My Igloo in England!
- Thread starter jon r
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Jon,
Excellent effort. What a great way to spend a day.
My wife and I are sat in front of the fire and she, not a massive bushcrafter, was well impressed with your efforts and wanted me to say well done.
Great to see people rising up to the great weather we are having at the moment.
Lovin it!
Barry
Excellent effort. What a great way to spend a day.
My wife and I are sat in front of the fire and she, not a massive bushcrafter, was well impressed with your efforts and wanted me to say well done.
Great to see people rising up to the great weather we are having at the moment.
Lovin it!
Barry
As you say, goes to show what you can do if you really try, or more simply put, if you get off yer behooky and attempt it! 
Superb, you've done an excellent job there 
Might I offer some advice which will hopefully make things easier on your next build, I notice that you appear to have left out a block on the first row to form the door?
rather than leaving out at block on the first row, which severely weakens the load bearing potential of the subsequent rows, construction of the door is best left until the walls of the iglu reach a height that you can no longer swing your leg over to step inside, at which point you simply choose the location for the door and cut it out with the saw, a door with an arched top is obviously the strongest structurally.
from the looks of your pictures, you would have benefited from one more row of blocks before fitting the cap, this final row appears to defy gravity as the tilt of the blocks is disturbingly counterintuitive, but they will hold if trimmed and aligned correctly; the final 'cap' block will then be much smaller and subsequently lighter, this final block is fitted in place from the inside (as with all the other blocks) by tuning it end on, passing it though the hole from inside and then turning it horizontal before dropping it gently in place.
This doesnt really make sense in writing so here is a photo sequence:
passing the block out from the inside:
Rotate into place and lower:
Trim with a saw from the inside until all sides sit flush:
Finished:
I assume your Iglu is still standing and you have had the opportunity to try spending a night in it, if so you could now make an addition and experience the benefits of having a raised sleeping platform inside, which i notice is absent from your photographs.
A raised platform allows you to sleep near the roof where the warmer air collects and provides a lower level for the cold air to fall away into, making the shelter considerably more comfortable.
Build it opposite the door, wide enough to comfortably sleep on, and high enough that you can sit on its edge like bench without the crown of your head touching ceiling when sitting with your legs over the side and your head dipped forward a little. This puts you high enough to benefit from the warmer air, whilst allowing you to sit up to organise your equipment without dislodging frost for the ceiling, which would otherwise melt on your bedding:
This is a quinzee rather than an Iglu, but it gives a better idea as to the optimum dimensions for a sleeping platform (also, note the candle arrangement):
Once built Iglus are exceptionally strong:
A group of use are off to Canada in March to visit Mors and amongst other things practice building Iglus and other snow shelters under his expert instruction, would you like to join us? Ill PM you with the details
Might I offer some advice which will hopefully make things easier on your next build, I notice that you appear to have left out a block on the first row to form the door?
rather than leaving out at block on the first row, which severely weakens the load bearing potential of the subsequent rows, construction of the door is best left until the walls of the iglu reach a height that you can no longer swing your leg over to step inside, at which point you simply choose the location for the door and cut it out with the saw, a door with an arched top is obviously the strongest structurally.
from the looks of your pictures, you would have benefited from one more row of blocks before fitting the cap, this final row appears to defy gravity as the tilt of the blocks is disturbingly counterintuitive, but they will hold if trimmed and aligned correctly; the final 'cap' block will then be much smaller and subsequently lighter, this final block is fitted in place from the inside (as with all the other blocks) by tuning it end on, passing it though the hole from inside and then turning it horizontal before dropping it gently in place.
This doesnt really make sense in writing so here is a photo sequence:
passing the block out from the inside:
Rotate into place and lower:
Trim with a saw from the inside until all sides sit flush:
Finished:
I assume your Iglu is still standing and you have had the opportunity to try spending a night in it, if so you could now make an addition and experience the benefits of having a raised sleeping platform inside, which i notice is absent from your photographs.
A raised platform allows you to sleep near the roof where the warmer air collects and provides a lower level for the cold air to fall away into, making the shelter considerably more comfortable.
Build it opposite the door, wide enough to comfortably sleep on, and high enough that you can sit on its edge like bench without the crown of your head touching ceiling when sitting with your legs over the side and your head dipped forward a little. This puts you high enough to benefit from the warmer air, whilst allowing you to sit up to organise your equipment without dislodging frost for the ceiling, which would otherwise melt on your bedding:
This is a quinzee rather than an Iglu, but it gives a better idea as to the optimum dimensions for a sleeping platform (also, note the candle arrangement):
Once built Iglus are exceptionally strong:
A group of use are off to Canada in March to visit Mors and amongst other things practice building Iglus and other snow shelters under his expert instruction, would you like to join us? Ill PM you with the details
Last edited:
widu13
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Does an ice layer not then act counterproductively ? Stopping the insulating properties of the snow ? and just acting like a cold box ?
I thought that was one reason not to heat them up very much since you don't want the snow to melt into ice
Happy to be proved wrong, now I'm curious
cheers,
Toddy
Normally Toddy a hole is left in the ceiling for smoke and condensation to escape. The ice inside seals the cracks. The Norwegian Army instructor told us (back in the mid 80s) that the proficient can build one single handed with exact fitting blocks in 30 mins. It took 4 of us about 4 hrs! An igloo is intended to be a semi long term affair and not overnighting or survival.
Incidentally, he believed the quickest shelter was a snow bank dug out. No carrying of snow, no cutting, no aligning/fitting, just dig out, do admin then sleep.
I know how difficult igloo building is (but I'm definitely no expert) and Jon has done a fantastic job.
