Eskimo camps consist of several dwellings, which house three or four related families. Eskimo dwellings are divided into two types: winter and summer. One of the oldest types of winter dwellings, widespread in the past throughout the territory of the Eskimo settlement, was a stone building with a floor sunk into the ground. To such a house, located on a slope, a long passage of stones led from below, partly buried in the ground; the last part of the passage is above the floor and covered with a wide stone slab, at the same height as the bunks in the hut. The house had the same plan as a modern dwelling (see below): sleeping bunks in the back and bunks for lamps on the sides. The walls above the ground are built of stones and whale ribs or of whale ribs alone, the arcs of which are placed along the walls so that their ends intersect. Where there is absolutely no flowing forest, there the skeleton of the roof was made of whale ribs, on props. This frame was covered with sealskins, tying them tightly; a thick layer of small heather bushes was placed on the skins, and another layer of skins was strengthened on top.
In the central regions of the American Arctic, these stone dwellings were replaced by snow huts - igloos, which are being built to this day.
In Labrador, in the northern regions of Alaska and Greenland, igloos were also known, but served only as temporary dwellings when moving on hunting expeditions. Igloos are built from snow blocks. They are laid in a spiral, from right to left. To start the spiral, two plates are cut diagonally in the first row to the middle of the third and the second row begins; each next row is tilted a little more than the bottom one, "to get a spherical shape. When a small hole remains at the top, the builder raises the block previously given to him sideways from the inside, cuts it wedge-shaped and closes the vault with it. Having immured himself in the hut, he closes up the cracks with snow; they dig a tunnel leading to the hut and ending with a hatch in its floor; if the underlying layer of snow is shallow, then they lay out a corridor of snow slabs and cut an inlet hole in the wall of the igloo.
The outer entrance to the snow tunnel is about 1.5 m high, so that you can walk bent over or with your head bowed, but the entrance from the tunnel to the hut itself is usually so low that you have to crawl into it on all fours, and you can only stand up to your full height being inside. The hut is usually 3-4 m in diameter and 2 m high, so that standing in the middle, you can reach the ceiling with your hand. Large huts are built less often. A large snow house can be up to 9 m in diameter at the floor, with a height of about 3-3.5 m from the floor to the center of the arch; such large houses are used for meetings and festivities.
For the final decoration of the hut, a lamp-bowl with seal oil is lit inside. From the heating of the air, the snow begins to melt, but does not drip, since the water formed from melting is absorbed by the thickness of the snow. When the inner layer of the vault and walls is sufficiently moistened, cold air is let into the hut and allowed to freeze; as a result, the walls of the dwelling are covered from the inside with a vitreous ice film (polar explorers who borrowed snow construction equipment from the Eskimos call this glazing of the hut) - this reduces thermal conductivity, increases the strength of the walls and makes life in the hut more convenient. If there was no ice crust, then it would only be worth touching the wall, as the snow would crumble and stick to clothes. Until the hut has survived in the cold, its strength is low. But due to warming up, a general precipitation of snow occurs, the seams are soldered and the hut becomes strong, turning into a monolithic snow dome. Several people can climb it, and it happened that polar bears climbed without harming it.
During the day in the snow hut it is quite light, even in cloudy weather (you can read and write); on sunny days, the lighting is so bright* that it can cause a disease called snow blindness. But during the polar twilight, the Eskimos sometimes insert windows from thin lake ice into snow huts; small holes are cut for windows above the entrance. For lighting and heating the hut, lamps - bowls, or greasers are used; their light, reflected from the countless ice crystals of the dome, becomes soft and diffused. If the hut does not even have ice windows, it can be seen at night for half a kilometer, thanks to the pink glow of the dome.
If the vault begins to melt from the heat of the lamp, then they climb onto the dome from the outside and scrape off a 5-10 cm layer of snow from above with a knife to cool the hut and stop the melting. If, on the contrary, the hut cannot be heated, and frost forms on the inside of the vault, falling down in snow flakes, then the roof is thin, then snow is thrown on the dome with shovels.
Most of the hut inside, opposite the entrance, is occupied by a snow bed. For her, they try to use either the surface of the snowdrift on which the hut stands, or the natural ledge of the soil; if this is not the case, then they fold it from snow blocks. The bed is covered with a double layer of skins; the bottom layer is facing down with the hair, the top layer is facing up with the hair. Sometimes under the skins they put old skin from a kayak. This three-layer insulating pad keeps body heat out and prevents the bed from melting while protecting the sleeper from the cold. Sometimes small recesses for things are cut out in the thickness of the bed on the side. These niches are plugged with small snow blocks. On the couch they sleep, eat, work and rest.
To the right and left of the entrance to the large sleeping couch adjoin small snow bunk beds; there are lamps on them closer to the couch, and meat lies near the door and garbage accumulates. In the middle there is a passage of a meter and a half wide.
The hut is usually occupied by two families, one lives on the right, the other on the left. Each housewife has her own bowl lamp, next to which she sits on a couch, cooks food, sews, etc. They cook food on the lamp, melt snow for drinking, dry clothes, etc. Usually, two more small lamps are placed for warmth: one in a passage near the entrance to the hut to warm the cold air coming through the door, the other - in the far part of the sleeping couch. The lamp-bowl, or greaser, is cut out of soapstone, and its shape is different for individual groups of Eskimos.
