OK, I know it isn’t anywhere near winter, and there aren’t many people reading this site who live in or even visit the remote tundras of the extreme north and south of this planet.
However, I find it fascinating how people have figured out how to survive and thrive with next to nothing.
Shaping an igloo out of blocks of ice cut from the snow covered surface is a great example, and has many survivalist and SHTF applications for those who find themselves in extreme climates. Besides that, it is just cool.
This man shows how it can be done by anyone – even alone:
YouTube channel: Overthehill Outdoors
Traditional development of igloos by Inuit tribes migrating across a vast frozen wasteland no doubt followed a formative conversation sometime early on addressing how desolate was their setting, and how little there was to work with.
“But we have nothing but snow and ice.”
“Then we shall build with ice and snow.”
And so the idea occurred to someone that with nothing else around, the ice itself offered a valuable resource as protection against the blinding winds and extreme conditions of the area. Clearly, it was born out of necessity, but became beautifully mastered over time.
Surrounded by little else, the stuff itself offered insulation, warmth and shelter. And with it, a way of surviving for people in harsh environments.
How the careful crafting of this snow and ice turns around into a secure yet temporary, and if desired, long-term location is no small wonder. Nature had to be reverse engineered.
The principles of construction are as solid as any other building material, and the practical use by man with only limited tools is nothing short of miraculous.
If nothing can be simply and skillfully transformed into life supporting stuff there, then it can be done anywhere.
Here’s a video showing it in timelapse:
Youtube channel: Daniel Kessler
Has anyone here actually tried to build one?
Read more:
The Prepper’s Blueprint: This is the Code to Live By In Order to Survive Anything
Are You Prepared to Survive in the Wilderness Alone? “Natural Shelter, Blend In”
“Simple Offers Freedom”: Building a $500 Cabin Without a Permit
Living Free Without Permission: “Building Without a Permit, Driving Without a License”
Everyone take a moment and mentally thank all of our vets for what they have done to keep our freedoms.
We may not have these freedoms in time.
Be well all…
just remember….memorial day is a day to remember those servicemen who DIED in the service of our country….it is NOT a day to praise those still LIVING.
Amen. Far too many people don’t know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
Mentally was the key word in the statement…
I wish I could talk to some dead vets…
just sayin’, eppe….and we ALL appreciate our veterans
god bless our troops, and god DAMN the sons o biches that sent them there.
BCOD, no worries, we had a Peruvian cookout yesterday, 2 bro in laws are vets. Also had 2 high school graduates, one was my 16yo daughter. Just saying we need to thank all for how privedgled we are here in the states…
yup yup yup!
I can’t understand why some people don’t separate the difference between government objectives in time of war and soldiers on the battlefield. Soldiers are the same regardless of which side they are on. Young men fighting for their Country are brave soldiers deserving of respect even if their leaders are out of their minds. iMHO
Yeah. Screw the ones who are still living with no arms or legs.
It’s not the falt of our soldiers that every year we lose more freedom? Many of them go into law enforcement after . And enforce these blatantly unconstitutional laws. They swear an oath they have a choice. Or maybe they don’t . I would like to think I would. But what chance would I have against this beast? Would I just go along for my families survival? I really wouldn’t have much of a chance ? Put in your twenty and pick up your pension? Or lose everything? Deliver us from evil? Or deliver us from ourselves?
Ok, thanks, not for me.
Guys, I checked out the local news channels to see what went down in the Memorial area of Houston.. according to the local Fox news channel,. Two men, one possibly Hispanic and one white” possible false flag ” were just mowing down innocent people in the area..
But get this, I am still trying to figure our if they are jihadist or other nationals. As soon is hear mor in of I will update because I don’t trust the local media telling us their bullsh.t version of the incident.
MK Ultra hit??? Possibly? Who the phuck knows..
This looks like the tipical MK Ultra drugged up types….pulling that stunt in our city…I haven’t heard anything from my cop friends and will let you all know as soon as i talk to them to see what they know.
Look at the crap that taking place in my city yet trolls are lecturing me calling BS. I believe this one is a false flag.. the smells like shit. Looks like shit, must be shit..this stinks of a false flag all the way..
HCKS..
What a cluster phuck of a future that awaits us.
HCKS, you could be right. F#$% the trolls. They’re irrelevant anyway. I’ll bet a dollar to a doughnut the shooters were ragheads and you know MSM will go all out to cover that up. Once again, just disregard the trolls. They’re full of shit anyway.
buuuullSHIT! we WANT those trolls to out themselves. let ’em know we know who they are, and what they’re up to.
