INSTRUCTIONS AND PROPHECIES OF THE Blessed MOTHER ALIPIA GOLOSEEVSKY, Kyiv...
An igloo is a domed hut built of snow. Where there is no forest, this building can save you from the cold of a winter night. And if you build it in the forest, it is able to survive the whole winter thanks to its strength. The height of the igloo is usually one person's height, and the diameter depends on the number of people staying for the night. Skills on how to build an igloo should be worked out long before the planned trip to the steppe or tundra, because in case of extreme circumstances, especially in frosty and windy weather, efficiency is important when building a snow shelter.
igloo
An igloo is built with bricks made from compressed snow. Ideally, the shape of the building should be round, since the area of \u200b\u200bthe spherical hut allows you to reduce heat loss. In addition, this form gives strength to the structure, despite the fragile "building material". If the igloo is built in deep snow, the entrance to it is dug in the ground, and if the depth of the snow cover is small, a small corridor is attached to the hut, which protects the building from the penetration of the wind inside. Warming inside such a dwelling occurs with the help of a candle. The walls will melt a little, but not melt, forming a thin ice crust from the inside. The walls of the needle are capable of transmitting light and water vapor.
How to make an igloo out of snow: basic rules
Snow igloo The tools used to build a snow hut are a knife, a saw, a shovel. If necessary, you can use an ordinary iron bowl. It must be taken into account that what smaller sizes dwelling, the warmer it is, so do not make it too spacious. If the group consists of more than 4-5 people, it is better to build two igloos. The cracks between the bricks need to be rubbed with snow. While inside the igloo, you will need to remove your outer clothing so as not to sweat. Inside, it is advisable to use a waterproof fabric as a bedding. To cut blocks, you do not need to go far from the designated site, otherwise you can get tired. It is necessary to find the nearest snowdrift at least 1 meter high, and start cutting. In addition, you must follow the basic rules:
- The construction of the igloo must be started before dark.
- It is strictly forbidden to rebuild the shelter at night, as well as to leave it at this time of day.
- The entrance must be located on the leeward side
- Inside the shelter, you should always have a shovel or other tool to clear the entrance of snow.
- Care must be taken when making open flames inside the shelter, as there is a threat of carbon monoxide poisoning.
- You can not take alcohol inside the igloo and sleep with the threat of freezing.
- The entrance to the needle should be located below the floor level. This will ensure the stagnation of warm air, the outflow of heavy carbon dioxide and the influx of oxygen.
- Tip: if you build an igloo on a slope, you will need to spend less effort on building walls, since fewer bricks need to be formed.
How to make an igloo out of snow with your own hands: material
The preparation of bricks from snow depends on its structure. If the crust is hard and durable, a saw (you can use a shovel or a hacksaw) cuts out blocks a little smaller than a standard gas silicate brick. Usually the dimensions are 60x40x15, but for the bottom row you need to make larger blocks for stability. Wet snow is difficult to cut, but it is sticky, and bricks can be stuck on. In order to designate the shape, you need to use a rectangular blank made from any material at hand. You can also do this manually, choosing the size by eye. Bricks from loose snow are difficult to make without a blank, as it will crumble. Snow is placed inside the mold, compacted and moistened. After removing the mold, the blocks will harden in the cold. Thus, you need to make the required number of blocks depending on the size of the igloo. You need to cut blocks from a snowdrift from the side where the wind blows. But still, dry snow with a density of 0.25-0.30, which has a uniform structure, is considered the best snow for building a snow shelter. Snow of a denser structure has greater thermal conductivity, weak adhesion and brittleness (at low temperatures).
beautiful igloo Before you make an igloo out of snow with your own hands, you need to designate the area of \u200b\u200bthe building. A round area with a diameter of 3 meters is marked with a knife, marking its center with a stick. Immediately you need to mark the place of entry into the needle. As noted above, it must be arranged on the leeward side. But, if the parking is planned for a long time, the entrance is arranged at a right angle with respect to the windy side. The circle must be made as correct as possible, and no more than three meters, because otherwise the stability of the needle will decrease. After marking, the site must be leveled and compacted. The layout of the snow dwelling should be such that the bench is located opposite the entrance and above it.
There are two ways of laying bricks: ring and spiral. In the first case, the blocks are stacked row by row, in the second, only the bottom row consists of rectangular blocks, and all subsequent ones have the shape of a trapezoid. With spiral laying, after the formation of the bottom row, any three bricks are cut diagonally (you can cut any, except for those located near the entrance zone). The third block is cut in half. Then the laying of the second row begins: the brick is placed in the recess of the third, cut, brick, then the next one is laid.
Longer and wider snow bricks are laid in the bottom row, with a gap between them to avoid extrusion under the weight of the upper rows. Blocks with defects cannot be used.
To obtain the required angle of inclination, you can cut the already laid bricks, or create the desired slope before laying. To prevent the top snow bricks from falling and increase their stability, you need to make a bevel between the top and bottom bricks what is the cut for inner corner top brick for its snug fit to the bottom. During laying, each brick is tightly fitted to the next one, while gradually being processed outer wall. All cracks must be overwritten with snow formed during fitting, it plays the role of cement. Around the bottom part of the igloo must be built from the remaining blocks of a barrier to protect against wind, which can blow snow between the bricks of the first row.