The Eskimos are sleeping with their heads to the door; when they lie down, they put their clothes, except for their shoes, on the edge of the couch, under the skins. In a two-family hut, each family occupies half of the couch. Women lie down along its edges, small children are laid next to it, then men lie, and in the middle - large children or guests. Each family is covered with one blanket made from several deerskins. Sometimes fur sleeping bags are used. At night, the entrance to the hut is blocked by a large snow block, which stands in the passage during the day. Until the owners themselves push it away, it is considered indecent to go to them.
The reindeer Eskimos did not use bowl lamps, they lit their snowy huts with a smoky tallow candle, the wick of which was twisted from moss and dipped in melted reindeer fat. They cooked the food on fires from bushes. For cooking, they arranged a kitchen in front of the residential hut with completely sheer walls so that they would not melt from the flame of the fire; it happened that the Eskimos could not get fuel for several days, then they ate only frozen meat. In order to always have water for drinking, the reindeer Eskimos built snowy huts on the shore of the lake, in the ice of which they always maintained an open hole, protected by a snow cap. They had nothing to dry their shoes on, so they dried them at night in their bosoms.
Fire used to be mined by carving, hitting a piece of sulfur pyrites with a piece of iron; cotton fluff, fluffy willow bagels, and dry moss sprinkled with lard were used as tinder. Making fire by rotating a wooden beam was known, but rarely used.
If several families join together, then they build a common snow dwelling in various ways: or individual huts are connected by snow tunnels, so that their inhabitants can communicate with each other without going out into the air; or make two rooms with one entrance; or they build several intersecting domes, then cutting out common segments, and in this way, instead of small isolated huts, a complex building of three to five rooms is obtained, in which several families live, in total 20-25 or more people.
The snow huts on the east coast of Baffin Island have been especially improved. Above the entrance there is a window cut in them, mostly of a semicircular shape, covered with a membrane of carefully stitched seal intestines; sometimes a peephole is left in the middle of the membrane so that you can look out, a plate of freshwater ice is inserted into it (it is obtained by freezing water in a sealskin). As soon as the hut is built, it is insulated with sealskins; often it is an old summer tent tire; it is held by short ropes or straps passed through the snow vault and fixed on the outside with bone sticks.
In a snow hut with an inner tire, the temperature can be raised to 20 ° C with the help of a fat pad, while without it - only up to 2-3 ° above zero. The passage to the hut consists of two, rarely three small vaults. On the left, a closet is attached for storing clothes and dog harness and a pantry, where they keep stocks of meat and fat. Such pantries are sometimes built on the right and in the far part of the hut.
Snow huts were undoubtedly known in the Thule era, as can be judged by the large number of snow knives found that were used in the construction of the igloo, but apparently served only as a temporary shelter during movements. The development of snow huts is associated with the mobile life of seal hunters, who are often forced to set up camps on sea ice far from the coast; snow huts were also necessary for the reindeer Eskimos; they have reached a high degree of perfection. Usually Europeans and Americans who go on long winter trips take Eskimos with them to build snow huts along the way.
In Alaska, the Eskimos lived in quadrangular semi-dugouts with a wooden base. To build such a dwelling, they dug a quadrangular pit more than a meter deep, at the corners of which pillars up to 4 m high were placed. Then the walls were built from boards. The roof was made by a fire, from thick logs. A window was left in the middle of the roof - a square hole. The floor was covered with boards. In the middle of it was left a place for a hearth. A window served as a smoke hole. In northern Alaska, the kitchen was located on the side of a long underground corridor that led to the dwelling. Among the Kodiaks, the entrance to the dwelling was on the ground and was a square hole a meter in size. Outside, the dwelling was lined with sod and covered with earth.
The interior of the Alaska Eskimo dwelling was simple. The main furniture was bunks 1.5 m wide raised above the floor. The Eskimos usually slept across the bunks, with their feet against the wall. Several families lived in one dwelling. Each family had its own place on the bunk, separated from the other by a mat woven from grass.
Household items, supplies of fat in bubbles and other supplies were stored under the bunks of each family. Since ancient times there have been special storerooms. In the North, in permafrost conditions, meat stocks were usually stored in special pits; often these pits were dug on the side of the corridor leading to the dwelling. Sometimes the pantry was located at the entrance to the corridor. Pantries were also built in the form of scaffolds on wooden piles driven into the ground to protect supplies from both wolves and their dogs. A kayak, sled, skis, etc. were also placed on the platform.
In Greenland, apparently under the influence of the Norwegians and Icelanders, quadrangular buildings were erected with more perfect laying of stone walls rising to a height of 2 m. They began to deepen them into the ground less. For the winter period, 2-11 families united in a large house. Depending on this, the dimensions of the present dwellings of the Greenlandic Eskimos ranged from 4 X 8 to 6 X 18 m. Often in Greenland the entire village consisted of one house 1 . Not far from the house, each family had its own stone barn, in which they kept stocks of meat and fish. Between the houses of the village there were pyramids and pillars made of stone; they replaced wooden poles and served to support leather canoes upside down at a certain height above the ground.
In the summer, the Eskimos lived and partly still live in tents; the poles for them, when the forest is poor, are often made up of several parts, and in those areas where there is no tree, the Eskimos for poles and for the shaft of harpoons steam deer antlers in hot water and put knee on knee until they get the desired length; or make frames of tents from walrus and whale bones, tying them with straps. When pitching a tent, they put up two pairs of converging poles: one at the entrance, the second at the front edge of the bed; a horizontal longitudinal pole is tied to them, serving as a ridge; the rest of the poles are leaned obliquely in a semicircle against the second pair, and this skeleton is covered with a firmly fitted tire made of seal or deer skins. The floors of the tires at the entrance go one on top of the other so as not to blow. The bottom of the tire is attached with heavy stones.
