If I was stranded in the wild, would I be better off doing a snow cave, or digging a hole in the ground?

Question

If I was stranded in the wild, would I be better off doing a snow cave, or digging a hole in the ground? Can ice get colder? Does it have a specific minimum temperature? whereas dirt can get indefinitely colder?

Answer 1

Dig as deep as you can, unless that would strain your energy. Snow/ice are okay protection (Eskimos survive in igloos), but if the ground isn't frozen, I would try digging because it can be warmer. Ice can't get any colder than 32F, so if the temp outside is below freezing, the ice will be warmer.

Answer 2

What you would do as a smart thing is to find some young trees in a cluster of five or six. Trees that aren't more than ten feet high. Leap up as high as you can and grab as close to the top of two of the trees and use a shoelace or a piece of leather string and tie the two together. Then grab another one and add it to the two, keep doing this until you have at least five tied together. If you have no knife or something sharp, break off limbs and weave them together in a circle around the five trees. Once that is done, you leave a small opening for yourself to enter and leave and a smaller opening at the top. Then you tamp down all the snow inside and build a small fire, with it snowing, the snow will soon cover the outside of your rough shelter and the small fire inside will keep you warm. When you get tired and want to sleep, scrape out a shallow trench, line it with coals, cover it with green leaves and branches and cover that with a piece of canvas or fur, then lay on it. It will keep you cosy all night long.

Answer 3

Air is the best way to isolate you from cold.
Snow (flowy flurry kind) if full of air, not dirt.
But once you lay down on it, your body heat will make it melt and it won't be a good isolator anymore.

So I'd build an igloo and cover the ground with pine or fir branches.