The Iceman Cometh!

For reasons that escape me completely, my very erudite and most literate good reading buddy, Jenny from Canberra, has saddled me inescapably with the moniker "Iceman". As I couldn't imagine where that might have come from (other than her joking about my Canadian heritage), I decided that I had better live up to the pre-established reputation that came with such a nickname.

So here it comes ... a few shots from my camping vacation in our local "hot spot", Algonquin Park - a wilderness setting of no small international renown that is a textbook example of Canadian boreal forest.

For those of you not familiar with this particular type of winter camping accommodation, it's called a "quinsee". The basic process involves tossing the snow into a pile about the size you see (when it is hollowed out it will provide a very spacious sleeping area for one person ... two or more people would require a pile of snow considerably larger). After the snow is piled up like that, it should be allowed to set or "sinter" for at least 3 to 4 hours. Typically, to make sure that it is completely set, I sleep in my tent for the first night and only complete the construction of the quinsee the following morning.

As you can see, the hollowed out interior is warm, cozy and intensely sheltered from the elements outside. As difficult as this may be to believe, the exterior weather could be a howling blizzard with raging winds at -40 degrees and inside the quinsee, I'll be snug as a bug in a rug, oblivious to the cold at a comfortable -2 or -3 degrees with a profound quiet stillness that completely belies the external conditions.




Of course, every once in a while, one MUST commune more closely with the weather ... otherwise, one could not lay claim to one's nickname properly! Right?