[at-l] Crews working to rescue hiker on the Appalachian Trail

[Dave Hicks]

SNIP

Now, please tell us about having to dig out of a tent.

SNIP

---------------

1) Back before I needed O2 at night, the pacemaker, etc, I loved winter 
hiking.  Less crowds, less bugs, great views....

2) As some here know, I used small single wall tents, bivies, or tarps.  The 
Nomad tent, etc opened on the side, not the narrow end.

3) As with a snow fence along a highway, you get a drift buildup, downwind 
of such a structure, in blowing snow.  In a wind from the wrong [right?] 
direction, that drift can be quite a bit higher that the general 
"accumulation."   If you also pitched behind a wind break....

Even without a heavy weight of snow on the tent et al the snow will build up 
in the drift.

I have gone to sleep in a light snow to wake up with the entrance to the 
tent buried in a drift -- PA, VA, WVA, NC

Luckily,  blowing snow tends to be drier snow and does not tend to be heavy 
or hard to push / dig out of.