Photo Lars Falkdalen Lindahl, CC BY-SA 3.0
Tree well shelter
Using the hollow under a big spruce or fir in deep snow: a roof already there, and boughs all around to finish it.
What you need
- A big live spruce or fir with branches low to the snow
- A shovel, a snowshoe or a pot lid to dig with
- A knife, a saw or an axe for cutting boughs
- Plenty of boughs for the floor and to close the gaps
- A tarp if you have one
How
- Pick a sound, live tree in deep snow, with thick low branches. Look up for dead limbs and heavy snow loads first.
- Come at it from the downwind side and dig down beside the trunk. The snow under the branches is always shallower.
- Dig out a space big enough to sit or lie in, down to the ground if you can reach it.
- Pack the dug snow around the outside edge to build up the walls.
- Cut boughs from other trees, not this one, and weave them into the gaps in the branches above you.
- Lay a thick floor of boughs, a good hand deep, so you are not on snow or frozen ground.
- Close the door with more boughs or the tarp, and keep a small gap open for air.
Do and don't
Do
- Keep your pack and the shovel in with you.
- Shake the loaded branches above you before you settle in, so the snow comes down now and not later.
- Mark the tree with something bright so you can be found.
Don't
- Do not go into a deep tree well headfirst. People who fall in headfirst can smother in the loose snow.
- Do not light a fire right under the branches. The heat melts the snow above and drops it on the fire and on you.
- Do not pick a dead or leaning tree.
Watch for
Danger
- Snow falls off the branches with no warning, most of all when the wind picks up or the day warms.
- A fire outside the well is fine, but keep it well out from under the branches and never inside a closed shelter. See Carbon monoxide poisoning.
- Sweat from digging soaks your layers and the cold comes after. Strip a layer before you start. See Hypothermia.
Notes
Our woods are full of spruce and fir, so a tree well is usually there for the finding. It is half a shelter for a tenth of the work of a quinzhee. See Snow shelter and Snow trench.
In open country with no big trees, dig a trench instead.
Updated 2026-09-29
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