In the Bering Strait region, the Eskimos live in summer not in tents, but in light wooden houses.
People have long learned to use the material that is nearby for their needs.
(the video is even more refreshing, so watching and dreaming about snow is a must:)
What is an igloo
The igloo, translated from Inuktitut (as most Inuit Canadian dialects are called), means "the winter dwelling of the Eskimos." The igloo is a domed building with a diameter of 3-4 meters and a height of approximately human height. They build it from what is at hand, and in the winter tundra, only snow is at hand from building materials ... From snow or ice blocks compacted by the wind, they erect an igloo. If the snow is deep, the entrance to the igloo is made in the floor, and a corridor is cut through to the entrance. If the snow is not deep enough, you have to make an entrance in the wall, and an additional corridor of snow blocks is completed to it.
Alone, an Eskimo builds a spacious snow hut for his entire family in three-quarters of an hour. The strongest blizzard in the hut is not audible. The snow bricks stick together tightly, besides, the hut freezes from heating inside. They say the igloo can even support the weight of a polar bear.
From the point of view of physics
As a result of heating, the inner surfaces of the walls are melted, but the walls do not melt. The colder it is outside, the higher the heat that the needle can withstand from the inside. After all, wet snow loses its heat-shielding properties and passes the cold more easily. Having made its way through the thickness of the block, frost freezes the inner surface of the walls that has begun to melt, and the temperature pressure outside and inside is balanced.
In general, the thermal conductivity of a snow dome is low, and it is easy to maintain a positive temperature in a hut, often the heat generated by sleeping people is enough for this. In addition, the snow hut absorbs excess moisture from the inside, so the igloo is quite dry.
Secrets of the Inuit
So, an igloo is an arctic dwelling in which you can survive even without heating.
It is known that Finnish snipers and mountain rangers of the German Wehrmacht were trained in the skills of building an igloo. Today, igloo huts are used in ski touring as emergency shelter in case of problems with a tent or a long wait for the weather to improve.
However, polar travelers did not immediately learn how to build an igloo. For a long time it was believed that only a native Eskimo could build an igloo.
An Irish explorer of the Arctic and Antarctic, Shackleton, once complained about the difficult fate of the explorers of the southern mainland: “There are no Eskimos in Antarctica whom we could hire, as Peary did, to build snow houses for us.” So Amundsen, according to Shackleton, although he experienced a temperature of 62 ° C during an expedition to the North Magnetic Pole, was much happier: “It should be remembered that there were Eskimos with him who built a snow house for him every night.”
The Canadian Viljalmur Stefansson was the first to learn how to build an igloo in 1914. He wrote about this in his book and in articles, but even from them it was not easy to learn how to do it. The secret of building an igloo lay in the special shape of the plates, which made it possible to fold the hut in the form of a “snail”, gradually tapering towards the arch. The method of installing the slabs also turned out to be important - relying on the previous ones at three points.
Experience shows that for a person who knows how to build an igloo, it is enough to have a saw and a shovel to quickly build shelter, wherever night or bad weather overtakes him.
Life under the snow
The Eskimos skillfully turn their winter settlements into a complex complex of snow buildings and, in bad weather, can visit neighboring huts without leaving the surface. Rasmussen, in his book The Great Sledge Way, tells of snowy villages with covered passages between igloos, of entire architectural ensembles erected by the Eskimos with amazing speed, of large huts-houses.
“The main lodging could easily accommodate twenty people overnight. This part of the snow house turned into a high portal like a "hall" where people brushed off the snow. A spacious bright annex adjoined the main dwelling, where two families settled. We had plenty of fat, and therefore 7-8 lamps burned at a time, which is why it became so warm in these walls of white snow blocks that people could walk around half-naked to their fullest pleasure.
Snow hut interior
The interior of the igloo is usually covered with skins, sometimes the walls are also covered with skins. Grease bowls are used for heating and additional lighting.
The Eskimos cover the bed with a double layer of reindeer skins, with the lower layer laid with the skin up, and the top layer with the skin down. Sometimes under the skins they put old skin from a kayak. This three-layer insulation serves as a comfortable soft bed.
Sometimes windows of seal intestines or ice are arranged in the igloo, but even without that, the sun penetrates the igloo right through the snowy walls with soft light of different shades.
At night, one candle lit in the hut brightly illuminates the snow-white vault, and at the joints of the bricks this light breaks through a thinner layer of snow.
Outside, in the frosty darkness of the night, the igloo glows in a web of blurry lines. This is truly an extraordinary sight. No wonder that Knud Rasmussen called the igloo "a temple of festive joy among the snowdrifts of the snowy desert."
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The igloo, translated from Inuktitut (as most Inuit Canadian dialects are called), means "the winter dwelling of the Eskimos." The igloo is a domed building with a diameter of 3-4 meters and a height of approximately human height.
They build it from what is at hand, and in the winter tundra, only snow is at hand from building materials ... From snow or ice blocks compacted by the wind, they erect an igloo. If the snow is deep, the entrance to the igloo is made in the floor, and a corridor is cut through to the entrance. If the snow is not deep enough, you have to make an entrance in the wall, and an additional corridor of snow blocks is completed to it.
