy.”

“ok I will work on it this weekend.


the book I have, is broken down into different elements
ie; winter, desert and forest... maybe I can even scan the pages and email them to you on moday. just let me know :)”

“Try asking a college winter survival prof., probably get some good ideas there.”

“Good idea Hiker1984, except I are one. I'm just looking for new ideas.

I taught a backpacking class, a winter mountaineering class, and a winter camping class for about 13 years each at the local college, was on nordic ski patrol for 12 years, was active in mountain rescue for 4 years, backpacked for 36 years, and have climbed 200+ peaks in the Sierra, Cascades, and Idaho.

I am just asking for input from people who might have a good idea to share.”

“There are some very cool snow shelters. The Field Manual for the US Antarctic Program has several variations... some elaborate some pretty easy. Its on the web at:

http://www.usap.gov/travelAndDeployment/documents/FieldManual-Chapt11SnowShelters.pdf

Here are some other ides:

http://www.northcountrytrail.org/news/winshel1.htm”

“Find a dead deer and gut it. Then either crawl inside if it is big enuf (When and I thought they smelled bad on the outside" or you skin it and find the corrk of a downed tree to curl up in... I saw Bear do that pon 1 show. Something about it wasvery disturbing.....”

“If those sources aren't enough, the book I have is available used on Amazon for 2.72 + 4 bucks for S&H or as an on-line download for 7.96.

http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Caves-Survival-Ernest-Wilkinson/dp/1555660959/ref=sr_1_7/183-5907307-6594118?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226688778&sr=1-7

Oh and some other paperback version for cheaper:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/091251003X/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used
last edited: 11/14/08 10:57:44 AM”

“wow, 4 responses before someone said something smart...yogi's wearing off on you guys ;)”

“for winter i have had good luck with scouts building a quinzee. when i was a scout i got my zero herp patch on this project. they are easy and fun to build. they get really wet, however, with all the digging... but that's part of the fun.

the guys built a debris shelter last year. it was quick and easy. you see these built on "survivorman" and "man vs wild" all the time.”

“as yogi said, the debris hut is by far the easiest and requires the least skill and no tools. The downside is time. It can take a lot of time to gather enough debris to optimize the design. Ideally a debris hut will have a mound 3ft high on all sides. Not only does this add to insulation value but will improve the shelters ability to keep you dry. The draw back is that after a big rain the debris may need to be swapped out as it will be waterlogged and will lose insulation value and repellancy.

Snow caves are naturally occuring under large pines, snow caves ins are a risk with them.”

“Depends on your usage of the word 'smart'   < wink >

Just as an aside, I saw a prefab job not long ago... not 'solo,' '3-season,' '4-season'.... It was billed as "a tent to jump into to have lunch on a rainy hike" kindof thing. Can't remember who was selling it.

I filed that one with the Paha Que "outhouse made of nylon, complete with crescent Moon on the door".

”

“I took shelter from rain in a Survival Shelter on Adak Island, Alaska. From a distance with strong binoculars, it appeared to be a 55 gal. barrow on it's side. Up close, it was a small, quanset hut that could hold about 20 people packed in tightly.”

“You have mail....”