Posts Tagged ‘igloo’
Another Igloo
When you take on a project like building an igloo, there is a bit of a compulsion that sets in, driving you to somehow succeed despite any number of pitfalls that may arise. I have witnessed it several times, both in myself and also in the friends and family that I have enlisted to help me over the years.
One year, we didn’t tilt the walls inward enough during the setting of the first few rows of blocks, and it ended up getting taller than we could handle. That one ended up becoming a 2-room igloo, because we needed to build a wall across the middle in order to hold the top pieces that were getting out of reach.
I have learned that it helps to have an architect on your crew. This year, I was inspired to involve our friends from Guatemala, the Morales family, in building an igloo, and as luck would have it, Marco is an architect. He understands the shape of the catenary curve that we try to achieve with the Grand Shelter’s Icebox igloo frame.
I am far short of being able to boast any substantial skill in actually completing a full igloo with the Icebox frame, but I have started plenty, and closed a few of them with some unspecified techniques. Yesterday’s fits right in with the rest, except it also happens to be the largest igloo I have ever tried to build.
Marco says to “go big” and so we did. Day-1 was a smashing success, with the snow becoming sticky enough in the temps near freezing, but day-2 became more difficult as the weather turned extremely cold. After a number of blocks failed when we approached the top rows which lean in dramatically, we decided to abandon the Icebox fixture altogether and venture out to our own designs.
We tried a couple of ideas, and eventually ended up using branches as support for the last few blocks. It was so tall, some of the blocks ended up being at the limits of our reach. I decided that the Inuit people would probably have used branches, too, if they had them. It does sort of add a Native look to it, in my eyes.
Marco said we moved into a bit of a Mayan arch technique at the end. After showering some snow across the top to fill in the gaps, we had the effect of an igloo with a bit of a hairdo. Most importantly, we had finished what we set out to do, which was no small feat, with the primary builder being from Guatemala and his having to work in extreme bitter cold.
It was an effort and a result for which we can both be proud.
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Ideal Day
Yesterday we experienced a perfect northern winter day. We were told that there is more snow up here at our lake place now than this region has received during December in over 20 years. Making the deep snow even more spectacular, it had gotten foggy overnight and the moisture was forming long whisker crystals of ice on every surface. The landscape was flocked in a silvery white sheen. The scenery was storybook perfect. I don’t think we could have provided our guests with a better winter experience than what this weather allowed.
The temperature was hovering near the freezing point when we ventured out into the deep snow to play. First order of business was creating a sledding path down the hill onto the lake. 
At the bottom, the boys put a “turn” (what has become our code word for: jump) which worked better and better as the day went on.
Then we started work on building an igloo with my framing device. At the same time, shoveling began to create a small rink for boot hockey. Cyndie and Dunia passed by on snowshoes, and after returning from a long adventure, they initiated rolling snow into large boulders. Soon, the classic form of a snowman appeared, adorned with a scarf and carrot nose.
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Building Another Igloo
Before starting
The day yesterday offered prime conditions for building an igloo and I just barely squeaked out enough time in the afternoon to get started on my first attempt of the year. It went pretty well for me, considering I worked alone for most of the time. This had its advantages, as well as disadvantages. I am prone to working rather slowly when by myself, which does nothing toward getting the project done in a timely fashion. But, alone, I am able to take as much time as I want to practice my technique of packing the dry snow into my ICEBOX frame. I must have learned something from my inaugural build last winter, as yesterday, out of the 2 full rows I accomplished, none of the blocks collapsed after removing the frame. Eventually, my next door neighbors, Matt and 3 of his daughters, arrived to assist. That allowed me to narrow my focus to just the packing step,
Beginning second row
as Matt and the girls provided an ongoing flow of perfectly prepared snow. By the time we were ready to quit, the sun had set and the temperature was dropping noticeably. That seemed to play nicely to my haste to reach a satisfying point for stopping, as the packed snow seemed to re-freeze in its new shape as fast as we finished filling it. Finding time to finish the rest of this project is a problem I have no solution for at this point. The calendar is kind of busy this time of year.
Starting up the ramp to row 2
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Relative Something 