 | Well; today's lesson was: You're first row is your most critical row! |
| I can't express that enough. We lost our "forced angle" about 1/2 thru
our 1st row; and when we came back to do our second; we had HUGE gaps that we tried to
"force fill" but it just sort of crumbled in. |
| It would seem that "fluffy" snow isn't the best; here you can see Kris
compacting the site (she does have snow shoes on!) After we did it with snow shoes;
we did with our boots.
 As you can
see; it was pretty fluffy! |
| For our first row; we used the fluffy snow that was around; it didn't form too well; and
was a lot of work to keep the blocks in tact; as is evident by our really crappy 1st row:
 That's kris kneeling to give some aspect to it; we're just
starting our 2nd row. |
| For our second row; we started using snow that had been "snow shoed packed";
and that made packing much easier. However; the more dense snow put a bit more of a
strain on the pole; which knocked the center spike loose. (I believe a "snow
screw" would be better...) By the 2nd row; Kris started getting tired; so I
started "doing it all".
 This one is looking
"in" toward the center. |
| Here's a good one of how you have to pack the snow has you fill it in. You cannot
just fill the form and pack it all at once... |
|  (I love my gaiters! & REI "windblock"
fleece gloves!) |
| When we started on our 3rd row; I decided it was time to "hope out" while I
still could; take care of some business; and get another Guiness (which; in the snow;
turned into "guiness slushies" and munch on some salami & bread... I
got a good look at how BAD we messed up on the first row; and how we kept fighting it all
the way:
 Notice the ledge on between the first and second row. |
| During our 3rd row; we realized it took us 2 hours to get to here; I can't say for sure;
but it might have had something to do with the Guiness; but mostly it was how we struggled
with trying to compensate for the first row being off. We gave up; and headed off to
our waiting hotel & fireplace. It was a great day to play... More practice is
needed before we venture off to sleep in one in the wild; and definately need more
practice with different kinds of snow. If I get feedback on different techniques for
different snows; I'll post them.
 You can clearly see
how uneven it is; and the ridge we made by not keeping our first row correctly angled. |