Blowhard. It’s like you want attention. No trolls in sight and then you start to whine and bitch about trolls. I think it’s like all the government lists you really want to be on. Trolls give you attention and feed your need to be someone. Go back to your hollow threats about stupid scenarios you make up. You aren’t on a list of any sort and the trolls (mainly me) find you boring and redundant.
The only list you are on is a live off relatives list. It’s fun to hear you rant about how self reliant you are and you couldn’t get a loan to buy a BOL. Sooo, you use a false flag reason to freeload and head to the relatives. I’m sure they never get tired of your bullshit yacking about how you are going to kill whoever breaks a blowhard rule. I can’t hear them mocking you whenever you come to live off them. You out of shape, old man, loser, never was let alone had been. Have a great day and I really hope I made you feel important with my attention to your needy small man mind. Ask the family if they enjoy your company. Of course!! We do blowhard. Then have a briefcase and tell them you are planning to give them a polygraph to see if they want your fat ass around. They will look like they swallowed a bowling ball and say Sssssure, uh yeah, and then say they won’t take the test to prove liking you because they don’t believe in polygraph tests.
You are a freak and nothing better than a burden on your family.
Tufcunt, you back off my Cuz, and no we never get tired of him when he comes over to North Georgia. He may put out a lot of bs on this sight but when he comes home he ain’t nothing but business. We do get alot of laughs out of his tall stories, but we take it all in stride. And I don’t like how your trying to hurt my Cuz’s feelings. Cuz pay him no mind, we still love you! If Tufcunt gives you anymore crap, just feed him some brass and lead nutrients.
Turd, shut your stupid mouth about my family! I don’t care what you say about me but leave my family out of this. I promise you never want to meet me face to face. I’ll leave it at that.
NGIC, you’re backing up part, if not all, of what he says, so you’re not really doing me any favors. F#$% both of you.
I’m not trolling you and old man seems to have stopped. If someone disagrees
With you it’s not trolling. Regardless, this country is screwed in so many ways. We are breeding ourselves into stupidity. Read a book called Bell Curve. It compares people’s intellectual capacity based on their race. Of course it was censored to a degree although it is readily available. It reads like a college text book and has a lot of technical studies to support the fact some races are more intelligent than others. The main point I got out of it is that genetically speaking there is a regression toward the mean. An example; if a 6’7″ guy and a 6’2″ woman have a kid, he is likely to be shorter than his/her parents. (Regression toward the mean). This is consistent with physical attributes. Mental? Not so much. Two idiots will have an idiot and two bright people will have a bright kid. Not always but as a whole.
My point being is idiots are having more kids than smart people. Idiots can have as many kids as they want because they don’t have to make a choice between littering the world and being able to feed the kids. We give them plenty of money and they don’t have to worry about feeding them. We are cooked.
As an aside, my personal experience is that as a whole, white American born people are soft and lazy. Again, not all but as a whole. It is embarrassing to see white lazy trash bitch about being out worked by Hispanics who do the job and do it cheaper.
i agree about the stupid, but it might just be that no more survival of the fittest situations happen in america, because we protect all the idiots with warning labels….maybe THAT has as much to do with more stupid being born every day than “WHERE they come from”…food for thought.
ALL WARNING LABELS SHOULD BE REMOVED.
“Cape does not enable user to fly.” Found on superman cape
sodbuster I can tell you right now, my Cuz ain’t removein those labels off his pillows or mattress, cause he might get put on another list by Big Brother, and he don’t need to be on another list. Right Cuz!
NGIC, go play in a busy street or something.
Lets remember the cost of the insanity of war,millions of lives.War perhaps may be inevitable but like to think not.Remembering all who have died in wars reminds us of the cost/insanity of said wars and we better damn well make sure it is worth it.The escapades our govt. with it’s strings pulled by powers that want to be not worth it.A war for freedom in this country seems almost inevitable,but,worth the fight.
To those defacing memorials to remember the dead,well,”Fuck You!”
To remember the dead does not mean one is pro war,just respects the dead and reminds us all the true cost of war.
Far to often war is a necessary evil. If we all just thought of war as “insanity” then evil men would rule this planet, just like Hitler.
Remember, when good men do nothing, evil prevails.
We all thought war insanity would not happen,key is ALL.I did mention wars perhaps inevitable,we just need to really know the costs and think it through.
if these wars are so necessary, then why don’t we ever WIN one?…..serious question.
