You might not have the hottest car on the block, or the newest Nintendo, but you will have the sweetest snow fort! just follow these simple directions to a snow for of your very own.

Tools:

Snow

Snow Spade

Saw

How To:

Find a hard Field of snow (usually a few inches down is hard enough).

Use a stick to make a circle large enough for the base of an igloo (Not too big or you’ll be in trouble later).

Cut snow blocks out of the hard snow, a thickness of 6-12 inches. Larger blocks will be the base of the dome and smaller, the top. If able to pre-cut blocks, they will harden if placed in a strong bitter wind.

The edges of the blocks cannot be soft or rounded. They need to be smooth and angled correctly to form a strong bond with the adjacent bocks.

There will always be cracks between blocks, there is no helping that. It is very important that the bottom row of snow blocks are placed at a slant, otherwise you are building a tower…

The blocks should start to spiral around in a circle as you build up, but note the door.

The door is made of two vertical blocks pointing outward from the circle.

At any point, feel free to dig out the floor of the igloo to gain an extra 3-10 inches of headroom. And it is a lot easier to throw snow out of an open dome than to shovel it out the entrance when the dome is finished.

When the dome comes to a close, everything should stand fine if blocks are placed right. But for extra security, a pole can be placed in the center of the igloo for extra security.

Last thing to do is pack snow into those cracks. Smooth the entire inside of the igloo with hands, and the wind will again harden and compact the snow. No water should leak through and you are finished!