I can’t explain it. An unnatural urge draws me. I need snow, snow, snow. Great heaping drifts of it. I must build an igloo!

I think the trip to Victoria, B.C. did it - it got the frost back in my mind. My plan grew out of wanting to, at first, do some cross-country skiing. Downhill skiing is both more expensive and harder on the knee, and I love XC anyway. Well, the older two kids are old enough to start learning, too (heck, the Finns start at 2 or 3!). So, how do I get them up there, do some practice with them, and not have a total bust of a trip if they get cold, tired, or bored in the first hour?

Now the plan emerges. I’ll go up to the mountain early - with friends or man-family - build a great sweat-lodge of a beast, then have the rest of the family meet us up there for snowshoeing, XC practice, snowball fights, and snow angels. When the kids get cold, into the ‘gloo they go! It’s perfect! What could possibly go wrong? =)

Anyone have a snow saw? If not, one of these... I should build my own. Too bad we don’t get enough snow at sea level to really make some tests.

I found some good quotes in my searches:

Don’t build it on a lake or river, or swamp or marsh. This may sound like obvious advice, but in the winter time it’s a lot harder to tell a field from a lake without a map, although I have to admit it’s pretty cool to watch a camp fire go through the ice and continue to glow under the ice for a few seconds as it extinguishes.

That would be awesome, I agree. But:

Make sure it is well ventilated, and don’t use a stove inside that could gas you. You don’t want to be found blue and dead in your nicely constructed igloo.

Good points!

Posted in Adventures