One of the many reasons I favour igloos for winter shelters
When winter camping, my shelter of choice is some sort of snow shelter. I used to build quinzhees, but in the last three years I've gone the way of the igloo.
When describing igloo camping to people, I can usually count on two questions. The first is, 'Isn't it too cold to sleep in an igloo?', and the other is, "Don't you worry the whole thing could collapse on you in the night, or if there is a sudden warm spell, or if it rains?"
That first concern is rather easy to alleviate: Snow is a fantastic insulator. Igloos trap heat well. The interior temperature hovers close to the freezing point even when it's bitterly cold and windy outside, and, of course, the Inuit lived in them and seemed to thrive just fine. That's usually enough to put people's minds at ease about the warmth and comfort of igloos.
But the second concern, about the stability of an igloo has proven harder to deal with, because no matter what I've told people, they can't shake the intuition that an igloo is fragile and would need to be carved of solid ice to be stable. Even experienced winter campers have expressed their misgivings because - as anyone who's slept in a quinzhee, snow cave, or snow trench knows - one commonly wakes up to find the ceiling of the shelter has lowered alarmingly by morning. Most snow shelters are therefore too cramped, unstable, or unusable after just a few nights due to 'roof sag'.
So, to this end, I've made a little video to illustrate the superior stability, strength, and remarkable durability of igloos which are constructed properly in a catenary arch shape.
http://youtu.be/zbByyCUeNus
Hope this helps,
- Martin