Construction process:
1. Using a cord, draw a circle-floor of the hut. The diameter of the igloo is determined by the number of group members. However, it is desirable to start learning how to build it from a small size.
2. The place for building the igloo is selected depending on the availability of solid flooring. Plates for the first row are cut out in size 60X40X20 cm, and for the next - somewhat smaller. They are placed on the inside surface.
3. The slabs of the first row are set at an angle of 20-25° and cut obliquely in order to lay out subsequent rows in a spiral with an increase in inclination per turn by about 5°. In this case, the angle of inclination of the upper rows will be about 45 °, and the diameter of the hole will not exceed 50-70 cm.
4. The reliability of the igloo design is achieved by the spherical shape, the laying of plates with a spiral and the shape of the plates, the outer edge of which is larger than the inner one, which prevents the plate from falling inward.
5. The stable position of the slab (for example, No. 36) will be at three points of contact: along the bottom face - two corner points (A and B), and with the previous slab (No. 35) - the upper right corner (C). A noticeable convergence of at least two of the three contact points deprives the plate of stability.
6. Before installing the next plate, it is given the shape of a trapezoid of the desired dimensions. Fitting of the slab is carried out on the wall: the side edges of adjacent slabs are cut so that reliable contact is achieved at all three points.
7. Finally, the slab is placed as follows: first, vertically on the lower edge, then, slowly tilting it up into the hut, they achieve a snug fit of adjacent slabs at the top point (B). The desired inclination is achieved by cutting the edge or lightly tapping the plate from the outside.
8. All vertical joints of the plates of the lower row must be overlapped by the plates of the upper row, and some plates (for example, No. 37 and 45) overlap two joints, otherwise, with a decrease in the diameter of the helix, the plates decrease so much that the reference points approach each other and the plates in the upper rows lose stability.
9. The hole at the top is closed with a plate - after leveling the upper edge of the last spiral.
10. The gaps between the plates are plugged with pieces of dense snow and clogged with loose snow.
11. Traditionally, the entrance to the needle is made in the form of a hole below the floor level. In our practice, the hole is arranged at floor level and closed from the inside with a backpack or a curtain (material, foam mat, etc.).
Experience shows that it is less laborious to build two small interlocking igloos than one large one for the whole group. In any case, beginners should disregard this advice.
As a result of heating, the inner surfaces of the walls are melted, but the walls do not melt. The colder it is outside, the higher the heat that the needle can withstand from the inside. After all, wet snow loses its heat-shielding properties and passes the cold more easily. Having made its way through the thickness of the block, frost freezes the inner surface of the walls that has begun to melt, and the temperature pressure outside and inside is balanced. It is known that Finnish snipers and mountain rangers of the German Wehrmacht were trained in the skills of building an igloo. Today, igloo huts are used in ski touring as emergency shelter in case of problems with a tent or a long wait for the weather to improve.
An Irish explorer of the Arctic and Antarctic, Shackleton, once complained about the difficult fate of the explorers of the southern mainland: “There are no Eskimos in Antarctica whom we could hire, as Peary did, to build snow houses for us.” So Amundsen, according to Shackleton, although he experienced a temperature of 62 ° C during an expedition to the North Magnetic Pole, was much happier: “It should be remembered that there were Eskimos with him who built a snow house for him every night.” The Eskimos cover the bed with a double layer of reindeer skins, with the lower layer laid with the skin up, and the top layer with the skin down. Sometimes under the skins they put old skin from a kayak. This three-layer insulation serves as a comfortable soft bed.
The igloo is a forced invention of the North American Eskimos. If the Arctic had an abundance of firewood, the Eskimos might have invented wooden houses. But the miser-nature provided them only with snow, however, in unlimited quantities. The Eskimos sighed and sighed and turned ordinary snow into an extraordinary building material, confirming in the most unexpected way the primordially Russian proverb - the need for inventions is cunning. Judge for yourself.
Snow is easy to handle. From it you can cut any building structures - bricks, blocks, panels, beams, etc. If you wish, you can put together a typical life-size nine-story house with porches, benches at the door and even baths, bathrooms and gas stoves, fashioned all from the same snow. The creative possibilities here are limited only by the imagination of the author. No equipment is required to carry and lift the blocks - a snow brick measuring 100 × 60x20 cm can be lifted by one person. Let him try to do the same with concrete! Another important detail is the complete absence of a shortage of building material, which in the central regions is offered in unlimited quantities from November to April, in the Arctic almost all year round. You don’t need to break through funds, write out outfits, stand in line—and even then you don’t have to! Take a shovel and rake yourself as much as your soul asks for! The only negative is the impossibility of exporting to countries with a hot climate.
So, the building material was found. Now I will bring to the attention of the reader the project of the dwelling itself. What kind of house is this - an igloo?
Imagine a huge, three meters in diameter and a little less in height, a cup fashioned from snow, turned upside down. Neither the wind is terrible for her - thanks to the spherical shape, the wind flow does not crush the walls, but, as it were, flows around them, nor frost. Strength? At least the three of you get in. Eyewitnesses say that such a snow house can withstand the visits of a polar bear, and there are five centners of weight in it!
