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 Post subject: Igloos with Igloo Ed
PostPosted: February 17th, 2004, 12:33 pm 
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Joined: May 8th, 2002, 7:00 pm
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Location: Guelph, Ontario Canada
So, this past weekend, I tried to build an igloo at Silent Lake. It was far too labour-intensive with the kind of snow we had, though, and we abandoned the project at level 2 (having a yurt to retreat to didn't help the motivational factor either). But now I've got Igloo Ed himself in town, and I wanted him to demonstrate building an igloo with this horrible refrozen snow. He did, at my place. Here is the story:

http://johanna.wandel.ca/babbles/archives/000042.html

Building an igloo in these sorts of conditions is more work than I'd want to do, that's for sure. But the igloo itself is perfect and beautiful.

Ed is building one in Hillside Park in Waterloo today and tomorrow - drop by! Also, Friday and Saturday at Algonquin Outfitters in Dwight. And of course those of you going to the Deep Freeze gathering will get your fill of Igloo Ed and his amazing igloo prowess... he makes it look so easy!


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PostPosted: February 17th, 2004, 1:24 pm 
Thanks for sharing this Johanna. I always look forward to reading about your adventures.


James.


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PostPosted: February 17th, 2004, 3:15 pm 
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Joined: April 18th, 2002, 7:00 pm
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Location: Beamsville, Ontario Canada
Would you mind sharing a "coles notes" version on how to build one. Just curious to see what's involved and how labour intensive it is.

Thanks.
Jake

PS
The igloo does look amazing though :clap:


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PostPosted: February 17th, 2004, 3:58 pm 
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Location: Kitchener, Ontario Canada
Dropped by this afternoon to meet Ed. He and Paul from Adventure Guide were well on their way to having an igloo to sleep in tonight ...... if they want to.


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PostPosted: February 18th, 2004, 8:55 am 
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Zelandonii wrote:
Would you mind sharing a "coles notes" version on how to build one. Just curious to see what's involved and how labour intensive it is.


You can read the manual which explains the process at the http://www.grandshelters.com
Step by step documentation of my first igloo at
http://johanna.wandel.ca/igloo/index.htm

How labour intensive it is depends on snow conditions. Sugar snow like Ed had to work with here this week is challenging to say the least. Powder is much easier, and the sticky stuff I had to work with at Christmas made it child's play...

J.


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PostPosted: March 17th, 2004, 8:28 pm 
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I found this photo of a neat IGLOO. It was made using the ICEBOX igloo maker. The whole article starts at http://www.aroundcolorado.com/camping/2 ... index.html


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PostPosted: March 21st, 2004, 12:32 am 
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Location: Newmarket, Ontario Canada
Fantastic pictures! I love # 16!


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 Post subject: Igloos with Igloo Ed
PostPosted: March 21st, 2004, 8:15 am 
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Location: St. Thomas, Ontario
Thanks for that link madkanuist, very interesting. I can't help but thinking of our time with Igloo Ed at DF04.

What a great guy, friendly, bright, patient, and full of adventure. I think he should be called Dr. Snow, because he knows more about the phyiscs of the white stuff than all of us combined.

I talked to him about snowshoeing in areas of Colorado, probably quite similar to the ones pictured in the link. Nobody uses traditional shoes there, regardless of snow depth. They all use hi-tech ones, probably because, as he said, most trails are packed, and the inclines and declines experienced in the area.

When hiking and breaking trail with Ed, his 10" * 36" worked just as well as my 14" * 42" on the flat, but it was the hills where he really had the advantage. Where I had to traverse he would just go straight up and down. I'm going to have to get a pair of those high tech things.

I hope I get another chance to camp with Ed, it was a very memorable experience.


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 Post subject: Re: Igloos with Igloo Ed
PostPosted: March 21st, 2004, 3:39 pm 
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Rick wrote:
When hiking and breaking trail with Ed, his 10" * 36" worked just as well as my 14" * 42" on the flat, but it was the hills where he really had the advantage. Where I had to traverse he would just go straight up and down. I'm going to have to get a pair of those high tech things.


