Looking for help with Winter Sierra Nevada Snow Camping Survival Skill for Scouts

I have a friend who uses a motor oil drain pan. I've never done it, but always sounded like the perfect size and item for a small group campfire. Immediately, I realize these are young bodies and these pans are likely zinc galvanized.

We went on a winter campout where we hauled our gear with gear sleds. At camp we built a luge run through the trees and scouts used the gear sleds as luges. We also has a snowshoe course with targets at intervals. The scouts snow shoed around the course and shot at the targets with bb guns. That was fun.

Two quick suggestions to keep the lads busy:

Should there be not enough snow to carve out a cave (its too scant), then a snow quinzee is still a possibility. I would recommend using a tarp over a round pile of packs and building it over that … it will reduces the amount of snow needed to be piled up and it goes faster. Remember to have a pack sticking out from the group to act as a form for the entry and make it easy to extract the packs from the interior.

There is also the possibility of building igloo by using a turkey pan (or an equivalent "mold") as you snow block / snow brick "mold" … gather up snow and pack it down into the "mold". Once done, gently turn it upside down – the taper of the pan's walls will allow it to release fairly easily.

Of course these suggestions also work if there is enough snow, and igloo block carving will go much faster than making snow molds of blocks.

Bob, given the recent Olympic events, your activity sounds like a lot of fun for the boys (BB Guns and skis). You probably had everything covered, but for others reading this, please be aware of the BSA policy about this kind of activity, If you don't follow it and someone is hurt on your activity, you can be liable.

Here is the policy from the "Guide to Safe Scouting":

The Boy Scouts of America adheres to its longstanding policy of teaching its youth and adult members the safe, responsible, intelligent handling, care, and use of firearms, air rifles, BB guns, and archery equipment in planned, carefully managed, and supervised programs.
Except for law enforcement officers required to carry firearms within their jurisdiction, firearms shall not be brought on camping, hiking, backpacking, or other Scouting activities except those specifically planned for target shooting under the supervision of a currently certified BSA national shooting sports director or National Rifle Association firearms instructor.
All shooting sports activities held during a council resident camp will follow the standards in National Camp Standards, No. 430-056. All shooting sports activities held outside of a council’s resident camp will follow the rules and regulations found in the BSA National Shooting Sports Manual, No. 30931, which can be downloaded here.

These guys sometimes do trainings with youth. Maybe survival, avalanche, SAR etc.

http://www.tahoenordicsar.com/

Check with the education person.