Shanty Town - Eskimo Style

I went out to build some igloos with my homeroom on Tuesday morning, led by some elders. It was really cool! Here are a few of the steps:

First, you gotta set up a tent. An igloo takes about 3 hours to build, and the weather can shift really quickly. You want to make sure you have somewhere to shelter if wind should come up before you have a snow cave to hide in.

Next you test the snow. Elders know how to find the good spots where the snow collects and is driven to form something like the consistency of hard-baked meringue. I used to say styrofoam, but it's heavier and more brittle than that.

You cut blocks of snow and carefully lift them out. It seems to me that the size of the blocks is limited by the length of the blade. Also, new snow is much heavier than old snow. This makes sense, because the same monster that eats the ice cubes in your freezer also eats the snow.

They first remove a weird triangular chunk of snow, cutting on angles in every direction to make it possible to lift out the block without damaging the sides of the hole. This hole will be expanded by cutting the blocks out from the sides.



The builder will collect 12 - 15 blocks of snow before building. Many people will use the hole that they carved the blocks out of as a sort of "basement" for the igloo. This gives the igloo a lot more space inside, without having to build as high. It also affords more immediate protection from the elements, as your body is half out of the wind nearly instantly. An emergency snow shelter can be built in about 20 minutes.

A student learning to cut and lift blocks. It's harder than it looks! If you don't cut all the way around, your block will break when you try to lift it!

The first circle of blocks are laid evenly around the snow. An ice knife is used to carve a shallow indentation, and the blocks are laid on a slight angle, as you can see.

Each block is lined up and then "shaved" down at the edge that touches the previous block. This ensures a very close fit.



After the first round of blocks, the builder will cut down about three of the blocks on an angle, to allow the beginning of a spiral. This spiral will be built up into a complete dome, with only a small hole at the top to allow smoke out.

Unfortunately, we ran out of time to complete our igloos that morning. They were completed in the afternoon by another group of students. More pics and stories to follow after the weekend, when I'll go out and sleep in the igloos with a few co-workers (and of course the Bitches of Renown). :)

Sorry it's been so long - things have been so busy and I didn't really have an adventures! Rest assured, all is well. I was incredibly happy to see the sun on Tuesday - for the first time since I was in Jamaica for New Years. The sun should reach town within the next couple of weeks.