Dimensions? Not limited. Here is how the Danish traveler-ethnographer Knud Rasmussen describes the igloo-house: “In the main dwelling, twenty people could easily accommodate for the night. This part of the snow house turned into a high portal, like a hall, where people brushed snow off themselves before entering the living quarters. On the other side, a spacious, bright annex adjoined the main dwelling, where two families settled. We had plenty of fat, and therefore 7-8 lamps were burning at the same time, which is why it became so warm in these walls of white snow blocks that people could walk around half-naked to their fullest pleasure.
And this is already a word about thermal comfort. In the igloo, if desired, you can arrange the tropics. You can plant stoves in an igloo, kindle fires (if you are not afraid of smoke), install potbelly stoves, you can even arrange a steam room! But how is it? Why does an igloo, heated from the inside, not melt? After all, even near-zero temperatures are disastrous for snow.
Very simple. Let's say the temperature inside the igloo has risen to + 20 ° C. It is quite natural that the walls flowed. But wet snow, as you know, loses its heat-shielding properties, it passes the cold more easily. Having made its way through the thickness of the block, frost freezes the inner surface of the walls that has begun to melt. The temperature pressure outside and inside is balanced. Therefore, the stronger the frost outside, the higher the heat that the “needle” can withstand from the inside. "Floating" walls
Of course, if you raise the temperature inside the needle above + 30 ° C, then it will drip from the ceiling. But this is not the biggest inconvenience: it is enough to build an impromptu gable roof by throwing a rectangular piece of plastic film over a stick stuck into the walls so that people stay dry. Water will roll into corners and freeze on the snow.
The best for building an igloo is medium-density snow, which is slightly pressed by the foot. It is easy to cut, durable, not heavy. Most often, this brand of snow is found in open, wind-blown spaces, on the tops of ridges, bare hills, near uneven terrain, near large stones, slope bends, and sastrugi. The depth of the snow cover at the site of the future quarry should not be less than 0.6–0.7 m. will just slide down).
The quarry is a pit 1 × 1 m in size and 50-60 cm deep at the edge; with a long knife, brick blocks are cut out with the heel of the ski. We once used an ordinary spruce stick as a cutting tool, but the productivity in this case, of course, drops by 2-3 times. If the snow is evenly dense in depth, it is convenient to cut narrow, vertically standing bricks. If only the top layer of snow is strong, the blocks are cut horizontally.
The block cut from four sides is separated from the snow monolith by a light kick along the bottom edge. As the quarry lengthens, the blocks are trimmed only on three sides. The first 15-20 blocks, which will serve as the foundation of the future igloo, are made as large as possible, up to 100x50x30 cm.
After harvesting the blocks on a horizontally trampled platform, a circle is drawn using a rope compass or a long stick. The diameter of an igloo designed for one person should be at least 2.4 m, for two - 2.7 m, for three - 3 m, for four - 3.6 m. The indicated dimensions will provide the person with the greatest comfort, but in emergency cases such an igloo can accommodate a double number of residents.
Along the perimeter of the outlined circle, the first row of blocks is laid out from the outside, after which it is cut diagonally, along the entire length, up to the bottom edge, so that the beginning of the spiral is formed. The first block of the second row is installed on the formed step. The laying of blocks of the lower rows goes with a 25-30-degree collapse inside the circle. The slope of the blocks of the upper rows can reach 40-50% deviation from the vertical.
When building, you need to remember a few little secrets. In no case should adjacent blocks touch the lower corners, otherwise they will be in an unstable position. Vertical joints of blocks in adjacent rows should not match. It is not recommended to move the installed block back and forth along the wall, as it wears out ^ and loses its original shape. Bricks-blocks are du4sche to lay a more durable, nastovoy.khtoronoy needle inside.
The upper opening in the dome is closed with one polygonal slab or 2-3 flat ones.
long blocks laid close to each other on the last row of bricks. Large gaps between the blocks can be filled with fragments of crust, small ones can be covered with loose snow. The cracks and through holes in the dome are best seen in the evening, when a candle is burning inside the igloo.
Under the finished igloo dome, a laz-tunnel breaks through from the leeward side. As with the construction of a cave, one must strive for it to be located below the floor level. If the igloo is standing on fine snow, it is permissible to cut an inlet in the wall at ground level and close it with a door block
Inside the igloo, especially if the entrance is punched at floor level, you can arrange a couch 30-40 cm high.
If it is planned to make a fire in the igloo, then in the upper part of the dome it is necessary to cut a hole with a diameter of 10-15 cm, to which a pipe cut from a strong crust with a through hole for extracting smoke should be attached. At the same time, a fire in an igloo must be made from dry, low-smoking firewood and very small in size. In case of strong smoke, an additional window can be cut out in the dome, which is subsequently closed from the outside with a block.
The igloo is one of the most reliable snow shelters that can protect a person from any vagaries of the weather. Suffice it to recall that the Eskimos, living in the harshest conditions of the polar Arctic, until recently did not know other winter dwellings at all! Perfectly mastering the skills of snow building, any Eskimo, according to Knud Rasmussen, could single-handedly build a spacious igloo that can accommodate 4-5 people in just 3/4 hours! Modern man, of course, cannot afford such speeds.
Even a well-equipped traveler with experience in the construction of blockhouses takes 1.5-2 hours to build a medium-sized igloo. For beginners and etrt, far from Eskimo, the result should be increased by at least 2 times. When the construction of the igloo is carried out by 2 people - one cuts and transports the blocks, the other lays out the dome - the time spent is reduced by 30-35%, but no more.
In any case, the construction of the igloo should be started long before darkness, fatigue, weather changes. Saving time in such cases is unacceptable!
