OK. I need to pose a question, but there could be several places where someone can just smack me and say, “That’s not right, at all”. I am prepared and can handle it.
Now, I recall seeing a long time ago on a outdoorsy TV show (don’t remember any more than that, sorry) that if you were ever outside in an area of heavy snow and ice that you could stay warm at night using this method: Get a fire going and collect many large stones and put them very near the fire. After it has burned for several hours, you can dig out a sleeping-bag-sized area in the snow, and then arrange the hot rocks and coals from the fire in this area. Then, put a layer of snow on top of this and then put your sleeping bag on top of that. As the story went, supposedly you can create a warm bed that way even if you have snow on top of your bag.
Now, a couple questions:
Is this legit at all? Has anyone heard of this/tried this? If everyone is scratching their heads and looking at me…then that will end my questions.
But, assuming that this is a legit method…I do not understand how it works. I have to think that either:
• you put too little snow down, which would all melt, and you would burn your ass
• you put too much snow down, and the heat from the rocks would be lost.
Moving beyond that, (assuming this is a legit method, and you know exactly how much snow to put down)…how does this work? I can’t see how any temperature balance would be attained at all.
Help? Sorry this question is such a mess.
It does not snow much where I live and when it does, I don’t go camping in it. But I have tried this method of staying warm (without the snow) and it does work.
I used a half-dozen head-sized rocks, heated in the fire for hours. I’d pre-dug my trench during the day, the length and width of my body (not my sleeping bag), and deep enough to cover the rocks with three inches of dirt.
At bed-time I moved the rocks into the trench, spaced them out, and covered them with dry dirt. I slept very warmly throughout the night.
As for using snow to insulate yourself from the hot rocks, I don’t see how that could work.
I am not a survivalist, but the layer of snow right over the warm rocks doesn’t make much sense to me, either. In addition to the problems you mentioned, if the snow melted from the heat, it would get you wet, which could be a life-threatening situation.
People have used warmed stones or bricks for a very long time, prior to modern heating. In some churches in Colonial America, the pews had a container for a warm brick people could use to keep their feet warm. In houses, warming pans could be filled with warm rocks and placed into beds, etc.
Maybe what they were suggesting was something like this:
Dig a hole and line it with the warm rocks.
Cover the rocks with tree branches, blankets, etc., making sure rocks aren’t hot enough to ignite them.
Put sleeping bag on top of that layer.
Put snow over the sleeping bag. This would be something of a blanket to prevent heat loss into the air. That might work.
Snow is a very good insulator. If you can make an ingloo (snow fort made of snow bricks), or a quimsy (snow fort made of a hollowed out snow pile: Way easier), you could sleep in one quite comfortably.
As for your specific question, I wouldn’t try that myself. I can see the dirt method working ok, but with snow I forsee a soggy and burnt @ss, as the rocks melt the snow, then contact your posterior.
Disclaimer: I’m ok, but no lumberjack. Other outdoorsmen/women/beings may disagree with the above post
Provided your sleeping bag is insulated enough to prevent contacting snow from melting (and since you’re outside in a blizzard, I’ll assume this), I’d be totally willing to go with Andy’s suggestion.