Creighton winters get so cold that sun-spoiled southerners must wonder whether residents have igloos.
Now one of them does.
Trevor Altman and his family are drawing wide-eyed smiles for the solid-ice igloo they have built in the front yard of their Creighton Avenue home.
“People love it,” says Altman. “We have people driving by. They’re stopping, they’re asking if they can take pictures. We have people honking their horns as they go by, waving. We had one lady drive by, she rolled down her window and she was saying how awesome it was. The community just seems to love it.”
The frozen fortress carries the classic igloo design, with a crawl-necessary entranceway giving way to a round dome measuring 12 feet in diametre. At 5-ft 9-in, Altman can comfortably stand up inside.
Construction began in mid-December. As a first step, the family froze ice blocks using more than 20 water-filled containers at a time. Altman donned snowshoes to pack down the area where the igloo would be built.
Early stages of the build saw family members spray the ice blocks with water and pack them down with snow.
“The snow acts like a mortar between bricks, and it reinforces that,” says Altman, a married father of three. “So then it becomes not one block on another block, but it almost becomes one whole unit.”
After the first four rows of blocks were up, the Altmans began gradually angling the blocks to form the dome.
“They just sit on their own angle and then each angle goes progressively up until you come into the top and connect it,” he explains, adding that the weight from the top portion of the igloo helps solidify the walls below.
The last step of construction saw the Altmans place a round slab of ice to seal off the ceiling – completing the 369-block structure in about five weeks.
Altman was inspired to build the igloo after he and his family had so much fun with a slightly smaller igloo they erected last winter while living in Carrot River, Saskatchewan.
“With having the three kids, I always enjoy doing things with them outside,” he says, referring to daughters Lexus, 10, and Bella, 5, and son Micha, 8.
“It’s actually maybe a progression because we started with snow forts, and we’ve built some massive snow forts on top of snow hills and with slides and stairs and secret passages and everything like that. It’s been really fun and I’ve always wanted to build an igloo, so last year we decided to get these containers and fill them up [with water] and see how it worked, and it worked out slick.”
In addition to his eager children, the igloo architect received help from wife Aimee and some of their friends.
A carpenter by trade, Trevor says his occupational skills came in handy while building the structure.
“It helps me with knowing foundations and getting good building structure and strength,” he says.
As impressive a sight as the igloo is during the day, it is also garnering attention at night as the family has placed a multi-coloured LED strip light inside.
“The igloo looks like a light bulb. The whole thing glows,” Trevor says.
The Altmans are already thinking about next winter’s igloo, but instead of a larger structure they are envisioning two smaller igloos possibly connected by tunnels.
Trevor says he welcomes people driving by his home at 621 Creighton Avenue (near the crosswalk) to view or snap photos of the igloo.
