LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/609681
50 Winter 2015 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk As the founder of Primitive Pursuits, the wilderness immersion pro- gram located in the heart of the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, I have been practicing the art of winter survival and preparedness for years. A frequent visitor of Adirondack Park, I was excited about the late-winter backcountry trip I'd planned with my close friend and col- league, Dave Muska. Muska and I set off early on the morning of Friday, March 13 for Marcy Dam. Although temperatures at the outset were in the single digits, by midday it was a comfortable thirty degrees Fahrenheit. At the dam's base camp we passed a Quinzee (a classic North Country shelter) that had been left by another enterprising group of hikers. Comprising nothing more than an excavated pile of snow, this shelter offers campers a viable option where beams and brush are unavailable. Because the Quinzee has a tendency to sag (the one drawback to this type of shelter), Muska and I constructed more durable lodgings. With the snow deep enough for the excavation and quarrying of blocks, we began by digging a trench roughly eight feet wide and ten feet in length. (For two inhabitants I will generally make shelters much more compact to maximize their insulating properties, but because Muska and I had the luxury of sleeping bags—something I don't always bring along—we made our accommodations more spacious.) For the frame, we positioned a downed birch and laid beams and branches across it at a forty-five de- gree angle. We quarried blocks from the snowpack around our campsite and laid these on top of our frame, making sure to fill in any cracks with a layer of loose powder. Muska and I completed our work on the shelter in a matter of hours. Because we were using sleeping bags and overnight tempera- tures weren't expected to drop significantly, we decided to leave our door open. This not only eliminated the need for ventilation but allowed for quicker egress during the night. The Adirondack Overnight By Dave Hall and Jon Ulrich Using Nothing More than Snow and Downed Timber, Even a Novice Backpacker can Fashion a Versatile Survival Shelter