How to Build a Snow Quinzhee

Snow Igloo!? You don’t have to live in the arctic tundra or wear clothing made of Caribou skin to build a backyard snow dome. All you need is a single evening, a bunch of snow and the right temperature!

The idea to build a snow igloo came to me by accident. As a little boy playing outside one winter day, I decided to randomly pile up a bunch of snow. It occurred to me that if I spray the top layer with water and let it freeze I would have a strong enough structure to remove the snow inside thus creating little shelter. Ever since I have built a snow igloo almost every winter. It is just such a fun outdoor activity and it only takes a single evening to build.

Let us get started!

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You will need:

• Snow! The more the better!
• Water and something to sprinkle it with
• A shovel and big muscles or a snowblower
• Smaller shovel or a metal bucket (to dig the inside)
• The right temperature - ideal would be -5 to -15C/23 to 5F
• A buddy - I had my cousin George help me build this

The first step is to pile up as much snow as possible. It can easily be done with a shovel but a much quicker and less straining option is to use a snowblower. I started with circles on our football field and moved towards the middle until I had all the snow piled up.

At first, it did not seem that I had so much snow but as I got to the middle the pile was over two meters (6.5 feet) high. This was definitely the biggest snow Igloo I had ever built!

The next step is to water the pile with cold water. Once frozen it will create a really strong and durable crust layer. Try to sprinkle the water on there to get even coverage. Adding more snow while watering will create an even thicker and stronger layer meaning the igloo will last longer in the spring. We pumped water from a nearby pond.

It is a good idea to let the water freeze completely before starting the next step. As we were impatient, we waited only an hour.

This is the hard part! Now you have to dig out the whole inside! Create a door in the desired location and dig away. Use whatever tool suits you. We used snow shovels, regular shovels and an old bucket. Even the doggo came to help. It is a really good idea to have two people on this job. One digs the material and the other one showels it out. I have previously piled the snow (removed from the inside) on top to create an even bigger igloo. As this one was already so big we just decided to pile the snow on either side of the door to create a more interesting entrance.

This is it! One igloo built in an evening. Our Igloo turned out massive - the floor area ended up being around 3m2 and the volume over 6 m3 (32ft2, 212ft3)

I hope you have enjoyed this article and will now build your own igloo. If you do please share photos - I would love to see the results!

If you have any questions, comments or ideas please leave them, in the comments below - I would love to hear what you think.

If you are interested in my work be sure to subscribe and find me on Instagram!