igloos

[unbibium]

A few years ago, I didn't know that igloos existed in real life.

And someone on IM just told me they made one when they were seven years old.

Suddenly, I want to build one. The idea that you can make an entire house out of water is amazing.

Seems like a strange thing to take a vacation for.

Comments

[kirkjerk.livejournal.com]

Spoken like a true desert dweller.

Now, are you talking igloos proper, or more casual "snow forts"? Like for your IM friend, and for your own ambition.

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking about one of those structures that's enclosed enough that it's warmer than the outside.

That probably implies it has to be more bitterly cold outside than it gets in, say, Flagstaff AZ.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

Igloos are built out of cut ice blocks, and there are some excellent geometrical tricks at play, producing a very high learning curve.

A snow fort is child's play to make-- make a large pile of snow, eventually poking some sticks into the center from above. Dig it out from the side, preferably via a tunnel.

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

She mentioned pouring water on it so that it would freeze solid, though that's the only detail I remember.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

Sounds like ice to me, but that's only because I'm uncertain as to how a snow fort would behave-- the outside might be smooth enough to withstand water.

I just read Dan Simmons "The Terror," a fictionalization of the true events of the last Franklin Expedition, some 130 men aboard HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which sought the Northwest Passage. Both ships were trapped in the ice for years at a stretch, according to messages left behind, but both crews were lost. In Simmons book, there was a native character, "Lady Silence," who, near the end of the book is seen performing some remarkable feats of engineering using ice and various frozen items such as fish and various bits of discarded hardware from the ships. The book's finale indicates that Simmons must've researched the hell out of the Inuit (probably-- this is northern Canada after all) culture and mythology, which is described at length (and then lengthened for the purposes of his fiction). That suggests that the igloos, sleds, etc. of the natives were also researched.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

Both structures are basically pure insulation-- the major accomplishment being to block out the wind, which can chill all the air in any kind of cavity just about instantly. Once you get the thing sealed againsit the wind (usually by a bend in the entrance tunnel), you can warm it slightly above freezing, with a minor fire or body heat.

I'd like to try my hand at building either or both structures, but only in those really cold days in the northern midwest can the temperatures drop enough to make it possible.

Hmm, a little reading indicates that it's compact snow, not ice, from which igloos are made. That makes much more sense, since it's hard to imagine primitive tools that can saw ice, but compact snow is easy to manufacture, relatively lightway, and easy to saw.

[motis.livejournal.com]

While living in Alaska years ago, I recall reading a newspaper article about a teacher who came up from the Lower 48 to teach in a school in rural Alaska. Most if not all of the students were Native Alaskans (don't call them 'Eskimos', the Eskimos are only one tribe among many). Shortly after arriving in State, this teacher got the brilliant idea to take his students waaaaay the hell out into the bush, build an igloo, and stay in it overnight. He unfortunately failed to ask any of them if they knew how to build an igloo. None of them had any idea. The whole group nearly froze to death in their failed attempt to build a half-decent shelter out of frozen water.

I used to have an old pamphlet (photoillustrated!) on how to build an igloo, step by step. It's probably in a box of souvenirs in Moscow now, or I'd send it to you or scan it or something... but then I'm sure a Google search will yield more igloo how-to than anyone could ever want.

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

I doubt I'd have attempted to stay in one overnight, unless it turned out REALLY well.

Any Kibologists in Alaska?

[motis.livejournal.com]

The only one I know of is someone you wouldn't want to know.

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

I've heard that you could walk into any bar in Alaska and yell "FEDERAL MARSHALLS" and no force on Earth could stop the entire crowd from scattering.

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

Eskimos include several tribes, but not all tribes. Thanks to a curious fact of geography, you're likely to get eskimos in Alaska, but not so likely in Canada, where they say Inuit, even though Inuit is one or two tribes, they happen to be the tribes inhabiting Canada. Something like that.

[motis.livejournal.com]

It is technically correct to say 'Eskimo' to refer to all those peoples, yes... but in Alaska, a lot of people will resent it nevertheless, and "Alaska Native" should be used instead unless you're talking to/about someone who self-identifies as a member of a particular tribe, or whose tribal affiliation is well-known to you.

The Tlingit people, for instance, really hate being called Eskimo. The old saw up there is that "the Tlingits never lost a battle and never signed a treaty". This isn't strictly accurate; it actually refers to Russian conquest and the Treaty of Cession of 1867. Justified or not, to Tlingits, 'Eskimo' refers to the people who pretended to represent all Alaska Natives and sold them out by signing treaties on their behalf with white interlopers.

[urbeatle.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you need to take a trip to one of the two hotels built entirely of ice. At least one of those has an ice movie theater.