Watch. Hellstorm .. J.S . And see who was evil?
I used to live in Edmonton, Alberta, which I think is the coldest large city in the world. We pretty much had winter and Canada Day (July 1st) for seasons, so, yeah, igloos are… ummm… cool.
And BTW, do NOT call them “Eskimos.” That is the CFL football team in Edmonton, as it was thought to mean “blubber or raw meat eater,” and is pejoritive. Should use “Inuit.” You won’t get harpooned if you use it with an Inuit, but it is just bad form.
Worked in North Dakota outside construction. Wind is the problem . And tools that you can’t fit heavily gloved fingers in. Test your gun with thick gloves. Excpecialy shotgun reloading. Rifles with non attached gas Pistons. If you can’t break the frozen gas piston loose with pulling back the bolt? Waterproof gloves are no good . You can’t dry them. Boots OK. Multi layer is crap. You need to vent off sweat quick . One coat one thick vest . Open fast to vent sweat fast. Must keep batteries warm. Must keep your canteen from freezing . Can’t heat on fire plastic canteen. Need aluminum water containers. For night vision must run wires to batteries inside coat. Battery powered optics ? Must have cross country skis. Nylon coats melt from fire sparks. Hoods are great but mess with your hearing and vision. White spray paint a big plus . Snow blind proof glasses. Face mask. 20 below sleeping bag. Tall size to keep water at feet. Spend big money on gloves.ive found that frabil ice fishing gloves are the best. Even if you are not in extreme cold . On an empty stomach . Your body won’t be able to make heat. Get warmer clothes then you think you will need . You can always take them off. In the movie The Road they went swimming in the cold that was a total flaw . Lack of food will not allow that.
Great points Lone W. — winters in the north woods of Minnesota are pretty much the same. Happier with my old -40 Kara Korum parka than layers. Like my face masks and ice fishing gloves too. Leave my boots on the boot dryer overnight rather than use crap battery insoles. Like you said – batteries are worthless in the extreme cold. Keep my water in an insulated cooler to keep it from freezing. Like snowshoes over skis unless you are on a groomed trail. Could not imagine outside construction in ND wind. At least we have trees.
Eskimos Pie
Yeah and we ain’t PC so it’s still Mt McKinley, and if the Eskimos don’t like it, thats tough. And the rest of the world can take their soccer balls and stickem.
I will send my kids to fight in wars. It is gonna happen they might as well be part of it. What else is there for them a job at mc Donald’s or Walmart. At least there is a chance for advancement in the forces.
Asshat:
I respect your right to choose to fight. I can’t imagine how anyone who knows what bs these
wars are would send their kid to fight and possibly die for Isreal, the Rothschilds and big business. Send the kids to college.
Ok igloo but what about food . Need food to stay warm too.
Used to build igloo ‘forts’ all the time as a kid, however, when you are deep into snow country do as the SLED DOGS DO. Burrow down and hollow out enough space for 02 (three feet deep is plenty unless you have -70F ‘topside’, then just go deeper. Got mylar space-blankets? Two of those under the snow every night (or storm) and you’ll stay a comfy 55-75 (give or take). Igloo is fine for long term use, but require a great deal of patching (almost daily) until you get the hang of it. Eventually, they become solid ice and then you’ve got it whipped. (make sure your entrance has at least two 90 degree turns to stop wind PLUS close the hole each night (to keep critters and cold air out).
In New England, people STILL “bank” their homes and cabins and trailers with snow (best outdoor insulation there is. Go one step further and cut “cedar bows” and lay them all out to support the snow you will toss on top as “banking” …a ‘slight’ fire hazard if you allow them to get tooo dry come spring, so remove them as soon as possible, after the snow goes away.
ALWAYS CARRY DRY SOCKS IN A ZIPLOCK. Wet feet suck and get frozenated then gangrenous. Animal fat (from kills), will waterproof about anything you wear, especially boots …bear ‘grease/fat’ is superior, but sure does smell like the dickens!
Last, if worse comes to worse, ‘dispatch’ an animal, gut it and get inside the carcass. A bit dark but you’ll survive nicely. For this you may want to cut the hindend “big slit” in order to crawl in as opposed to the usual belly-cut to disembowel everything, such as a buck/large doe, etc.
You can also make your own “bunny hole” using fir boughs covered in leaves and whatever is handy, using snow last to tighten it up. Get under one of these babys and it is very nice no matter the outside temp. All of the above will work without mylar space blankets, but, they are so cheap and ‘lasting’ there is no reason to not have them with you. THE COLDER THE DEEPER OR THICKER – simple.
