Camping... and a Snow Cave?

Friday afternoon, Kenny, Gabe, Lyndon, and myself headed out to Guanella Pass to go snow camping. Yeah, exactly...what the hell was I thinking?! It was in the mid 40's when we departed. Well, we got up there a little later than we had originally planned, but we still had a few hours of light left. It was getting cold and there was plenty of snow. We found a parking lot of sorts (all the usual camping grounds were closed for the season still), unpacked and began preparing for a fire. As we were unpacking it started to snow.....
Ken was able to get a roaring fire going using only one match (granted it took him 3 to get the match lit). Once the fire was going Lyndon took it upon himself to unpack the chairs and have a seat to stay warm and cozy. Gabe started assembling the tent for the night, and Ken and I began shoveling....

Yup, we started piling up snow into a huge mound and packed it down nice and good. After we got a decent hill, we started tunneling. I kept thinking of "Escape from Sobibor" as I was digging (that and a cave-in that would kill me).

That night, we ate chili by the fire, has some drinks, and sat around doing what people do when they camp.

When came time to hit the sack (in the wee hours of the morning), Gabe and Lyndon headed for the tent and Ken and I headed for "The Cave".
The Cave was roomy (but could have used a little more head room) and quite warm. I had to take off two layers of clothes I was wearing while sitting around the fire. After the 10 minutes or so it took to get situated in there with the two of us we settled down for the night comfortably.

Morning came (as it always does) and Ken and I arose from our "Cave" just about the time Gabe and Lyndon were getting up from their slumber in the tent. Evidently, (from looking at how Lyndon was dressed) Ken and I had a warmer sleep.

Gabe started taking down the tent, Ken and I started packing things up, and... Lyndon picked up the chairs and stowed them back on the roof where he got them the evening before.

We got home Saturday afternoon to weather in the high 80's... go figure.



The drive home was 'almost' another story....




"Official documentation" on building a few types of Snow Shelters. Kinda funny as well.