Winter Shelter

I failed to collect enough logs and branches for my original plan of the shelter project in this cold winter break. Since it was snowing, and our backyard had enough snow, I ditched my old plan and decided to build the shelter only with snow.

The snow was loose, they did not have the texture of concrete that could stick together when the wind blows. So it seemed unrealistic to build a full-scale shelter with snow, but a one-fourth scale shelter was possible. It turns out even the one-fourth scale shelter could support a nine years old child.

I only used shovels. With some help from my host-dad, we shoveled snow behinds a big branch that fell down a long time ago, piled them up to the high of the arch of the branch. Then I pat them into shape, made sure they would not fall apart easily. The pile of snow was about 35 inches tall. The last step was to dig a hole on the front side of the pile, I shoveled the hole deep and wide, made sure it can actually fit someone for the shelter use.

Tori (she is only nine years old), she tried the shelter and said it was pretty comfortable. I asked her does she think the snow on top of her could fall off when the strong wind blows? As she experienced and thought it was not possible. She also answered it was not cold or wet in there.

The cave shape shelter fits the requirements of the assignment:
Even though the shelter is made of snow, it protects people from the cold weather. Usually, it is cold because of wind, since the shelter is a cave shape, it blocks wind from people. Also, the snow stays dry when the weather is cold; thus it fits all requirement.