Two Story Ice Igloo Build At -47°F

It's day one. Negative 13 degrees outside. I'm stoked. It's gonna be a big project. Let's get to it. create two elongated arches next to each other so it'll be the same type of funnel igloo that I made before but with two side by side I'll then be able to stack a plank across and basically be able to build on top of them. So that's why I'm making it a little bit more narrow so hopefully it has a little more downward strength to be able to support an arch on top of it. We will find out. Well I am once again having lots of chainsaw issues. It's negative 10 degrees outside and the pull cord is not winding anymore so I think it's time to upgrade. I'm gonna go spend a lot of money. Christmas! It's a new day. Got a new chainsaw. Let's get after it. My goodness that is cutting so much easier. Thank you. Two arches down. Three to go for this one and five more over there. I believe it is officially day five and it's a chilly one today. We're cutting almost negative 20. I think today is going to be a productive day. I've cut it down to it's nine blocks per arch so let's get nine blocks out and get an arch in. Originally I was going to do five arches out but I feel like four is enough so I'm going to start on the second igloo. I'm just going to go right beside it here and then I'll create a funnel around the back that'll connect the two. Let's get to it. We've run into a fun new problem. The ice is now actually frozen enough that even with a 20 inch bar it's not cutting all the way down. It's like 20 and a half or 21. Well if we can stomp the blocks out I think I'm going to need to go get a longer bar because I can't keep stomping them out much longer. It's soon going to be too thick. I need like something to slam it with. Hey that worked! The thing about doing a project like this in Fairbanks Alaska in the middle of January is that the sun is only up for about four and a half hours. The sun sets a little after three o'clock so some days I found myself working into the night. I'm pretty surprised. Working in the night like this really isn't all too bad. It's kind of peaceful. I was expecting it to be like cold and kind of scary being all the way out here but it's not bad. Day seven. It's warmer today about 10 degrees. It's like the warm before the cold. Before the negative 30 that's coming in a couple days. So I'm going to take advantage of that. Get blocks out. Today's goal is to get the last two arches up for the foundation. Should be a productive day. We're getting so close. I only have one arch left to build so just need to pull out those blocks, shape them up, get this last arch up and we're getting close to really starting to see it come which will of course require more blocks. It is officially day 10 and today's goal is pretty simple. I want to fill in all the cracks and gaps in between each of the arches that way they're frozen together real nice and solid and then using all these blocks I've collected over the last two days I want to start building a dome that will connect these two on one side. So that's today's focus. It's amazing that when it's negative 20 like it is today just overnight the amount that refreezes it's like two to three inches in like 12 hours which is awesome because I can actually reuse these in ice blocks. I'm putting up this wall here in between the igloos that way when I build the dome up it'll connect the two igloos into a singular u-shaped tunnel. Really pleased it's just it's starting to look really nice but oh man it is cold out here. My toes are cold, my fingers are cold, my nose is cold. I really want to finish this dome tonight that way I have this part checked off. The cold has hit full swing. It was negative 38 this morning. I think it's warmed up to like negative 33 so you know a little bit warmer. I'm stuck trying to decide if the stairs should be outside or inside because it would be a lot easier if they're outside because then I could just close this wall off or if I want to add a tunnel over here and have the stairs be enclosed that'd be a lot cooler but I just think that'd take a lot a little bit more work and if I do that then I kind of feel like I might extend this a bit that way the stairs because if I if I do that then the stairs need to be squinched in a little bit more you need to have enough room to come out here. Anyways I decided I wanted to have the stairs enclosed which meant I needed to extend the igloo a little bit so let's get to it. I've got four layers of pants on and three layers on top. I honestly feel pretty good out here which is surprising for it being negative 37 right now. At negative 40 even my new chainsaw doesn't like the start. I want to get a close-up shot showing you guys what happens when you put cold ice and slush on these blocks that are negative 40 and how they just like crack and explode expanding and compressing from the temperature