So we have a polar vortex on its way, and we're supposed to get the coldest temperatures that we've seen in decades.

They're calling for a low of -14 Fahrenheit tonight with wind chills in the -20s higher up in the ridges, which is exactly where I'm headed.

I'm going to hike into the woods a bit and build a survival snow shelter out there.

And that's where I'll be sleeping tonight.

We're going to see just how good the shelter can protect me from the elements.

I also have a new sleeping bag I want to test out.

It's going to be fun.

It's going to be brutal.

That's what it's going to be.

Right now, it is a brisk seven degrees.

I really don't feel like getting out of this truck right now.

It's a nice warm truck.

It's a beautiful day, but it is cold out here.

A lot of snow this year.

It's about two feet deep.

All right, so I just came across this right here.

There's big logs buried underneath of the snow.

You can see how it's raised.

Like a shape of a horseshoe.

But these buried logs will help me out.

I'm going to leave my jacket off because I'm going to be getting sweaty.

I got my little snow shovel.

Let's get to digging.

A snow trench is one of the quickest and easiest survival snow shelters you can make.

But it requires deep snow deeper than what we have here.

If you don't have at least 3 or 4ft of snow on the ground, it's going to be pretty crammed inside.

You're not going to have much headroom.

So I kind of have to improvise with what I have.

The logs buried under the snow will give the walls some extra height.

So right now you can even sleep in there as it is.

If you just put a tarp or an emergency blanket over top of you as a roof with some logs underneath of it, but we're going to keep digging.

Build something a little better.

You get this fallen tree over here.

To give myself even more space and headroom inside the shelter, instead of laying the branches flat across like a normal snow trench.

I'll make an A-frame for the tarp to sit on top of.

This is just kind of an experimental snow shelter.

I've been working on.

I've also built Quincy's, which is similar to an igloo, but instead of being made with blocks, it's made by shoveling a huge pile of snow and hollowing it out.

And you don't need a special kind of snow like you do for an igloo, which we rarely get here.

The problem with them, though, is they're very labor intensive and they take several hours to build, so they're not really practical for a short term camp out or a survival situation.

But they do stay relatively warm, even if it's in the negatives outside.

A Quincy will stay around freezing on the inside.

I'm trying to build something similar that takes a lot less time and effort.

The most time consuming part is searching for sturdy dead branches.

Water's freezing up already.

If you want to keep your water from freezing out in the cold, just bury it in the snow.

Just don't forget where you put it.

All right.

So that's all trimmed up.

Now I'm going to start piling snow at the base of each branch so that when I pile snow on top, the weight of it doesn't flatten everything out.

It'd be a lot better of a shelter if I could use live trees.

Probably cut my time in half looking for materials.

It's only so much I have to choose from.

Those are pretty solid.

Oh, it's getting cold.

Im gonna get a fire going.

Warm up.

Gloves are a little iced over.

I did bring extras.

Time to get the tarp.

I have extra clothes wrapped up in here to.

These big blocks are pretty lightweight, so I'll stack these on top and fill in the gaps later.

You might not think it, but snow is a great insulator due to all the air pockets that are trapped in between the ice crystals.

I'll just block this up the rest of the way and we'll be good.

I'm almost done.

My phone battery's dying pretty quickly, so I'd have to use the GoPro for a little bit.

It's hard to keep everything charged when it's this cold.

Now I'm going to work on the entrance.

They're not the most solid blocks, so I'm just stacking them around the front the best I can.

Trying to leave an opening underneath for me to get in and get out.

Kind of like a sloppy igloo, but it works.

Now I'm just going to start throwing fresh powder all over the top of it.

Fill in the gaps in between the blocks.

I may or may not leave all that snow on the top.

I'm kind of just curious right now to see if it can handle all this weight.

So I'm just going to clear this entrance out and then shovel some snow in there.

I'm going to make a raised bed.

I can already tell it's a lot warmer in there than it is out here.

Sun's going down.

Temperatures dropping.

So my pads up on a little shelf.

This low spot here.

Coming all the way out to the entrance.

It'll be a little warmer up higher.

So I brought this thing.

This way I can measure the outside temperature and the inside of the shelter.

So right now, it is six degrees Fahrenheit.

-15 Celsius.

Let's see what the temperature inside there is.

One problem with building snow shelters is you get sweaty from all the work, and your clothes get covered in snow.

It's pretty calm right now.

Hopefully it doesn't get too windy.

Time to get more firewood.

This fire feels good.

We haven't had a winter like this in.

It's been at least ten years, and that winter wasn't even as bad as this one.

I don't think.

You just got a sleeping bag the other day.

It's rated down to -40 degrees.

Now the comfort level is probably a lot higher than that.

It's probably around -20, but won't be that cold in there.

So it's 15 degrees inside the shelter.