Let me give you a few more tips.
You should never try to build a large needle at once. The complexity of building an Eskimo snow hut increases in direct proportion to its size. If the construction of a 2-meter needle is available to any beginner, then even an experienced professional cannot always master a 3-4-meter needle. In cases where a large group of people gets into trouble, it is much easier and faster to build 3-4 or 10 small needles than one large one.
A person who undertakes the construction of an igloo for the first time can be advised to first fold a small - 1.5 m in diameter - snow hut. This will help to understand its design features, master the construction technology, and eliminate many common mistakes for beginners. In case of emergency, you can always spend the night or wait out the bad weather in such an experimental igloo.
You must always be prepared for the fact that the construction of the needle will have to be repeated many times. And don't give up and don't despair! And work as much as it takes to build warm housing. At least twice as long as you have to stay in it.
We once moved a similar snow hut seven times, taking a total of six hours to build! The almost finished structure crumbled at the slightest touch. And I had to start all over. And on the street, by the way, it was night, -38 ° C and the strongest wind was blowing, with snow drifting. And we were on a bare rocky patch inside a cloud that had crawled onto the ridge. And we also had a burnt out bulb in a flashlight, and we had to highlight the fire of three cigarettes simultaneously put into our mouths. I really wanted to retreat then, because it seemed: it was impossible to build even a doghouse out of such a crust. But we continued to cut and put blocks. And the eighth attempt was crowned with success. It was then that we realized that the success or failure of snow construction depends not on the quality of the snow, but on the builder's obstinacy!
If the classic spiral needle for one reason or another does not work out, it can be advised to build according to a simplified, non-spiral scheme. By the way, travelers very rarely build a correct spiral needle, usually each group develops its own, simplified construction scheme for a circular one. To build an igloo, first of all, you need to choose a flat area with dense and deep snow. Loose, fluffy, snow is not good.
With the help of a rope and a knife, draw a circle that will determine the size of your home based on the following calculation: for one person - 2.4, for two - 2.7. It must be remembered that the larger the hut, the more difficult it is to build. If there are many people, then it is better to build many small igloos. Each Igloo brick "falls" not so much down as sideways, leaning on its neighbor in a spiral below. Thus, it is possible to assemble a sheer vault of large diameter, if you accurately maintain the pitch of the spiral and the curvature of the circumference of the hemisphere, which is convenient to control with a knot on a regular rope from a peg in the center of the building. Windblown snow is an excellent building material, like Styrofoam. Having a long thin knife, a light duralumin plate and a hacksaw, you can build a warm cozy hut - an igloo from it. I was struck by the strength of fragile snow, turned into a needle! In the morning, leaving the place of spending the night, they tested it for strength. The snow dome easily supported the weight of four hefty men!
In a seemingly small igloo, five to seven people, the entire tourist group, are accommodated with great comfort. When a candle burns inside, you can read a book. When the stove is on, the thermometer under the dome shows +20 degrees. It is quiet and warm inside in any blizzard... To learn how to build an igloo, I had to read a bunch of books, diaries of famous polar explorers, advice and recommendations from tourist authorities. At first, we took advantage of Berman's vague recommendations. Construction took more than 5 hours, physically and mentally exhausted 12 people, and only seven fit inside. The igloo was far from practical use: - (Here is what the famous Piri wrote in his diary: ... There were two Eskimos with me. Every evening, armed with long knives, they chose a snow puff, and rather quickly built an igloo ... - Meager, but very useful information... It remains to take an interview with his companions :-) Once I came across an amazing book by William Stefanson "Hospitable Arctic" (If you find it - be sure to read it!) In order to adopt the survival techniques of the Eskimos, he lived for six months in their tribe. And then, he led a series of awesome polar expeditions. Everything is laid out in the book...
The four of us built the "fastest" needle for seven in 45 minutes! This is commensurate with setting up a tent, but of course, much more comfortable.
The initial stage of building an annular igloo is no different from building a spiral igloo - a quarry is laid, a circle is drawn in the snow, and the first row of blocks is laid out. Just don't cut it diagonally. It is enough just to put the last brick in the row non-standard, 30-40 cm higher than the rest. To it, tilting and slightly pushing it inside the circle, lean the first block of the second row, to that, in turn, another one, and so on. So that the installed blocks do not collapse inward under their own weight, they must be supported.
It is most convenient to work with three people - one person brings the bricks inside, the other sets, adjusts, grinds them to the already standing blocks, the third keeps the entire unfinished row from falling. The last laid brick wedged the finished row-ring, preventing it from collapsing. When working alone, the task is somewhat more complicated. In this case, it is necessary to lay the pre-prepared blocks inside the needle. Each block installed on the bottom row, as well as any other block that is in an unstable position, should be supported from the inside with a ski or a stick stuck into the snow. With some skill, you can adapt to keep the row from falling with your knee, hip, shoulder, while simultaneously setting the next block. Fixing the last brick ensures the immobility of the entire row. Due to the 30-40° inclination and protrusion of the snow bricks inward, the rings of the rows gradually narrow, forming a regular hemisphere igloo. You can push the blocks when the row is completely finished.
To do this, literally millimeter-by-millimeter sawing of the joints of the blocks, shifting them towards themselves, inside the needle. With some skill, it is possible to achieve that the top row will protrude deeper than the underlying one by more than a third of its thickness. The hole remaining in the upper part of the dome is closed in the same way as in a classic igloo. The protruding corners of the blocks inside the needle can be cut off with a saw (Fig. 196).
