Make sure the tent is big enough. This is very important in winter conditions. Most two man tents have barely enough space for one.

I own a Wild Country Zephyros 2 (Terra Nova). This tent has room for me and my rucksack and not much else. Can`t for my bare life see how two grown men could fit in this tent at all.

Imaging spending a week during a blizzard in a “two man” tent with a friend and all your gear (you wouldn`t leave your gear outside, would you?). You better be very good friends then.

The tent producers are constantly making you believe that you need an expedition tent costing almost a months pay. But a fairly cheap tent (the price range between the junk and the expedition tents) is more than enough for most of us. I however recommend storm mats on the tent as do the producers, but these you can make and sew on yourself. A nylon car cover provides cheap, good materials for this.

LAVVU/ TIPI :

The LAVVU is the old tent home of the saami people, reindeer herders. In earlier times it consisted of reindeer hides laid over several interlaced poles (anything from 10 to 20 poles) making a cone. Just like the American tipi, but slightly lower, to ward of the wind.

Nowadays they use a piece of canvas, plastic or a ready made one of polyester/cotton. Like the one on the picture below. (It is a one-pole version from Venor).

The lavvu`s force is the fact that you can light a fire inside the tent. It`s warm in winter, and provides a mosquito free tent in summer. And besides, one can smoke meat or fish in it. Just hang it up inside the tent and the smoke from the fire will do the rest.

But it is important to adjust the draft in the tent to prevent it beeing filled with smoke.

The downside of these tents are that they are quite heavy. My on pole version weighs 6.7 kilos. But they are often used in winter and then it is packed in a "pulk" (snowsled).

The one pole lavvu`s are also not so good in very strong wind, not a high mountain shelter in other words.

The traditional lavvu`s with wooden poles are more suited in heavy wind.

Traditionally the kitchen area is straight ahed from the door (right at the picture below left). And one never moves over the kitchen area.

The wife and children are traditionally seated to the left and the man and the guests are seated on the right side.

The fire wood is in front of the fire (near the door) with the thick end of the wood always pointing at the fire.

The traditional floor was made of birch branches laid from the kitchen area to the door in a roof tile manner. The thick end pointing at the door and hidden beneath the branches (picture above right). This is again covered with dried reindeer hides.

In an emergency the lavvu can be made of spruce limbs laid over a cone shaped frame. Use 4-5 meter long poles. You can use anything from 4 to 20 poles if you like. It depends on how big a shelter you want.

If you then cover it with dirt it almost becomes a “gamme”, see below at long term shelters.

Army tent (buttoned tarp tent)

Not usually something used by civilians, but as I have mentioned the lean to made of a single military tent tarp (below), I will give a brief description of these cheap and bomb proof tents.

They are put together in different sizes, most usually (at least in my army days) 5, 7 and 10 pieces. I have 5 tarps and thus have made a 5 piece tent.

                                             Making the army tarp tent

I’ve once stayed in such a tent during a winter storm lasting 3 days and the tent didn’t blow away nor ripped to shreds. They are extremely tough built. Actually I think these tents are better in winter than in summer because one can use snow on the sides to stop draft.

These tents are also extremely heavy. Each tarp weighs 1.5 kilos, making my 5 piece tent to weigh 7.5 kilos. If you travel by canoe or snowmobile they are fine though. The picture below shows the 5 piece version packed. I`ve added a Fallkniven F1 for size comparaison.

The only reason I have one is the cost. I paid less for it than I would for a Helle knife.

LEAN-TO:

Lean-to was commonly in use by lumberjacks and other people working in the woods as a temporary shelter. (It was used even in winter) It`s easy to build but requires a good deal of materials. The above left picture shows how it`s constructed.

The height is about 1,5-1,8m. Make the roof lean about 45 degrees to ward off rain, lower angle and the rain may run trough the roof. Use spruce limbs or big ferns to thatch the roof. Rosebay Willowherb is also a good thatching material. Even moss and turf could be used.

If you have a tarp you use that (above right). Add sidewalls if necessary.

Use of a log fire for heating is the traditional way, "nying" in Norwegian.

You can build this shelter facing a rock to reflect heat into the shelter or two lean to`s facing each other, or do as the picture suggest, make a reflective wall.

A sort of one man lean to made of the Norwegian army tent tarp (diamond shaped tent tarp wich could also be used as a poncho). It is very low but will keep you out of the rain/snow and wind. The pole used on the one pictured below is the original two piece tent pole wich also dubbles as candle holders.

WINTER SHELTER:

Winter shelters do not have to be time consuming or difficult to build. Some times it is enough to dig down in the snow, making a snow trench or digging into the snow to make a sort of "lean to", like the one on the photo below.

