Quick Igloo

Make a big igloo in 3 hours using a snowblower, some trash cans and a tarp.

Step 1 Make a pile of trash cans

get about 5 trash cans with lids together and tie a loop of rope onto a few of the trash cans for easy removal from the igloo

Comments

[TechDante]

a while back i saw one of teose ultimate survival programs where the contestants went and did teh norwegian army snow training (the british army still send troups to take this course) part of teh training was to build a snow cave after a gruling hike. their principle was to build two bed shaped shelves either side of a trough and then a dropped down entrance like @orangewood mentioned. This made the chance of sufforcating less as the excess CO2 went out of teh doorway and the heat was kept inside. I cannot remeber if they built in an air hole above the door but this would seam logical to me as you would neeed a new supply of air as you were converting it to co2.

[daelans]

you know what i think would be waaay easier then this, just take a tent, a normal camping tent, right, and then leaev it out over the winter, and the snow falls on it and presto. but youd need some supports cuase tents arent that strong at all.

[Blaaken]

actually, if the snow builds up on it slowly, the snow would hold itself up so long as the tent is kind of small.

[froggyman]

I do believe what you made is a Quinzhee, not an igloo(the differences are marked on wikipedia). Just putting that out there

But still very cool, if you want to have more "fun" you can just skip the garbage cans or gear and just hollow it out all the way.

I think i will try this method the next time I build one.

[blazingpencilsdotcom]

Is dinner a dumpling, a pierogi, a ravioli, a potsticker or a gyoza? Depends who you ask.

[Blaaken]

Well, when there are specific meanings on words and people don't know then and use the words wrong, it's not an opinion, it's stupidity or laziness

[die_dunkelheit]

No, actually Quinzee and Igloo are very specific words which describe to very different structures. The Igloo is made up of cut blocks of naturally set, and much more dense snow, whereas the Quinzee is made of loose hand piled snow. Also, the Quinzee is a mound which is then dug-out, and the Igloo is built with an internal cavity. Igloos are also far more structural and do not sag like Quinzees do.

[H20]

I am getting 3-6" of snow right now.  in the morning I will try this! :}

[bakumaster117]

i have 16 inches of snow!!!!!!

[shenzer]

has anyone tried misting the walls with water to sloidify them?

[Algag]

yes it works but BE FAST....you need to be spraying water nearly constantly or the hose will freeze

[Gerrles]

i only have 2 trashcans will that work??? What else can i use to replace the trash cans

[alex-sharetskiy]

cool! too bad i don't have a snow blower, or snow for that matter something i'll have to try!

[carpe_noctem]

Just use a shovel. I used to make one of these every year.

[Screamo]

Who needs that? get a house. or at least a cardboard box :)

[PikminRed]

WHERE DO YOU GET A SNOWBLOWER!!

[PikminRed]

 GRR!  I wish it snowed enough where I live! It never snows in lorda though, IM lucky not to live there. ( Just think It doesent snow in Florda..  But sometimes it snows in Africa?!?) Florda is nice for a vacation though! Its only like a 16 hour drive from here.

 

[ve2vfd]

Cool instructable! By the way it's called a Quinzee, a native Athabascan Inuit word for "snow cave". An Igloo is made of blocks piled up into a "dome", a quinzee is a dug out snow mound. My Scouts build a quinzee every winter and sleep in it. When built properly, it never goes below zero inside the quinzee. Also remember to naver make your door facing into the wind :)

[daelans]

one time, i was camping, im in boysouts, and one of the scoutmasters brought like 5 square things like brick molds, and we had the whole troop, almost, aking turns and we built a whol igloo like that, dont reccommend it, it wast sturdy, it took hours and it was only big enough for like 1 person to curl up in. it was fun till the end and we realized we wouldnt be able to actually go in it.

[the_burrito_master]

I once built this HUGE one (by hand) it had a hallway ,well more of a crawl way lol. it was so strong you could ride a sled down it. I never dug out the walls enough so you could not fit in it without curling up.

[daelans]

one time, i was camping, im in boysouts, and one of the scoutmasters brought like 5 square things like brick molds, and we had the whole troop, almost, aking turns and we built a whol igloo like that, dont reccommend it, it wast sturdy, it took hours and it was only big enough for like 1 person to curl up in. it was fun till the end and we realized we wouldnt be able to actually go in it.

[Foehammer358]

the priciple for the door is that cold air descends and hot air rises, so if the entrance is lower thank the floor, it make a sink, and keeps the cold air out.

[wupme]

Did you know that German "Gebirgsjaeger" (military montain special forces, trained to fight in the icy mountains) use a technique thats nearly the same? Well instead of barrels the use 5-6 six Soldiers wo "form" the inner part with a Tarp over them. I think if your in war, your probably gonna be short of barrels ;)

[blazingpencilsdotcom]

Thank you, that is the coolest idea ever. Remember if you ever need to survive outdoors your best rescue device is a piece of mirror to signal aircraft

[extrordinary1]

CD's work great for this, with the hole in the center to let you see the reflection to aim it.

[ve2vfd]

We just pile our backpacks and put a tarp over them :) I'm not sure I'd like to have snow piled on me!

[GeekGod]

Ditto that here.Same basic method I learned as well. Pile up whatever equipment you have plus any convenient filler in the local area (usually more snow). Never considered using people and not so sure I'd be keen on being buried either. But whatever works in a survival situation I guess :)

[Blaaken]

if there are multiple people and something goes wrong, it would be a simple matter to just busty out of it.

[the_burrito_master]

I found the picture of mine. I made this like 6 years ago.

[the_burrito_master]

sorry it's so small I messed something up.

[blazingpencilsdotcom]

Over a month later and the igloo is still standing, it's like concrete now. We had an 8" snowstorm, after which I went around it with the snowblower and aded wall thickness, and we had a very cold month and a couple of wintry mix storms. We put a foam mat on the floor and an oriental rug on top of that, and some christmas lights inside to make it magical and warm. I will send photos.

[orangewood]

One thing you might want to consider is digging the entrance down below the wall (if the snow is deep enough) and up into the igloo. I forget the exact principles, but it keeps the wind out and the warmth inside. If you search google for "How Igloos Work" you'll find a How Stuff Works article about it. Also, when I was a kid I made "windows" by freezing ice in a baking pan, then building them into the walls.

[cog66]

Love it. Brings back alot of good memories from my childhood.We used to dig ours out of the huge piles of snow from where the plows pushed it up. We had as many as 4 different rooms in them befor.You can heat these things with a candle and be quite comfy,just remember to have ventilation.I do however have to disagree with blazing on one thing.I think the most important resue device is your mind.To me that is the most important survival tool.Great stuuf though and thanks for the memories.

[NinjaSloth]

Doesn't CO2 weigh more than O2, therefore, causing the CO2 to remain trapped inside? Would it help The problem if you would dig some ground level holes in the iglue or would it just make it worse? It always gets hard to breath in the snow forts I've made and I'm just wondering if it would help more to build a chimney or to dig ground level holes.

[Wafflicious]

Hmmm maybe it's because the CO2 is warmer? That's a good point

[dchall8]

My Scouts build a quinzee every winter and sleep in it. When built properly, it never goes below zero inside the quinzee.

Do you mean 0 degrees C?

[=SMART=]

Wow thats awesome !!

[Plasmana]

Wow! That is really cool! i always wandered how to easily build a large igloo... Unfortunately, I had less than a inch of snow in my area... ;-(

[=SMART=]

Same :(

[blazingpencilsdotcom]

You can build one out of white milk jugs glued together with hot melt glue. It makes a great school project.