If the igloo dome cannot be closed, you can complete it in the same way as when building a snow hut. Lay improvised beams on the edges of the walls, which are covered with a piece of cloth or plastic wrap. Cover the resulting flat roof with a layer of snow. In a German place with a brain-crushing name - Mitterfirmiansreut, people went even further. Here, in December 2011, an entire church was built from snow and ice. The construction of such an object was not a simple experiment. It had its own history. In 1910, a severe storm prevented parishioners from reaching the local church. Then they decided to build a temple from the most affordable materials. And so the idea of the amazing snow church was born. Snow and ice proved to be quite durable material. During the month, the church receives a large number of parishioners. However, after this period, it begins to collapse.
In cases where it is not possible to prepare a large number of blocks, and there is enough snow
To do this, a circle with a diameter of 1-1.5 m is outlined on the surface of the snowdrift. Snow is raked out of the circle to a depth of at least 1.5 m. A deep round pit is obtained. Along its perimeter, a small dome is constructed from blocks laid in rows according to any of the described methods - spiral, annular. Of course, such a shelter turns out to be very cramped, but its internal volume can be increased by undermining the walls to the sides. Moreover, the largest amount of snow should be chosen in the lower part of the pit adjacent to the floor, the smallest - with a wide base and a narrowed neck, closed from above by a small dome. There is no need to fear that after construction is completed, the cut edges of the pit will not withstand and collapse under the weight of the walls. The constructed dome, gradually sagging and thawing, acquires solidity, due to which the pressure on the “foundation” is balanced. But, of course, you should not overdo it with undermining. The most convenient, from the point of view of organizing everyday life, and at the same time a strong shelter, where the angle of inclination of the walls of the pit is equal to the angle of inclination of the walls of the dome (about 40-50 °), that is, in fact, one wall is a continuation of the other. But, of course, each construction is individual, and the angles of inclination of the walls depend on the strength of the snow.
Finally, if the crust is still not properly caked and has a layered structure, you can build a needle from flat, 10 cm thick or less, pancake-shaped blocks. To do this, the bricks are laid flat in such a way that each upper row protrudes into the circle a third deeper than the lower one. The rings of the row will gradually narrow until they close. The hole in the center of the dome is closed with one flat slab with a ledge at the bottom.
However, it should be remembered that an igloo built from flat blocks is not sufficiently stable, and therefore its diameter should not exceed 1.5–2 m. Otherwise, the dome igloo-zhet just collapse inward. You can increase the internal dimensions of the shelter by undermining the walls to the sides and removing a 30–50 cm layer of snow from the floor.
In the mountains on large slopes, in the presence of a strong crust, it is possible to build a block half-cave. To do this, you need to find a natural niche-depression in the rock and lay its open part with a wall of snow blocks. It is better to dig the entrance from below under the finished wall
On snowy slopes, a niche is dug with the help of an improvised tool and is also closed with a wall of blocks.
The described designs are far from exhausting the list of snow shelters used in the practice of emergency situations. Victims often use shelters that include elements of a variety of designs. It all depends on the specific conditions of the accident and the capabilities of the victims.
The use of open fire inside snow shelters is fraught with a certain danger. Incomplete combustion of certain combustible materials can release carbon monoxide into the surrounding air, which is deadly to humans.
Cold night in a snow shelter
Sit close to each other, trying to reach the maximum area of contact between the bodies.
Fasten all buttons, zippers, tighten the cuffs of the sleeves and legs, put on the hood.
Wring out wet clothes. Drink hot tea, coffee, broth. Keep your feet and head as warm as possible. There are sugar and fat-containing foods. Mark the location of the shelter. Sit on an insulating pad. Have a tool in the shelter for clearing the inlet.
Warm up your hands if necessary. Perform other physical activities, warming up the muscles.
Focus on shelter. Leave people unattended. Undress in the shelter. Stay in wet clothes. Drinking alcohol. Sleep at risk of freezing. Leave open flames unattended. During construction, locate the entrance to the wind. Lie down and sit in the snow. Overheat and sweat while building shelters.
Rebuild the shelter at night. Leaving the shelter in the dark of Feu & Urgent Necessity.
In central Russia, in Siberia, there is an abundance of forests. It is not surprising that from time immemorial our ancestors built their dwellings from wood. The huts of African tribes, like tiles, are covered with palm leaves. In mountain settlements, dwellings and even fences are made of boulders.
What is the igloo, the national home of the Eskimos, made of, in the middle of endless snowy deserts? That's right, from what is there in abundance, that is, from snow. It is from the frozen blocks of water that the igloo is built. Photos of these structures amaze with their ideal forms.
Description of the snow house
The igloo is a domed, ideally regular spherical structure, built of bricks cut from compressed snow. The shape of the building was not chosen by chance. A sphere is a geometric three-dimensional figure with the smallest ratio of surface area to internal volume. And this is important, since with a decrease in surface area, heat loss decreases.
In addition, the ideal spherical shape gives the structure of such a seemingly fragile material as snow, extraordinary strength. According to the stories of travelers, even for a polar bear, the problem is to break through the walls of this
The entrance to the house is a "dressing room" in the form of a tunnel. This design prevents the penetration of cold winds.
Procurement of material
Igloo - what is a similar structure in our time and in a modern city? Of course, no one offers to live in such a house, but why not frolic with children in the country, not to feel like a real conqueror of the north.
