Well the Inuit still live in Igloo. I don’t know how to build an Igloo but I know a common house is much more comfortable.

Be sure to build it big enough to fit in a refrigerator.

I would recommend spending some time in cold weather before you even contemplate living in an igloo.

HOW TO BUILD AN IGLOO AND OTHER SNOW SHELTERS
NORBERT E. YANKIELUN
W.W. Norton, 2007, 148 p., b&w illus., paperback, $17.95.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1200/is_19_172/ai_n27453079/

Wait for the delivery, read, get yourself some warm and water proof clothing, then head north!

Some Eskimo tribes still use them for hunting and such, btw.

I think you’re all being a little mean… :( I think this is an amazing idea… i hope someone can help…

Incidentally when you say: I’m not talking ice resorts here, but traditional igloos made for nomadic survival. Do you mean like out of clay and what not?? ‘Cause I would imagine they would be really beautiful architecturally!

Build Igloo’s all you want, just don’t become a dirty Eskimo!

First off you are going to have move out of the state you live. Either that or build your igloo high up on Mauna Kea.

be my guest.

@lynneblundell Who’s being mean? I for one am just advising @lilikoi to acclimate to the cold a bit before going to the extreme. Igloos are used in a place that at this moment is -33 degrees F. Where @lilikoi lives it is currently 72 degrees F. I think getting used to the cold a bit first is just good advice for someone who has likely never experienced freezing temperatures.

Hi Snarp, No I was only saying that because I thought he was thinking of building an igloo out of other materials and not necessarily going somewhere cold… maybe I’ve got it all wrong..sorry :-(

I would move into a walk in freezer for a while and see how you like it before you quit your day job.

This is a Canadian asking- Do the Inuit live in igloos? Maybe on a hunting expedition.

Okay, no quitting my day job, becoming an Eskimo, moving out of state, bringing a fridge. I don’t want to change my whole lifestyle and drop off the grid permanently, I just want to learn the skill and experience it for a while.

The coldest weather I’ve ever been in is something around 30 deg F, so yes I think acclimating is a good idea, and yes I would plan on doing that.

Thank you for the book rec; I will look into it. I have read other texts on how igloos are built, and have studied heat transfer so I understand the basic physics of why it works. But what I was really hoping was that someone would provide me w/ info on where I can find someone who will show me how it’s done. I’d like to experience what it is like, and learn how, to efficiently survive in an environment like this and would feel a lot more comfortable if someone that knows what they are doing is w/ me.

I don’t think the igloo design is well suited for use with materials other than snow or in warmer climates.

@lilikoi I don’t know of anyone who actually lives in igloos, but you’re probably going to have to go to Barrow, Alaska to get started.

Over here in the UK we have just recently had a huge downpour of snow, my firends neighbour built an ingloo in their front garden!!!
Have fun living in one! But I agree with some of the others when they say try living somewhere a little colder before jumping straight into it! :)

While this sounds like a fascinating idea bear in mind that the lifestyle of the innuit is being seriously threatened by climage change. While mean global temperatures are rising by only 2 or 3 degrees in the next fifty years they are changing much more drastically near the poles. The ice in the arctic is not likely to be firm or safe for much longer.

I have a friend in Sweden who says they no longer have snow on the ground in the winter where she lives. She says her family is very disappointed about it.

Maybe the solution is to build your igloo quickly, while you still can.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUiR7fhIIBI
– Just thought about this when I read ya question

Yep I saw that on TV a while ago. I wondered if they have a high turnover of workers coz who wants to build and rebuild a hotel out of ice only to watch it melt away.

I want to make a hamburger and eat it.

@lilikoi
where I can find someone who will show me how it’s done
Yes they’re called eskimos..or native Alaskans or whatever the PC name du jour is.

@lilikoi- Here is Les Stroud demonstrating how to make an igloo. In the end he’s not very successful.

@lilikoi
I would hurry actually..or just wait a little while and before you know it there’ll be an iceberg off the coast of Maui.

If you have room, you could build it out of milk jugs. With LED lights, it could be spectacular.

@PandoraBoxx
And he could get them from here on the trip up north

Wow, making me sad about how nice plastic is to use while being so sneakily deadly.

@faye
This is a Canadian asking- Do the Inuit live in igloos? Maybe on a hunting expedition.
Yes this is 2010 and last I checked they lived in framed houses and drove snowmobiles.

@SeventhSense See I don’t like to confront too directly. But they might build them to train or as a place to stay when hunting. We used to have a winter festival that included igloo building.

@faye
Sometimes you gotta bark loud round here.
It’s not that anyone is dumb it’s just that some are in a self induced Cheetos and Dr. Pepper coma

Here is an article on How to build igloos by a person who spent a night in an igloo on Carson Pass, California. Or contact the B. C. Cn Mountain School for information on their next igloo building class.

In Switzerland there are people who teach this skill. Couple of years ago I participated in a social team building event and learned how to do it. We used crosscut saws. There were 5 teams competing. Ours was second. The score was influenced by time and grade of perfection.

Keep in mind that Polar Bears are getting hungrier by the minute and Coke commercials notwithstanding, you do not want to mess with a 9 foot beast weighing 1500 pounds who has had a bad day at the office hunting seals. They will not reason with you nor respect your desire for an alternative living experiment and will dismantle it with one pounce. Best to build in an escape route.

@SeventhSense Good Advice, but we have lot’s of snow in California, Utah, Colorado, and many, many other states, and not one single Polar Bear except in zoos.

@YARNLADY
Yes I guess so. Just conditioning I suppose, I think igloo and it’s Eskimos in the frozen north.