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A quinzhee is not an igloo. A quinzhee begins with people mounding frozen snow which is then hollowed out to make low-ceilinged living space for temporary human shelter inside the frozen snow mound. Aboriginal peoples across what is now northern Canada invented the quinzhee. By contrast, an igloo is made by stacking cut blocks of snow.

Etymology of Quinzhee

Quinzhee is probably Canadian in origin, although widely used in the Untied States.

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd edition, 2004, states that quinzhee is from the Athapascan language family and means “bowl-shaped depression in snow; shelter.” Athapascan languages are spoken across the expansive swath of Canada’s subarctic and northern prairie regions. Member languages include Chipewyan, Dogrib, Gwich’in and Slave.

A recent online update draft (December 2007) in the larger Oxford English Dictionary pinpoints the etymology with this Slave phrase:

khnézhii, literally ‘in the shelter.’

The word seems to have gained wider use in English only in the last twenty years. The OED’s earliest print citation is for 1984.

Variant spellings abound and include quincy, quincey, quinzee, quinzie, and quince.

Click here to learn some other Canadian words and places that are of Athapascan origin.

Learn what Athabasca means.

 

Quinzhee Building Tips

Don Weiss, retired high school science teacher, wrote this:

“The quinzhee is a shelter of Athapaskan origin used in colder boreal forest regions of North America where snow is generally loose lying and of very low density. A quinzhee, or snow hut, is warmer than a tent and easy to construct. The temperature inside the quinzhee goes no lower than 28°F no matter how cold it is outside. The domed outside of the structure becomes self-supporting after a very short time because of the rapid increase in bonding strength between ice crystals during destructive metamorphism from the weight of the snow itself.”

Quinzhee Construction (from the Wiki web)

 “It is not difficult to make a quinzhee, though it will be warmer and stronger if certain techniques are carefully followed. For strength, the quinzhee needs to be a dome and the lower walls must not need to support too much weight. The walls should be very thick at the base and get slightly thinner towards to the top of the dome. For warmth, the entrance of the quinzhee should be a tunnel with an upward sloping floor such that the floor is slightly higher then the top of the entrance. Be careful not to increase the height of the door by hitting it with your back each time you enter!

 

How to build a quinzhee

To make a quinzhee, make a large dome of snow. When making the pile, consider the inside shape that you want. A quinzhee to sleep two should have an oval footprint. Remember to make it high enough so that the floor can be elevated. Placing it on a hill can help with this. The length needs to be the wall thickness plus the length of your sleeping bag.

Once the pile is done, insert sticks straight in to a depth of 30 cm. As you dig it out, these sticks will tell you when you are near the outside so that you won't dig through. Wait for an hour or two for the snow to settle. The snow will re-form into a hard material that will not fall in when it is dug out.

Dig out the quinzhee with a small shovel. The fastest way is to cut blocks and push those towards the door. Cut the blocks left, right, top, and bottom. Don't pry too much as this can create cracks in the wall. As you get further in, it will be helpful to have a person outside moving the snow out of the tunnel and away. Eventually, two people will be able to fit inside and the digging goes much faster.”

 

Ecstatic Canadian Extols The Quinzhee Life in a Blog:

“Can you tell I am Canadian??  haha .... Only Canadians would enjoy going up North for 3 days to live in this thing called a Quinzhee. 

We camp each year in a Provincial Park in Ontario called Algonquin Park.  Their facilities are open in the winter at MEW Lake, so that is where we go.  Algonquin is beautiful in the winter.  Most years we have gone up in January, but February has more snow so I think we will do February from now on.  Global warming is killing the snow in January :(

My first year up to the park in January was in 1985, so for over 20 years I have been doing this.  Well, I haven't been making Quinzhees quite that long, but I have been doing the winter camping thing for over 20 years.  My friend introduced me to this concept that long ago, and although he doesn't come up any more, I have never missed a year since.  One year I saw this mound of snow in the camp ground and wondered what it was.  It was indeed a QUINZHEE.  That's when I put my engineering hat on (no, I am not an engineer) and have had a blast with this ever since.  My 2 other main side-kicks have been doing this with me since almost the beginning.”

 

The clearest instructions about how to build a quinzhee are at the Canadian Geographic magazine site: http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/travel/adventure/

guides/winter_2005/storm.asp

 

Learn some winter words perhaps new to you, gems like hibernaculum and nivosity.

© 2008 William Gordon Casselman

 

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