Alright, let me tell you about this whole high-up cold storage thing I got myself into.
It started pretty simply. I had some stuff, things that needed to stay properly cold, not just cool, but really cold. And the regular freezer in the house, well, it wasn’t quite cutting it, plus I wanted something… different. More robust maybe? I kept thinking about those old stories, people using caves or burying things way up in the mountains.
Finding the Spot
First thing was finding a suitable place. Couldn’t just be anywhere. Had to be high enough where the air naturally stays colder for longer stretches of the year. I spent a weekend scouting, driving up some old logging roads, hiking around a bit. Found this spot, pretty remote, decent elevation, shielded from the worst of the direct sun by a rock outcrop. Seemed promising.
The Hard Part – Getting Started
Then came the actual work. Let me tell you, digging up there wasn’t fun. The ground was rocky, full of roots. Took me way longer than I figured. Wasn’t building a palace, just needed a decent hole, maybe chest-deep, wide enough to fit a sturdy container.
- Hauled up tools bit by bit. Shovel, pickaxe, crowbar – the basics.
- Cleared the area first. Just basic brush and loose rocks.
- Started digging. Slow going. Hit more rock than dirt sometimes.
- Lined the hole. Used some leftover insulating boards I had lying around, pieced them together. Nothing fancy, just trying to keep the ground warmth out.
Putting it Together
I got a heavy-duty, insulated container. Like one of those super tough coolers, but bigger. The idea was this box would sit inside the insulated hole. I figured double insulation, right? The ground hole and the box itself. Seemed logical.
Getting that box up there and into the hole was another struggle. It wasn’t that heavy empty, but awkward. Used some ropes and just brute force mostly. Once it was in, I packed more insulation material around the sides, filling the gaps between the box and the hole liner. Topped it off with a thick, insulated lid I rigged up, then covered most of that with dirt and rocks to blend it in and add more thermal mass.
Testing and Waiting
So, I put a couple of remote thermometers inside. One inside the main container, one just outside it but still in the insulated hole. Wanted to see the difference. Then I loaded it up with some non-critical items first. Sealed it up best I could.
Checking it was a pain. Had to hike back up there every week or so at first. The temperature inside stayed low, definitely colder than ambient, especially during warmer days down below. It wasn’t freezer-level cold consistently, more like a very deep, stable cold. The altitude helped, nights got properly frigid up there, seemed to ‘recharge’ the coldness.
Challenges? Oh yeah. Condensation was a bit of an issue sometimes, had to put in some desiccant packs. And making sure critters couldn’t sniff it out or try to get in. Had to reinforce the lid area a bit after finding some scratch marks.
How it Ended Up
So, does it work? Yeah, kinda. It does what I wanted, which was a stable, naturally assisted cold spot, away from everything. It’s not perfect, temperature fluctuates a bit with the seasons, obviously. But for certain things, it’s been pretty effective. Took a lot more effort than just plugging in another freezer, that’s for sure. But, you know, sometimes you just gotta try these things yourself.