The one on the photo above was just used for a quick coffee brewing stop. If I was going to spend the night I would have used branches from two downed pines lying just behind the shelter as extra insulation for the bed, and stretched the tarp I had in my rucksack over the bed area to ward off drifting snow and as a heat reflector. The "hole" was dug out in about 15 minutes.  The adding of extra bedding material and tarp would add 30 minutes to the construction time I guess. A nice "warm" shelter built in no time.

If I didn’t have a sleeping bag I would have used a log fire for warmth during the night.

SNOW HUT/IGLOO:

The snow hut can be made in two ways.

The first and easiest is to just make a pile of snow, make sure it is compact. Let it freeze and harden for some ours and then hollow it out. To make sure the dome walls have an even thickness one may stick small twigs of even length trough the pile. When you meet these you stop digging.

This kind of hut was used by Indians in Alaska and Canada and is called a Quinchee. Don`t make the shelter bigger than necessary.

The other way to make an igloo is a little bit more complicated. First mark a circle as wide as you want the hut.The ideal space to build consists of ca. 30cm loose snow uppermost and packed snowbeneath.Cut blocks of snow, the snow must be compact, cut from a snowdrift, and lay them in a circle (see picture above). Shape the blocks to a spiral and lay down next layer and so on. The last blocks may need a little support as you fit them in position.

Cut an entrance trough the blocks or dig one beneath them. The sleeping level should be higher than the entrance to create a cold level you can use for storage etc. Use a candle for lighting and warmth.

Remember to make a small air hole in the roof.

These shelters are however not something you would build as a long term shelter along the coastline. The weather is much too unprdictable for that.

LONG TERM SHELTER:

The common long-term shelter of the north is a “gamme”. It is a saami sod house made with a wooden frame covered with lots of debarked poles, birch bark shingles and peat/turf. It`s a little bit like a wigwam. It takes some time and a lot of resources to build. But once built it stands for about 30 years. Below is a drawing of how the "gamme" is constructed. The frame is made of 2 "half circles" with a "roof beam" between them. The two "half circles" are usually made of mountain birch which often is very crooked and thus have the right shape. Some horisontal branches are pegged in place (wooden pegs) and the whole construction is covered with poles, birch bark and pear/turf. Below right is a picture of how the frame is joined together.

There are two types of gamme. The oldest types have a smoke opening in the roof and are heated with a fireplace in the middle of the floor. The more modern type has an oven installed. Gamme have been used as housing for both people and animals in centuries.

The one at the picture is the normal size found today but earlier they could be 4-5 times as big.

The smaller sod house below is probably used by hunters. It is room for two people and their equipment.

There are several of these shelters scattered around the forests and mountains of northern norway. Many of them are marked on the map (N50 maps), and they are open, offering shelter to anyone passing by.

Livingspace in a gamme is managed in the same manner as the livingspace in a lavvu. At the third picture below you could see the "kitchen area" in form of a wooden "table".

NATURAL SHELTER:

Caves and overhangs (if they`re dry), between rocks, snow banks (dig into it), under downed trees, sand burrow, hole in snow around tree trunk.

The shelter doesn`t have to be much to look at just a place to keep you safe from the weather. If you plan to stay one may improve the shelter day by day.

The picture below shows a shelter under a large Spruce. A plastic tarp gives addotional protection from the wind and acts as a reflective wall. The temperature when this photo was taken was about -10 degrees Celsius.

A natural shelter could be something like the downed tree beneath left. I`ve put down 2 logs just to show how one could easily make a bed. Two more logs and some branches from a spruce, juniper or pine on top of them, and the bed is finished. I one have a tarp that could be used to improve the roof. This shelter was fortunately facing the right way, away from the prevailing wind.

Be warned though. Downed trees can fall into place and kill or injure people under the root. Use your head, aka common sence out in the wilderness.

The downed tree above right is also an option for shelter. The shelter could be made with the aft tree as base and the sandy ground left open by the tree in the foreground could be used as bed for the fire. Then you don`t have to dig down to the sand. On mossy/peaty ground it is not a good thing to light a fire.

When I was a boy my buddies and I made a shelter under a large rock. Walls were made of stones and cracks sealed with moss. The floor was covered with birch branches and ferns. We stayed under that rock for 4 days while fishing in a nearby lake, and it was quite comfy. The shelter was still usable many years later when my uncle and me used it under a hunting trip.

SLEEPING WARNING & TIPS:

Sleeping in clothes holds moisture and chills the body.

Rule: Have little clothes on, but much insulation underneath (and over) you.

You will not freeze to death in your sleep; cold awakens you, unless you are very tired or drunk.