Words mean things. It is still called ‘Decoration Day’ here.
one america news is running a segment all day about how vetchens day started…on fios it’s channel 616
not vetchens day…i meant memorial day
FreeButtcrackatnoon. Vetchens, veterans, memorial, secretaries day. It’s hard to remember them all and easy mistake to make. Although memorial and Veterans Day have very little to do with each other.
BCOD, tell that turd troll where to go.
i don’t know about YOU, braveheart, but i just appreciate the trolls letting EVERYbody know who/what they are….i imagine 90%plus of the readers here know a troll when they see one.
Igloo living has got this system beat despite the hardships endured in those frigid temperatures. No taxes and building permits, no overbearing rules and regulations, the wide open with few neighbors, no warmongers hawking over you and best of all no greedy capitalists who can never get enough. Thank God for small favors. Have a nice Memorial day.
I went to winter survival school when I had my avalanche dog. We hiked up to a ridge line about 9,500 feet. The snow was about 15 feet deep so we just dug into the snow bank and hollowed it out into large “Snow Condos”. I had brought an expedition weight sleeping bag with me which was a big mistake. It was so warm in the snow cave with our body heat and a candle I was sweating in the sleeping bag. I had a foam pad and a thermarest for bottom insulation.
There were several important lessons we were taught. One is Cotton Kills as it will not wick away moisture and will stay wet.
Another lesson is that your avalanche shovel is your survival tool that you always carry in snow country. You don’t have to have a lot of snow to make yourself a warm snow cave. You can gather snow with your shovel piling it up in a mound and packing it down. It will set up in about an hour and you can them hollow it out and make a nice snow cave. It is a good way to go and so much warmer than a tent.
Happy Memorial Day to all and what it stands for.
thanks red!
An igloo isn’t much for shelter. Yes, it’s out of the wind but if it’s -30 outside the igloo it will be -30 inside the igloo too. Unless you have a kerosene heater running.
Not true, it will be around 30 degrees in my experience.
Agree. This guy built it way too big and too tall. Body heat can warm a snow cave or igloo nicely. The tunnel entrances keep out wind and trap warmth.
Naw, you can leave a hole (just as in a teepee) in the top of the Igloo and actually have a nice little fire to keep it comfy (but not so much as to melt your new home! lol….
If there are plenty of dried leaves, and you have a length of polyethelene, alternate 2 feet of leaves and roll it up “full” then situate it as wanted. You’ll stay about 80F (seriously).
Final Resting Place for 250,000 Vets is a Tin Can on a Shelf
The Missing in America Project is scouring funeral homes looking for the unclaimed remains of veterans, some dating back to the Civil War, to provide the dignity of a military service to America’s forgotten soldiers.
World War I Sgt. Russell A. Shumway’s cremated remains were encased in a sterile metal can that collected dust on a Michigan funeral home shelf for nearly 35 years until Fred Salanti and an army of volunteers from the Missing In America Project became the forgotten soldier’s family.
Sgt. Shumway’s new family knew little about him.
A North Dakota native, he had served with the 14th Cavalry in World War I, and was in the Army from May 1917 to September 1917. He was 86 when he died March 31, 1980 in Grand Rapids. Beyond that, all they knew was that he was just another forgotten old soldier, utterly alone in the world when he drew his last breath.
Shumway’s cremains and those of four other Michigan soldiers will be led through downtown Dearborn, MI, in a horse-drawn caisson as part of that city’s May 26 Memorial Day observance.
They will be given the full dignity of military rites afforded other veterans. The five veterans will lie in state at a special remembrance ceremony and, later, they will be saluted with 21 volleys from a rifle, thanked posthumously for serving their country, and serenaded into eternal rest by a bugler playing “Taps.”
When they are properly buried, Salanti can check five more names from a list that could include as many as 250,000 veterans whose remains are “sitting on a shelf,” unclaimed and forgotten.
The MIA Project founder and executive director boils at the affront.
“You hear the sometimes overused cliche, ‘We don’t leave anybody behind,’ but when I look at veterans, there’s quite a variety in veterans and each is treated differently,” Salanti said, indignation quick in his speech.
“When POWs and MIAs don’t come back, we’re still going in 40, 50 and 60 years later, always trying to find them; and when KIAs come home, there are big parades and all kinds of things,” he told Patch.com. “On Memorial Day and Veterans Day, we celebrate the modern, active-duty soldier; we throw them in a Jeep and parade them around. and we pay a lot of lip service.
