by Austin Hale

Created on: May 19, 2009

A snow campout is every Boy Scout's dream. Leaving a warm comfortable home to face the rugged landscape and cold weather triggers a low burn of adrenaline that is hard to compete with. The basics of a snow campout are generally location, shelter, food, and warmth. Each provides their own unique challenge.

When choosing a location for a snow campout the first point to consider is money. Whether you can afford to travel to the forests of Alaska or are stuck in the frigid plains in Wyoming is of great consequence. After determining your ability to travel look for places with trees. Trees provide the bones to any good snow campout.

After scouting out an appropriate area try to find some water or ice if it's cold enough. This will help to cut down on the amount of water you have to trek in. While it may not seem very important it will become vital to survival if you are snowed in.

Shelters on a snow campout are one of the main reason they provide such allure for people. You will most likely first attempt to create an igloo, which without proper research is pretty much impossible. The next best variation is the snow fort. These do not have a set shape, but are rather a few walls with either tree boughs or tarps for your ceiling.

Sleeping in a snow fort or igloo is actually quite comfortable. They capture heat and the snow provides a decent cushion to lay your tarp/ground cloth/sleeping bag combination over.

Food on a snow campout is handled in either one of two ways. Either you pack all your food in or you focus on trying to acquire your own food supplies. While this may seem simplistic acquiring your own food can be quite a fun adventure when you are trekking about in the snow.

For the seasoned professional foraging through bushes for berries or setting snares for small game can really be an event. Doing this as a novice, however, can be a death sentence.

Basic warmth on a snow campout is vital. Nothing is fun and you will die without warmth. In emergencies you can retreat to your car and burn fuel, but planning ahead will make things much more comfortable.

Using the trees we talked about earlier find some dry wood. Look underneath the boughs for dry wood that has accumulated. Use the dry wood to start a fire a few feet from your snow fort. Make sure that it doesn't melt your shelter, but rather helps to fill it full of heat more quickly than your body can.

Snow campouts when planned correctly can be a blast, but if planned incorrectly can kill. Keep this is mind and make sure that you are being safe.

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