For those of us who don’t live in snow filled climates, igloos aren’t something we come across very often. Of course, most people know what they look like, but have never seen one in the flesh. Imgur user ‘hilller’ uploaded an awesome set of step by step photos showing the process of a group of friends building an igloo over family day weekend in Canada. Although clearly a lot of hard work went into the creation, it looked like a huge amount of fun to get involved with and we bet the end satisfaction felt great!
A lot of effort was put into filling these pans. ‘Hilller’ didn’t have running water so had to cart back and forth to fill the pans. 1 bucket of water would fill 4-5 containers! It was also difficult to ensure that the water froze evenly as they weren’t resting on a flat surface.
During the freezing process of the first batch of ice slabs, 2 layers of snow blocks were built up, minimizing the total amount of ice slabs needed.
Unfortunately, the igloo building site was situated a little too closely to hilller’s DIY hockey rink. As the group of friends were flooding the area, some of the water found its way into the igloo. Annoyingly, around half of the ice slabs were lost due to freezing to the ice lake underneath the igloo. Thankfully, some scraps were salvaged to fill gaps!
Here, hilller was testing out how easily the ice and slush froze the pieces together. In hindsight, the size of the igloo was too big compared to the overall size of the igloo.
Here you can see the structure really starting to take place! Lots of slush was packed on the inner side of the igloo for support. The first lot of ice slabs used were purposely made thicker with the plan to make thinner ones for the higher part of the igloo.
A shovel was used to support the higher pieces that were starting to curve into the middle of the igloo. The pieces that were added on were held for roughly 30 seconds at which point they were then safe to let go of. A few minutes later and the pieces would be frozen securely.
Peeking in the background you can see the cooler/sled contraption that the gang created to transport the ice blocks. 8-10 pieces could be moved per trip.
The archway was completed and a tripod was used to assist with completing the top of the dome.
An awesome panoramic shot!
Filling in the dome.
These pieces were frozen with plenty of food coloring so that the archway and top of the dome would really stand out.
A fake chimney was added of course! How great do the different colors look?
A side view.
What the surroundings looked like from the inside…
The gang decided that they should play ‘rocketleague’ in the igloo. It ended up being a good decision as not long after, the weather became a lot warmer meaning that it was not safe for people to be inside the igloo.
How cool does the igloo look when it glows?!
We think the group of friends should be really pleased with themselves and their creation.
Here you have an awesome shot of the hockey rink, igloo and cabin all together. What a great place to be!
There is no end to this group of people’s creativity! They even made a snow bar on the deck of their cabin. Lights and snow just go together so well!
We would love to take on this entire project. Doesn’t the area just look so beautiful?
This group took inspiration from another igloo project, which you can check out here. What a great way to spend a weekend! It’s a shame that the igloo would have eventually melted but we bet building it was an absolute blast. At least everyone involved can rest assured that the memories have been forever captured in these cool photographs!
Source: Imgur