“But the story that is never told – the story nobody wants to hear – is the story of the veteran who survived, who came home, who probably had a family, who probably became dysfunctional and became alienated, may have moved to a remote part of the country because of PTSD, may never have had any success in life.
“He was forgotten and and maybe even despised, so he ended up on a shelf for decades.”
Rites for 2,000 Vets Barely Dent Problem
Salanti, 66, of Redding, CA, was a major with the U.S. Army in Vietnam before he was discharged with a disability after 12 years.
A voluteer with the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motoryclists who provide escorts and other services at military funerals, Salanti was taking care of some logistics with Eagle Point Veterans Administration Ceremony in 2006 when he discovered an injustice that has since become an almost singular focus.
“Out West, most VA cemeteries had a lot of unclaimed, homeless, indigent veterans and they were having a service once a month,” he said. “They were burying 30 veterans at a time, with one chaplain and one funeral home director there, and no one who cared for them showing up to send them on their way.”
The same situation existed in Idaho, Nevada and each of the nine Western states he covered for the Patriot Guard. The more he dug, the greater the problem became.
Nearly all of the nation’s approximately 23,000 funeral homes are storing the unclaimed remains of as many as 1.2 million people. In many states, there’s no law requiring funeral homes to report unclaimed remains to the Veterans Administration – or to their states, or to anyone.
“We started going into the funeral homes, and found that 10 to 30 percent of the people on the shelves were veterans,” Salanti said, pointing out that so far, the Missing in America Project has arranged for military rites and burials for close to 2,000 soldiers.
They’ve barely dented the need. Salanti and his volunteers are finding the forgotten veterans one at a time as they scour thousands of mortuaries. They’ve reached 1,500 so far.
Initially, Salanti and others expected the canvass to tally 10,000 or 15,000 veterans whose ashes hadn’t been claimed. The actual number is probably closer to 250,000 – “and that’s a low estimate,” he says.
I did a minute of research and found info on Sgt. Shumway.
Russell Arthur Shumway was predeceased by his wife and had no children. He had one brother still living, but he was almost 90. He had four nieces and nephews, but they would not have wanted his remains or to pay for a burial.
It’s bad when you’re alone.
So all you healthy, highly intilligent white Caucasan European Americans who are too busy to have children in order that the race with all its culture might survive; have a boatload of kids so that when you are old, there might actually be people who care.
Got me insulated real tree coveralls paid $100 at bass pro couple years ago. They are like wearin a sleeping bag but light and move with you. Had to get size xxl and just roll up the bottom so not walkin on them. Best investment cause I work outside in close to zero temps never had a prob being cold at all. I’d drop $150 for a pair just to be warm. You know it’s cold when your beard has icicles on it. handling the cold requires the right clothing more than anything. It’s not for pussies either.
Coveralls or bibs are great until you have to use the shitter. I just wear three layers of cheap sweat pants for extreme cold. With whatever pants.
the army uses the extreme cold weather clothing system, or ECWCS…google it…buy it on ebay or from your army surplus store. i buy from bookoo dot com. it’s a great place to buy military gear from, if you live near a military base. some of your search words are waffles(type of longjohns), urban grey(or marshmellow suit), bear coat, goretex, ECWCS, parka, softshell, balaclava, polypro, polartec…there are tutorials on youtube on the 7 layers, and how to use them, according to the temperatures.
good post, you asshat!
Lol I’m Canadian I do live in the north. This artical makes it sound like one man can have in igloo up in about an hour …… horse apples. Lol
1.) Snow has to be correct temperature second it takes years to learn how to cut ice blocks in the correct angles
If your needing shelter in that environment… just dig a hole in a snow bank and cover the entrance you will stay surprisingly warm
will there be enough oxygen, angry pussy?
ooops! beaver,….it’s angry BEAVER…guess my freudian SLIP was showing….
Agree on the size. This guy needed to start the inside angles sooner and make it shorter. But in Virginia it probably got to 50 degrees two days after the snow, so he was working with heavy wet stuff.
There is a really cool video of a real Eskimo building a Igloo. It was much smaller. Time is a factor in survival. He used only compacted snow. And he made a hole and put a piece of ice as a window to let in sunshine. All done in a couple of hours.
If I was alone in an igloo with Hillary and a fur seal I believe I’d have to do the……….
I read that the Inuit say that caribou fur is the best. Something about how it handles sweat. A big problem in the extreme cold. Working fighting sitting you always sweat.