Now, you may live in the South, and you are shaking your head at me. Maybe your extreme weather would be the heat of the summer or desert. Read on, as you can learn about building a quinzee for winter camping as an example of preparing for one extreme, and be able to reflect on your own level of preparedness for yours.

I believe that any kind of SHTF is going to stretch me to my limits. I've read Selco's stuff, and I'm a big admirer of how he makes the gritty challenges of SHTF real. Given how harsh my winter can be, doesn't it make sense to test my limits in my harshest season?

Reading vs. Doing
It's one thing to read about outdoor survival shelters in the winter, and it's another thing to do it yourself. You may read advice in your outdoor survival guide to simply dig out a snow bank to make a life-saving shelter. Unless you have actually tried this, I would say that you will lack the experience to know how to do it properly, will waste valuable time, perhaps the last of daylight, and you may perish. 

Here's where winter camping comes in. No matter what climate zone you live in, having the experience of being outside in the extreme elements of your area can save your life. Putting up a tent in the middle of a harsh winter is one thing, but what about sleeping in the snow?

Snow can make a great shelter. I should know. I've slept in more than one snow cave, or quinzee, as they are called. I made them myself, one with friends and one completely alone. (For more information on snow shelters, check out this awesome book – not only is it good advice, but you'll enjoy how it's delivered.)

What's Great About a Quinzee
The word quinzee is borrowed from the language of the Athabaskans, the original inhabitants of Alaska. Once you build one, you will realize the incredible insulating qualities of snow that you may have only read about.

Wind can also be a killer in winter. A properly constructed quinzee will shelter you from the wind, as well as the cold. Remember those childhood snow forts? I suffered some ceiling collapses, as I recall. If you build your quinzee properly, it will become very strong indeed. Before we left our winter campsite, a number of us literally stood on the roof of ours for a photo. No collapse! So, strength is another great benefit of the quinzee.

In a solid run of cold weather, there is no reason that you couldn't survive quite nicely in a quinzee. You can build large or small ones. Our outdoors club chose to build several, which we connected through tunnels. The biggest enemy of the quinzee is warm weather. They would not be worth the investment of time and energy when the weather is close to melting temperature.