This practical guide will walk you through the step-by-step process of building a survival shelter. The type of shelter you choose to build depends upon the terrain, climate, your surroundings, and of course your supplies.
- Quintze Hut – A primitive-style igloo, this shelter is ideal for frigid nights. It is body heat activated to above freezing temperatures even when the outdoors looms at 20 degrees below.
- Open Shelters – A lean-to style shelter designed to accommodate a fire, this popular type of wilderness shelter is easily constructed and erected without any tools. Perfect for wilderness survival in the forests, where leaning trees turn into make shift ridgepoles, this shelter is adjustable to accommodate additional people.
- A-Frame – This type of shelter affords more wind protection; however, the front is still open to accommodate the warmth of a fire.
- Enclosed Shelters – Designed to mimic a teepee style hut, these shelters begin with binding a tripod of limbs together. This skeletal design takes longer to build, but offers excellent weather protection and accommodates an open fire.
- Wigwam – This shelter is similar to the shape of a child’s jungle gym, with a dome shape created from bending limber poles and creating a thatch framework.
- Salish Subterranean Shelter – These pit-style shelters saw Native-Americans through the long Alaskan and Pacific Northwest winters. While digging is necessary, they afford the very best protection from extreme temperatures.
With no-nonsense how to steps, including making shingle and thatch wall barriers, two-strand cord from weaving grasses, grass thatching and bark shingles, this excellent guide to building a survival shelter teaches crucial wilderness survival techniques.
