Snow Caves

• Find a safe spot away from potential avalanche slopes and leeward slopes where blowing snow could clog and seal the cave's air vent. Ideally, dig your cave into a small slope or bank with snow at least six feet deep. Digging a snow cave into a bank or slope is much easier than digging one on a flat surface.
  
  
• Try to stay dry. When you dig, wear your outer hard shell clothing with as few inner layers as possible; that way when you are done you have dry inner layers to put on.  Work slowly but efficiently to avoid excessive sweating. Dig an entryway tunnel about three feet into the slope and then begin angling and excavating upward and create an expanded dwelling space.
  
  
• The cave ceiling must be at least one foot thick to keep it from collapsing. Construct the cave floor above the top of the entry tunnel so the warmer air will be trapped inside.
  
  
• Make the ceiling and walls smooth so melting snow water will run down the walls and not drip on occupants.
  
  
• Cover the cave entrance with a tarp or snow block and punch a ventilation hole through the ceiling with a ski pole. Put on all your extra clothes, wrap up in your emergency blanket or bivy, sit on your pack or foam pad, fire up your stove and/or light your candle and then tell your best jokes.
• Avoid Asphyxiation: If you have a stove and/or candle in your snow cave, make sure you have a vent hole and that it is unobstructed.

Other Options

• A faster but less warm option is to dig a trench and then cover it with a tarp propped up by ski poles or branches.
  
  
• You may be able to find shelter in a tree well beneath thick tree branches.

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