How to Build a Quinzee

By: Wyatt Tyndall

Quinzees

A quinzee is basically a combination of an igloo and a snow cave put together. A quinzee works well in marginal snow conditions, or when a crust is not available for building an igloo and also when there is not enough deep packed snow to build a snow cave.

BuildingShovel a pile of snow into the shape and size of an igloo.

Let it harden and then hollow it out. Say you were to build a quinzee with an inside of diameter of 1.8m. Mark off a circular area that is at least 2.4m – 2.7m in diameter (for the walls). Next, mix up the snow within your circle to get it sintering. Start piling snow on top of this area by using snow that is from outside of the circle. While you shovel, flip the snow so that it gets well mixed and keep piling it up until it gets about 1.8m high. Next, flatten the top off to give it a dome shape, but don’t pack down the snow. Poke a couple dozen sticks that are 30-45cm long through the top and sides of your snow pile. They will be your guidelines to wall thickness when you dig it out. Now you have to wait for your pile to harden. Depending on the temperature outside it could take between 1-3 hours. The colder it is outside the faster it will harden.

Digging

Start by making a small opening at ground level. As you dig inwards, gradually slant upwards so that the sleeping platform is slightly raised. This will allow the coldest air to flow down and out of your quinzee while you are sleeping. Hollow your quinzee until you reach the ends of the sticks you poked through earlier. When you are done digging, your walls should be at least 30-45cm thick and you should have a dome shaped ceiling. Make your ceiling as smooth as possible to prevent dripping. To complete your quinzee you need to make a ventilation hole in the ceiling and keep it clear all the time.

How Does It Work??

• A quinzee hut is possible because temperature differences exist within the layers of snow. By mixing different temperatures snow you create a sintering process that causes even powdered snow to harden.

Reference List

http://www.call-wild.com/quinzee.html - January 5th, 2010

http://www.instructables.com/id/Quinzee-Building/ - January 5th, 2010