difference and then once the water kind of seeps into them they refreeze nice and solid again. At least that's what I hope. I don't really know anything. So I built this mini arch that I'm going working on the next level but to be able to do so I need a platform to build upon and I am tempted to fill the gap in between the arches with slush but since I don't know the true strength of the arches I don't want to potentially crush them under the weight of all the slush. So for safety's sake I'm going to use a wooden platform to create the floor for the top level. Today was a cold day. Negative 47 is what it was this morning. As you can see my hair is completely frozen and frosted. It is cold today but today's the last day of the cold and it's only supposed to get warmer so I'm stoked about that. Okay I think today might be day 20. I'm not fully sure. I'm losing track but I'm shaving down the edges in preparation to put the platform up. Yeah this is it. We're at the moment of truth here. Will this work? Will this hold? First moment is getting the platform up and getting into place and seeing if it'll hold. The second moment of truth is if that holds will I then be able to start putting arches up on top of it. This is sick. Oh god. Now that I'm actually up here and I see this it's like okay all that's really left to do is put up these top arches which that big arch is for so let's get to it. So for the top arches I want to use much thinner blocks that way there's less weight but I want them to be thick enough that they'll freeze together solidly and you know not collapse. Two inches seems like the nice spot for the top arch. Picking those up I realized it's still a decent amount of weight I'm going to add to this. I think it'll hold. I think so. No one way to truly find out though. The camera died so I missed getting the first couple blocks up but it's going pretty smoothly so far. I'm feeling so stoked right now. It is working. We can do this. finish line. To mostly just close off the top section close off the stairs. We're pretty much done. Let's get it. So I cut this piece of plywood to go right here because this is where the wood stove is going to be and I don't want a repeat of what happened last time. They caught on fire. So what I'm going to do is fill this gap in with ice sheets that way it's frozen into the wall. All right. I believe it is officially day 28. It's a hot sunny day today. 15 degrees outside. I'm not even wearing my jacket. The only thing that's left to do is to close off the stairs and then she'll be done and we can actually enjoy it. Let's get to it. Even with a 24 inch bar I still can't cut all the way down. Yes. Whoa. Yeah those are some big blocks. Come on. Yes. Don't flip me please. This is why I lift with my bag. Gets you that hunchback physique. Very desirable. Very in right Now going inside. Here is the entranceway and this room here. I think this room should be like the mud room. It's like this is where you would take off your shoes and your boots before you kind of move into the the dining room area. The living room. The hallway. You know what I'm saying? So I got a couple chairs here. So you can see you can kind of kick your feet up. Relax. Definitely need a dining room table. There's a few furniture items we need to bring in here. Now let's go upstairs to where the kitchen will be. Up the stairs and here is the kitchen. So this is where the wood stove will go. Now I'm still thinking about installing a window here and we don't lose any of the warm air to the outside. And so if there's any invaders you know you can close it off and say you know. All that's really left to do right now is to vacuum, sweep, mop, clean up a little bit, get the window in, get the table in, and then we can get cozy and start cooking. Let's get to it. filleted everything. Okay to be fair I did catch this just eight months ago on the Copper River. Make some salmon dumplings. And the missus. Dinner's almost ready. Come on in. Do you want to come up? You can come up here. It is a clear night tonight and I really hope the aurora comes out. Had a slow season so far. Hopefully tonight we'll get a little show. As time passed, the days started to get longer and warmer. And as we moved into April, the igloo's days were starting to dwindle. And just as I had built her up, she started to come down. Starting with the stairwell, and then the top arches fell. And then slowly but surely, the base arches started to melt away as well. And one by one, they came down. Until finally, the only two arches remaining were the original arches built back in January. And then on April 20th, the last arches fell. From January 6th to April 20th, the first arch up was also the last arch to go. So that first arch lasted 105 days. Not too bad. Not too bad. Alright, well I hope you guys enjoyed. If you did, be sure to leave a like. And I'll see you guys next time. Peace!