Introduction: Centrally Heated Snow Fort
This is how we amuse ourselves in Vermont when the snow flies. The snow was piled up with a skid steer bucket loader, and the snowbank was hollowed out by hand into a cavern with seating for 6 and enough headroom to stand up in. We put an old open fireplace hood in the ceiling with a 4' section of stovepipe, and added a raised fire pit made from an old wheel. A support pillar was made from 5 gallon bucket ice cubes to keep the ceiling from sagging overnight. We made port-hole windows by ramming a stovepipe through the wall and used more 5 gallon molded ice for windows. It looked particularly spectacular at night especially with the sparks from the fire flying out of the chimney.
First Prize in the
Snow Sculpture Speed Contest