This is where my bivy bag and snow shovel play together.

Digging a snow cave is most likely too much work. I will dig a hole/snow trench or something similar and employ my bivy bag inside that. Of course, any resources available will be used to enclose the hole as much as possible. Tree branches (if any) and skiis are useful for propping up on top of the hole and put snow on top of that.

Make optimum use of the terrain (rocks, trees, whatever), position yourself out of the wind. Location, location, location - just moving a few metres can be a huge improvement.

Also, consider avalanches. Avoid steep canyons with big snow banks, in particular if those are on the leeward side of the wind: It is snowing hard, right - so the risk of those banks starting to move is high and ever increasing. Around here, the word is that you should avoid digging into any steep snow banks higher than 5 meters (15 feet), but I have very little evidence for backing up that number - just common sense.


It also depends on temperature. If it is very cold, making a snow cave (or making my hole more cave-like) takes much higher priority than if it is around melting point (in which case staying dry takes more effort and gains priority). This is because a snow cave will never be warmer than a few degrees above melting point anyway - a huge improvement if it is -15C (0F) outside, but not really that much gain if it is 0C (32F), then it's more about getting out of the wind and weather and you're golden.