Oware Pyramid

Great shelter, and photos!!!

I've never built a tarp/snow shelter like that before, and may be the only one in these forums who's in the dark about the techniques you used. Would appreciate knowing how you go about forming blocks used to construct the wall.

Do you use a box, or something similar, as a mold in which to pack snow for each block? Or just stomp down an area of snow and then cut blocks from the packed down area?

JRS

Thanks Viktor. What size is the Oware?

Rod

That's a work of art! Having not built anything near as nice or complex as that, I would be curious to know how long it took.
Steve

It is a 10' x 10' x 6'pyramid made out of silicone coated nylon with a weight of 26 oz.

It is pretty fast to set up. Here is the time line…

Site prep ~ 15 min
Quarry setup time ~ 1 hour
Actual construction ~ 1 hour with 2 people.

Hi Richard,

I looked around the web a little and didn't find anything that useful. One of the best books that you can buy to describe the techniques is "Revised and Even Better!" "Allen & Mike & Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book." Mike Clelland has great illustrations in it.

Basically, you stomp down an area to consolidate the snow. Wait 60 to 90 minutes for the snow to set up. Then using the snow saw, cut out uniform block to use for walls or igloos.

We used a Life Link Snow Saw to cut the blocks. It was the only one that REI carried at that time.

http://www.life-link.com/accessories.htm

Here are some other saws that also work great…

http://www.smcgear.net/products.asp?cat=4&pid=59
http://www.snowsaw.com/