Don't rush. I think you'll be disappointed because you outweigh him & need more floatation. :wink:

I own MSR's with long tails. They are great on slopes & were perfect in a light winter such as when I did an Algonquin trek in '98. I left them at home this year because I get around much better with the 11*40 Faber round tails in deep snow, despite the lack of grip on slopes.

Ed mentioned that he was sinking to his knees in my tracks at my Burk's Falls property, but thought it was due to a crust. However, Merlin had the same problem when he, Joe & I bushwhacked to a neighbouring lake. In general, it seemed to me that I could break trail faster than people on modern shoes could follow. I did some muttering about their lack of grip, but usually only on hilly packed trails.


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PostPosted: March 22nd, 2004, 9:39 am 
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Location: Toronto
Quote:
I talked to him about snowshoeing in areas of Colorado, probably quite similar to the ones pictured in the link. Nobody uses traditional shoes there, regardless of snow depth. They all use hi-tech ones, probably because, as he said, most trails are packed, and the inclines and declines experienced in


When I was living in Boulder county, I hiked that trail and a few others.
Certainly the trails were well packed near the trailhead, but as I recall
it the packing decreased exponentially with distance. Plus, the
snowshoers didn't seem to come out early in the morning! there were
plenty of days where I broke trail all the way uphill only to find an icy
hard-packed trail on the descent. I'll never forget the sight of
backcountry skiers coming down from 2 or 3 days in the alpine, loaded
down with 40 pound packs, desparately trying to negotiate these
luge runs; the best freeheel skiing I've ever seen. More to the point, the
traditional snowshoes weren't available in stores that I ever saw. I
suppose there are good reasons not to build a modern snowshoe with the
same area and overlapping gait as the traditional snowshoes, but I
haven't yet heard them whatever they may be. It seems
like an obvious product and it would resolve these debates conclusively.
In the meantime, owning a pair of each ( modern and traditional)
is the way to go.


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PostPosted: August 24th, 2004, 9:14 pm 
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Igloo Ed has added a pole to the Icebox igloo maker so that it can produce a 7 foot diameter, 44 inch high solo igloo. It will be a lot quicker to build than the larger igloos & should be much easier to build solo. See http://www.grandshelters.com/igloo-man-p21.htm
If you already have an Icebox, you can order an upgrade from http://www.grandshelters.com/index.html . My upgrade is in the mail.

COME ON WINTER!


Last edited by madkanuist on August 25th, 2004, 2:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: August 25th, 2004, 12:11 pm 
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I first started out reading Johanna attempting at making a igloo, I thought to myself, HOLY COW! Where did she find snow?! Then I looked at the date of entry.......

If you ( anyone)find any, let us know where so we can go and play in it!?

Neat idea to make a solo igloo, i wonder on the time process it will take to build?

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[color=green]For love of the wilderness, A journey begins...[/color] [color=brown][b][Nature's Calling...] So get OFF(!) THAT(!!) THUNDERBOX !!![/b][/color]




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PostPosted: August 25th, 2004, 9:55 pm 
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Joined: March 5th, 2004, 7:59 pm
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Location: Colorado
Georgi wrote:
I first started out reading Johanna attempting at making a igloo, I thought to myself, HOLY COW! Where did she find snow?! Then I looked at the date of entry.......

If you ( anyone)find any, let us know where so we can go and play in it!?

Neat idea to make a solo igloo, i wonder on the time process it will take to build?


I went up into Rocky Mountain National Park last Sat. and there was snow on the N.W. side of Longs Peak all the way down to 12,000 ft elevation. The "Trough" didn't melt out completely this year and the rangers considered Longs to be technical climbing all summmer. First time for a long time that I remember. The glaciers go a bit bigger this year also. Nights are cold and the summer has been moist.
I've built four or five solo seven foot igloos now and the fastest I've done it has been two hours. I figured out another technique on the last one though and I might be able to shave twenty minutes off that.
With the snow we had at DF04, it would probably take me two hours or add another twenty minutes.
I received a photo DF04 CD a while back. Thanks to Richard and everyone.

Igloo Ed

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Igloo Ed
http://www.grandshelters.com


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