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With winter quickly approaching here in the Northeast (though with temperatures lately, you’d think we’d have skipped it.) it’s a great time to remind people that cold temperatures don’t mean you should run and hide from nature. Au contraire, my friend! You must embrace this weather, jump in the snow, and as I’ve found, use it to potentially save yourself from disaster or a horde of nasty penguins.

Over at instructables, I found a step-by-step guide to making something called a Quinzee. At first I thought this must be some type of fruit or European sandwich, but lo and behold, it’s actually a super cool snow fort. The authors claim that it’s easier to build than an igloo (of which I’ve never tried) and seriously looks remarkably similar to the snow forts I used to dig out of our snow plow’s driveway piles. The directions go into great detail on how to a.) pick out a location b.) size out your Quinzee c.) dig the holes and d.) if on ice, even illuminate the floor beneath you for effect.

Here’s a small excerpt from the instructions:
“While the rest of us were busy hollowing out the two quinzees, Carl was looking for something to do. So he took it upon himself to incorporate into our design, a little wall – complete with seating – to shield us from the wind. This proved to be a most welcome addition when later that night, we built a fire within the walls, and sat around star gazing!”

“We built the fire on top of a small platform of wood to help slow down the heat melting the ice below. Eventually all the wood burned up and extinguished itself in the puddle it had melted, but we were all long in bed by then. Kind of nice not having to worry about starting a forest fire, eh?”

Too cool. I’m planning on trying this out myself once these 60 degree temperatures disappear. If you happen to make one or have some suggestion on how to improve on this idea, let us know!