First you need to prepare building materials for the igloo. What are bricks for the dwelling of the Eskimos, what are they? There are three options for their preparation.
The classic version implies the presence of a powerful and fairly strong snow crust. In this case, with a snow (if, of course, there is one) or with an ordinary saw, bricks are cut out of the snow with sizes slightly smaller than a standard gas silicate block.
If the snow is wet, it is unlikely that it will be possible to cut it, but it is excellently molded. You can make standard bricks using a blank (a hastily knocked down rectangle of any material) or sculpting them by hand, providing a standard size by eye.
And finally, if the temperature is below zero, the snow does not mold and the entire snow mass is loose, then a form is indispensable. Snow in the form will have to be laid and compacted, slightly moistening. After the block is rammed, the form is removed and the next one is filled in the same way. After a while, the bricks harden in the cold.
Construction process
The next step is to mark the "construction site". You can easily achieve an even circle by sticking it into the center of the future structure and circling the circle with any piece of twine. After the outline of the needle is drawn, the first row is laid out from the prepared bricks.
You can just lay out row after row, but it will not be a completely natural needle. What needs to be done to build a building in accordance with all the rules?
In the first row, all blocks are of different heights. The first lies down entirely, the value of all subsequent ones gradually decreases, and when the circle closes, their height goes to zero. Having built the first ring in this way, then you can simply take the blocks and stack them in a spiral.
When laying, it is necessary to ensure that each subsequent turn slightly collapses towards the center of the structure, forming a dome. The whole igloo house is erected in this way, except for the hole in the center of the dome. It is closed with a special block of a round conical shape from the inside of the building.
The hole - the entrance to the snow hut - in order to avoid the collapse of the wall, is made only after it becomes difficult to climb over the wall. Ideally, an assistant gives the builder blocks, and the entrance is cut through at the very end.
Finishing work
It is worth remembering that protection is not just from the cold, but from the severe northern frost - this is the task of the igloo. What is the quality of entry for her, therefore, is understandable. So, in order to prevent icy winds from penetrating the house, the entrance to it is built in the form of a tunnel, sometimes curved, so as not to leave cold air streams any chance.
What the needle is made of, the entrance is made of the same material. From the dome, two parallel rows of blocks are laid out and then built up. As in the case of the construction of the dome, each subsequent row is slightly closer to the center. This continues until the walls converge in a semicircle at the top.
And finally, after the dome and the entrance are ready, all seams are carefully smeared with snow. This finally seals the structure.
Why doesn't the igloo melt from the inside?
The igloo is a forced invention of the North American Eskimos. If the Arctic had an abundance of firewood, the Eskimos might have invented wooden houses. But the miser-nature provided them only with snow, however, in unlimited quantities. The Eskimos sighed and sighed and turned ordinary snow into an extraordinary building material.An igloo is a dome-shaped building made of snow blocks with a diameter of 3-4 meters and a height of about 2 meters. In deep snow, the entrance is usually arranged in the floor, a corridor breaks through to the entrance below the floor level. With shallow snow, the entrance is arranged in the wall, to which an additional corridor of snow blocks is being completed. Light enters the igloo directly through the snow walls, although sometimes windows are made of seal guts or ice.
The interior is usually lined with skins, sometimes the walls are also covered with skins. Grease bowls are used to heat the dwelling and its lighting.
A good tent and a windproof wall are quite satisfactory for a northern hike, but there are no special winter tents for sale.
Wind-compacted snow is much lighter than ice. This means that about three-quarters of the volume of bricks is occupied by air, and it does not conduct heat well. Snow brick is similar to a piece of foam and has high thermal insulation properties. But a hut built in severe frost must be thoroughly warmed up. When a fire is lit in a hut, its inner surface quickly melts and becomes smooth. And immediately the melting stops. This film makes the hut warmer, it also strengthens the roof
The scourge of a winter tent is moisture. The warmer the tent, the more damp it is. The roof of the hut absorbs moisture like blotting paper, even if the hut is too hot.
A hut with room temperature inside should melt, but it doesn't. Melting requires excess heat in the snow layer. Snow at the inner surface of the arch has a temperature of 0 degrees, and, in contact with warm air, does not melt, because it cools enough through the thickness of the snow walls. Suppose cooling is slower than warming up. Then the inner layer of snow begins to slowly melt, but when wet, the wall passes the cold more easily from the outside - it quickly removes heat from the inside, and the melting stops. The snow dome itself resists melting when heated from the inside. Of course, in mild frost and calm, a hut warmed to room temperature will melt, but a strong frost and wind, having exhausted the skier on the way in a day, will preserve the walls of his hotly heated snow house at night.
When civilization had not yet reached the Eskimo possessions, many tribes did not know a winter home, except for the "igloo", and were quite satisfied with it as a permanent home and lodging for the night on the way. A building slab made of snow is easily cut with a knife, and hardened in the wall of the structure. The Danish ethnographer Knud Rasmussen writes that an Eskimo alone builds a snow hut for his family in three quarters of an hour.
Here is one of his descriptions:
“Twenty people could easily accommodate in the main housing for the night. This part of the snow house turned into a high portal like a “hall”, where people cleared snow from themselves. Adjacent to the main housing was ... a bright extension where two families settled. We had fat enough, and therefore seven or eight lamps were burning at the same time, which is why it became so warm in these walls of white snow blocks that people could walk around half-naked to their fullest pleasure.