After that, the gaps inside the igloo are closed, a trench is formed up to the entrance with overlapping with its blocks. While it is being formed from the outside by one builder, the second builder paves the way to it from the inside. The inlet in the wall of the igloo is carefully cut with a hacksaw. The block cut out at the entrance will subsequently need to be moved to the inlet in order not to release heat, to protect it from snow drift and wind.
At the top of the igloo, a hole is formed by the vault of the last block row, which must be sealed with a wedge-shaped brick. In order for it to tightly close the hole, the size of the brick should be slightly larger than it.
After the igloo is erected, holes must be cut in its walls for ventilation against the accumulation of carbon dioxide.
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 from building materials only snow is at hand ... From the snow or ice blocks compacted by the wind, a needle is erected. 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.
The explorer of the Arctic and Antarctic, the Irish Shackleton, once complained about the difficult fate of the researchers southern mainland: "There are no Eskimos in Antarctica that 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 deer skins, and the lower layer is laid with the core up, and upper layer- mezdra 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 construction- bricks, blocks, panels, beams, etc. n. If you wish, you can fold a typical nine-story life-size house with entrances, benches at the door and even baths, bathrooms and gas stoves, fashioned all from the same snow. creative possibilities 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 snow house visits polar bear withstands, and it has five centners of weight!
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, throwing a rectangular piece over a stick stuck into the walls polyethylene film to keep people 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, snow of this brand 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. construction site side, and if the needle is being built on a slope - above the construction site, which will greatly facilitate the transportation of finished blocks (they can simply be rolled 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 as cutting tool used an ordinary spruce stick, but in this case, of course, productivity 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 laid with fragments of crust, small ones can be rubbed 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 smoke extraction 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 such speeds, of course, are not possible.
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 costs are 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. When it gets into trouble large group people, 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 you understand her. design features, to master the technology of construction, will save you from many mistakes typical 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! Almost finished construction 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 circle. 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 what larger size huts, 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 arch 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, diary entries of famous polar explorers, advice and recommendations of 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. Before practical application the igloo was far away: - (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. To installed blocks under their own weight did not collapse inward, 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. The resulting flat roof cover 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 available 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. And the largest number 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 built 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, in terms of organizing everyday life, and at the same time, a strong shelter, where the angle of the walls of the pit equal to the angle the inclination of the walls of the dome (approximately 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 has not yet 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. Increase inner dimensions shelters can be 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 the most different 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 some combustible materials may release into the surrounding air carbon monoxide deadly to humans.
Cold night in a snow shelter
Sit close to each other, trying to reach maximum area body contact.
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 unattended open fire. 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.
An igloo is built from snow blocks. Snow is compacted, because in this state it is lighter than ice. Air is trapped between the snowflakes in these snow panels. It protects from the cold and there is a lot of air between its snowflakes. Air is a poor conductor of heat and a good insulator against cold.
The igloo is built from the inside. To do this, the blocks cut with a hacksaw are arranged in a circle. Blocks should not touch each other with their bottom corners. Because of this, the structure may lose stability, and the house will collapse. To prevent this from happening, small triangular holes are left in these places. Then they can be easily patched up. Vertical joints also do not have to match. Otherwise, a long crack is formed in this place along the entire length. Blocks are not recommended to be moved. The protruding parts are best then cut off with a hacksaw.
To prevent the structure from melting, the outside air temperature must not exceed 0°C. This condition is easily fulfilled. Indeed, for the Arctic regions, such temperatures are quite common. Inside the house does not melt even if it is heated with lamps. This is made possible by the rounded shape of the roof: water does not drip, but is absorbed into the walls. Therefore, it is dry inside the snow hut.
A vent is punched into the dome for ventilation. As a rule, on the contrary, a couch is built from the same blocks. And finally, cut out the door.
Why is the inside of an igloo warm?
To keep the room warm, the door to the hut should be below the floor level. In this case, oxygen enters and carbon dioxide exits. The Eskimos heated themselves in their dwellings and cooked food with the help of a device for burning melted fat - a fat pan. Live fire they used only for cooking or tea. At the same time, the temperature there was never lower than 5 degrees Celsius. This temperature is quite comfortable to endure, if you also take cover warm blanket from fur. If you sleep on animal skins, it will be even warmer. After all, it is an excellent thermal insulator. In addition, it does not allow the snow floor to melt.
The colder it is outside, the higher the temperature in the igloo. This is due to the ability of wet snow to lose its heat-shielding properties. Frost, freezing the inner surface of the walls that had begun to thaw. Thus, the temperature outside the needle and inside it is balanced. In addition, the snow dome has very little thermal conductivity. Therefore, to maintain a small above-zero temperature, human heat is sufficient.
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.
Nice tent and windbreak wall quite satisfy in the northern campaign, 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.
It's no secret that since ancient times people began to use materials that are nearby for their needs. Those who live in the forest area have long built their houses from wood, but if there is clay nearby, people make bricks out of it and build brick houses. And then what is left for the Eskimos to do if they have nothing nearby but snow? Of course, to build their homes from snow and ice.
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.
How do you breathe under the snow? Fine. After all, if the entrance to the needle is arranged below the floor level, then the outflow of heavy carbon dioxide from it and the inflow of lighter oxygen instead of lighter are provided. In addition, this location of the inlet does not allow you to leave the home. warm air- it is known to be lighter than cold. However, for ease of breathing, a ventilation hole is pierced in the arch of the needle.
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.
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.
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.
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.
interior 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 blurred 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."
