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Posted by Bill S on March 3, 2008 at 6:31:10 pm EST
In reply to Tricks for fire on top of deep snow posted by WISam on March 3, 2008 at 4:15:22 pm EST

If you use a bed of logs, and build a "red man's fire" rather than a "white man's fire", the fire won't melt down through the snow. Another approach that requires carrying some extra weight is to use a fire pan on legs (I have one I have occasionally used). You can also find a bare rock in many cases, but this is not recommended, since it leaves an ugly black scar on the rock that will stick out like a sore thumb in the other 3 seasons, a clear violation of LNT principles. Used to be you could get asbestos sheets, that is until it was realized that it is way too easy to get the tiny fibers into your lungs, which causes some pretty bad diseases (which are frequently fatal in a very unpleasant way).

Do not gather rocks from the local, still-flowing stream and use those as a base. When the fire gets hot enough, the water in cracks, crevices, and holes in the rock will vaporize and can shatter the rock (think "granitic shrapnel"). In fact, in general do not get rocks from streams too near a fire, even in summer.

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