People say I'm crazy.
Over the Christmas break from work and school (the entire HP corp. closes for the week of Christmas) we had a couple of really nice storms. We have a good drift in our yard too. So when we get 6 inches of snow, my yard has 12 and the guy across the street has 1. Awesome.
So, Jackal and I shoveled the first storm worth into a pile and made a little fort. We immediately realized it wasn't big enough, and when the next storm hit, we had a plan. We shoveled the entire driveway and half of the yard on top of the old fort. We then let it freeze for a few days, and added snow to reinforce it in places.
We needed it to be strong, so we built four steps into the side, and Jack spent several hours setting world sledding records from the top.
In the excavation stage we used several shovels, a few sticks and a dump truck of jacks. We ended up with a nice little cave/sledding hill. Because of our structural planning, we were still able to sled from the top after the cave was finished. I was even able to stand on it with my substantial girth, and it made no signs of failing.
So, with such a good cave, there was only one thing for it. I had to sleep in it. So, a few nights after Christmas I took the little pad out, and my ex-army ECW sleeping bag and went for it. The news guy said it was 15 degrees that night. I slept well until a bit of show came down upon me from the ceiling and melted and made a wet spot. At this point, I agreed with the people who said I was crazy. But A bit of tricky shifting got me out of that dangerous situation. Phew.
It's been a few weeks now, and it's been very warm. But the cave is intact, and going strong.
Here are some shots:
Getting ready to sled.
Workin on the Castle.
King of he hill.
10 comments:
That's awesome! The couple times we've had huge snow around here, I see the teenage boys next door having that kind of fun. They built a tunnel probably 10 feet long from the top of the hill to the bottom, and army crawled through it, but their dog LOVED it and ran through it all day. It was pretty funny. But no one tried to sleep in it. I told them how you do that sometimes, but they were not interested.
Wow! That sounds like quite the sturdy structure. Glad you guys could make the most out of your hard work. Maybe some year Jack will sleep out there with you. I bet he is that crazy too.
Whoa dude! That is pretty daring. At least you were only a few feet from your bed if you needed to get warm quick. I wish I could've seen it in person. You and Jack are such a perfect pair.
we just got dumped on again today. I'm excited to see what that will do for your fort.
Careful who sees you in that fort... if the ward YM pres sees you, he might want to take you to teach his boys how to snow cave.
Jonny: I openly advertise my willingness to work with the YM in any capacity, always to fall on deaf ears. I don't think mormons like to have even the suggestion that a calling isn't purely revelation. Too bad.
Hey, Mattman, did you let C smell your little wet-spot from your night out in the cave? I just had a feeling that it might have been done (maybe intentionally?) to keep you warm that night, so I am asking, did your clothes amell like amonia the that morning-before-you-came-inside-and-threw-them-in-the-washer...
Josh: What now?
That is the coolest snow fort! That must have taken a lot of time. Though, Chase Cheney and I made Minis Tirith from LOTR on top of our snow for which could comfortably fit two people inside. But we were up at his cabin, which had about 6 feet of snow, rather than 6 inches. So yours is awesome, especially since you could stand on top of it! And make a slide as well!
What a perfect blog for me tonight. I just read Jack London's famous short story, "To Build a Fire" for my class. It was 101 degrees below zero for that guy and it all ended badly. I'm glad your experience was quite different! I remember your boyhood snow caves. Love, Mom
Your snow cave probably melted a tich last week, but luckily it just won't stop snowing (today is the 21st). You can rebuild if needs be. I think you are crazy in an awesome way! Whose Dad does such fun and funny things. J is a lucky boy!
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