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SAS snow hole

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Sunday night, so it’s SAS who dares wins again

in among the shouting at contestants (“f*cking listen, and listen quickly”- listen quickly? Eh?), they found some time to try to build a snow shelter. This involved piling up rucksacks, and then piling snow in a wall around them. Then it cut to people inside what seemed to be a roofed snow hole; then an order to abandon the exercise as one of the groups’ shelters wasn’t ready before the ‘storm’ came.

the way it was edited, I couldn’t see what the technique for construction actually was. What were the rucksacks for? Did they get buried then dug our and removed to create the cavity for shelterjng in? Does that actually work- i’d have thought the roof would just cave in. And the completed shelter had a room that looked far larger than the rucksacks would have made. 

Any ideas what they were trying to do?

 tehmarks 20 Jan 2019
In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

A form of quinzhee that needs less hollowing and less snow than just making a big pile of snow?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinzhee

 Pete Houghton 20 Jan 2019
In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Going by the memory of my Dorling Kindersley SAS Survival Handbook from when I was a child, I believe the technique is to pile all of your rucksacks together, cover them with snow to a depth of at least 45cm all around, pack it down hard, and stab dozens of sticks around 30cm long through the snow, so that they are all in an even depth.

Then dig a hole through the wall, extract your rucksacks carefully, enter your snow dome, and scrape away at the walls and ceiling until the base of the sticks are visible.

Post edited at 23:29
In reply to Pete Houghton & teh_mark:

 

Thanks- mystery solved! 

 

 

 summo 21 Jan 2019
In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

It does work, because worked or moved snow has had the crystal structure damaged and they bond together tighter quicker afterwards, than unconsolidated snow.

It's a poor shelter though. It takes time to freeze, there is a risk of it failing and it's on the surface exposed to all the weather. 

Minimum effort in an emergency, a tree well of a spruce works fastest. Presuming you are in a forest of the right type of course. 

Post edited at 06:31
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 summo 21 Jan 2019
In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

^

Guess I upset the wannabe sas whittling wood in the forest survivalist types.

I didn't see the programme, but I'll take a wild guess that the reason the task was binned was because they were building the wrong shelter, in the wrong place etc. Simply because it makes better tv. 

 

Post edited at 08:01
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 CasWebb 21 Jan 2019
In reply to summo:

It was binned because one group ran out of time to finish the shelter before the snow storm hit.

In reply to CasWebb:

Well, so they said. The ones with the complete shelter could have stayed in it though. 

And it jumped from what looked like a low wall of snow around the rucksacks to people crawling into a complete shelter. Maybe it was just bad editing. 

Moley 21 Jan 2019
In reply to no_more_scotch_eggs:

Not watched it, but was this filmed last winter in UK or do they take them abroard somewhere?

In reply to Moley:

Chile. Up the Maipo valley near Santiago as far as I can make out. 

 summo 21 Jan 2019
In reply to CasWebb:

> It was binned because one group ran out of time to finish the shelter before the snow storm hit.

Precisely. Wrong shelter, wrong place.

Most people build those shelters leaving big packs behind in the morning. Then go off for a half a days skiing etc.. the sas on ops aren't going to bury all their vital equipment in snow then stand around waiting to see if they or their snow shelter freeze solid first.

Better to read the map, the contours, consider previous prevailing wind, then find a drift. Even if you don't finish it before the storm hits, you'll be inside to some degree and out of the worst wind on the lee side etc.  

Or as I said, find a large spruce with low sprawling branches. There is very little snow around the trunk. 15mins and one person could make a shelter for 4 people to survive. Wind protection and a natural roof. 

There are better ways to survive when not on tv. Ie. 500gram 3x3m plastic sheet or bothy bag. 

 

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