Let’s Build a Snow Fort!
This age-old survival skill still enthralls everyone
from winter warriors to carefree kids.
By Marija Potkonjak, Associate Editor
In those corners of the country where children have never known a winter without snow, building a snow fort is a rite of passage. Once the stuff falls and covers just about everything, little figures in snowsuits go out to play. With shovels in hand and a supernatural immunity to the cold, these kids start digging.
| Class project. After piling snow and letting it settle, students at Houghton High School in Houghton, Michigan begin hollowing out their quinzees (below). Above, first-graders from Houghton Elementary came at the end of the day to learn techniques from the older kids. |
“I built my first snow fort with my dad when I was 5,” says Chad Buggert of Eveleth, Minnesota. “As a kid, it was just something you did in the backyard that was fun. Around here, this stuff is passed on by parents who grew up with it.”
Last year, Chad’s boys, Will, 7, and Owen, 4, built a quinzee, the most common type of snow fort, with their dad for the first time. They spent the day piling snow, let it sit for a few hours, then hollowed it out with shovels.
“We had a ball and spent the night in the quinzee,” says Chad, who was a Boy Scout and is now a troop leader. “We crawled in at bedtime, lit some candles and ate junk food nonstop.”
You don’t have to be a survival expert or a Boy Scout to build a snow fort with your kids.
“You can do it at any age,” says Chad. “Just get your kids out there. Besides, there are no bugs in January.”
The first step is to decide what kind of snow fort you want to build. Chad, who builds snow forts with his Scout troops, says there are different kinds:
Igloo. A shelter built in the shape of a dome with cut blocks of snow and ice. It can be permanent or temporary.
- Snow cave. Sometimes the snow just naturally falls in the right way. Find a nice mound of snow, dig into it, and you’ve got a snow cave.
- Trench shelter. A hole dug into deep snow that’s covered with branches.
- Snow wall. Just like it sounds, this is an impromptu wall of snow. Anyone who’s ever been in a snowball fight knows how handy one of these can be.
- Quinzee. An Inuit word for “snow dome.” Unlike the snow cave, you have to pile the snow, then hollow it out.
If you think you’re ready to build a quinzee with your kids, grab your snow shovels and follow the instructions from Chad below.
Step 1—Mark your territory. Make a circle in the snow about 10 feet in diameter.
Step 2—Start piling snow. Be sure to mix up the snow to break up any chunks. Stop when you have at least 6 feet of snow shaped in a dome.
Step 3—Find a dozen or so branches that are at least 1 foot long. Poke them through the top and sides of the pile.
Step 4—Let the pile set for about an hour. This is when you go inside and get warmed up with a nice cup of hot chocolate.
Step 5—Time to dig! Hollow out your quinzee until you see branches poking through the snow. You’ve gone far enough.
Quinzee 101
Folks all over the snowbelt take building these forts pretty seriously. Sometimes it can be a matter of survival. In Houghton, Michigan, the high school dedicates an entire day in February to building a quinzee.
“Kids love snow,” says Don Weiss, a retired biology teacher who started the tradition. “On our first Quinzee Day, there was a positive buzz in the air. The students came to school with snowsuits and shovels.”
Don gathered about 125 biology students on the football field. Parents made hot dogs and kept the hot chocolate warm. The students formed teams and competed with each other to build the biggest and best quinzee.
“Some of the teams joined together and built an enormous quinzee,” says Don. “They got 20 people in there. It was like being at the circus and seeing how many people you can fit in a Volkswagen.”
Years later, Quinzee Day is still going strong. The same science lessons are involved—winter survival, snow ecology and thermal energy—but the quinzees have become more elaborate.
“Last year, one group added legs and a head to their mound so it looked like a sea turtle. Other groups added a bench, a ‘recliner’ chair and a Jacuzzi outside their quinzee,” says Houghton science teacher Tony Schwaller, who’s now in charge of Quinzee Day.
The experience also shows students how powerful snow can be. “Fresh snowflakes are jagged and, when given the chance, will fuse together,” says Tony. “At the end of the day, many groups try to break their quinzee by climbing on top and jumping on it. A poorly built quinzee will break. Most of them hold up, until several students start violently jumping up and down on the roof.”
From the students’ perspective, the only downside is the ban on snowball fights.
Photographs by Caitlin Pionke