This bottom one must not go any lower than 32, which I guess would make sense.

These are made for your home.

If it's lower than 32, in your home, you got problems.

Time's also wrong.

It's 640, not 740.

Just haven't figured out how to change it yet.

Let's get the meat thermometer.

All right, there we go.

That's more accurate.

That's the temperature inside the shelter that.

I don't know what that is.

That's the temperature out here.

Once I'm in there, my body heat will warm it up some.

We're going to heat up some water.

I didn't bring much food with me this time.

Just a bag of mountain house, scrambled eggs and bacon.

We'll have that in the morning.

Just need some hot water for my water bottle.

Sleeping pad.

Sleeping bag.

It was expensive.

I cried a little when I bought it.

These aren't cheap either.

But if you're spending the night out in the cold like this, you need a really warm, good quality sleep system because your life does depend on it.

So I don't get my jacket all snowy.

I'm gonna put this shell over top of me.

Yeah, maybe I have to make an opening just a little bigger.

Welcome to my humble abode.

You can definitely tell it's warmer in here, that's for sure.

Reading 20 degrees in here.

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

It's just as important to have insulation under you as it is over.

I have a foam pad, and then this inflatable pad on top with the inflatable pad were to fail for some reason and deflate in the middle of the night.

And I have the foam pad as a backup.

It's not a whole lot of our value in this, but there are some.

All right, that's inflated.

So I did end up shoveling a good bit of snow off the top.

It seemed to be holding up fine.

I just don't want to risk it collapsing on me, because I'm not sure how much more snow we're going to get tonight.

I'm just going to poke a little vent hole in here.

Getting a little bit of snow.

Winds picking up a little bit too.

My water boiling.

I'm going to pour it on my bottle.

It's going to go in the sleeping bag with me.

Keep me nice and warm.

You do this.

You just want to make absolute sure that the lid is on tight.

Well, this should be a fun night.

Couple candles going in here.

It's warming it up a little bit.

I'm going to bed.

I'll see you guys in the morning.

Ooh.

It's cold.

It's quarter after four in the morning right now.

It was pretty windy for a while.

Kind of died down there.

I don't hear much going on out there, except the trees are popping every now and then.

Even the trees are frozen.

Trying to keep my phone charged in this temperature.

I have a battery pack and the cord in my sleeping bag.

If not, charge is very slowly.

It's supposed to be the coldest towards around 8:00.

I can't find my outdoor thermometer.

Tight space in here.

It's buried under my clothes somewhere.

I'll find it later.

Anyway, my phone is saying it's negative ten degrees out there in here.

It's in the teens.

I'm staying nice and warm in the sleeping bag.

This hot water bottle.

Heating it up nicely.

It's almost too warm sometimes.

Hey, I found it.

So I have my backpack blocking the entrance.

Or at least most of the entrance.

Not too much.

So you can get some ventilation in here.

I really don't feel like going out there.

So this is going to give this a throw.

It is negative 13 degrees out.

-25 Celsius.

So in here it's about 12 degrees outside.

It is -16.

Pretty big temperature difference.

Not warm in here by any means.

But it's a lot better than it is out there.

And it just keeps dropping.

That's the coldest it's been in Pennsylvania for a long time.

It's morning.

It's another sunny day today.

It looks a lot warmer than it is.

That sun does feel good, though.

So it wasn't a bad night.

The only bad part was getting in and out of this shelter, because I didn't want to get all snow covered and then climb back into my sleeping bag.

My sleeping bag kept me really warm, so I can't complain.

It would have been a lot warmer if I had all of it covered in snow.

Right now it's a balmy five degrees.

I'm just going to get a big enough fire, going to boil a little water.

Warm up my hands a little bit.

It was so cold this morning I didn't feel like getting up, so I just stayed in there for a while.

When the sun was coming up, it was -17 degrees.

I'm going to use some of this for firewood.

And we are going to have scrambled eggs with bacon because I am hungry.

Yes, this is a K-Cup.

I like regular grounds better than instant.

Plus, these are just easy to use when you're camping.

Put the grounds in there.

Once it cools down, they'll settle to the bottom eventually.

Or to speed up the process.

Drop a little piece of snow in there.

Oh, those look good.

I'm starving.

Unbelievably good.

You could give me a piece of cardboard with some ketchup on it, and it would taste good right now.

Now I'm going to get everything packed up and get out of here.

Not without some coffee.

First.

Even with all my weight on it, they don't collapse.

I probably could have left all that snow on top of there.

Maybe next time I'll add a center ridge pole just for some extra stability, so I can pile more snow on top.

Another beautiful day.

Now hopefully it starts or else I might be making another survival video.

We're good.

Now that was fun.

I hope you guys enjoyed the video.

And if you're new to my channel, go check out my other ones.