Banff Alberta: 1st igloo of the season to be this Sat Dec. 6

[Banff Martin]

Hello out there!

If anyone is in Banff AB this Saturday, come by the Recreation area. You'd need to enter the townsite, cross the bridge at the end of Banff Avenue, turn right once off the bridge, bear right immediately after that, pass a museum and 1 apartment building on your left, then park in the visitor parking lot on the right. The igloo will be built on the basketball court near the parking lot. I plan to start at 10am.

The pad is almost finished; I'll have it done before Saturday. Presently it is 12' across the top, but I plan to make it 14' so there is an ample ledge around the 9' igloo. It is roughly 2'4" deep; this should make for a good height difference between the door & floor well into late winter as it sags some. I also like to build 'ramps' to make it easier for the form loader to get up such a pad height, so the pad will appear to be almost square during building. After the igloo is built I'll remove much of the extra snow, mostly so it is harder for tourists to climb on top of the igloo, but also as it makes the igloo look even larger with the shape being continuous to the ground.

Come by if you can!

[Igloo Ed]

That will look cool with the ledge removed. Hope you get some pictures.
I have carved away the front of the igloo so there is more room to stand and that alone makes it look like a double decker igloo.
Hope you get some good help.

[Banff Martin]

There shall be pictures!

So far so good on the help side: One coworker has been keen to build this for a month and will be there for the entire build. A 2nd coworker who's built with me twice before and will be there for there for 2-3 hours. Enough for the win I say, even before others join in.

[Igloo Ed]

Sometimes the ones that join in can be a problem, I hope you get a few good ones. The experienced help is so great if even only for a few hours.
I wonder if ICEBOX customers in your area will ever get together? I know it's a big spread but there are a few others in Banff as well as Edmonton and Calgary.

[Banff Martin]

Well, I think newcomers would get the task of being form loader or snow gatherer, I wouldn't want to teach form packing unless we're ahead of schedule. For form loader I pretty much just have to say 'aim here, don't touch the form, a little more or less on the shovel is better'. Then I'd try to help their ergonomics with where best to stand & how to hold the shovel.

I've no idea who else in Banff has an Icebox other than the fellow that will be with us for a few hours. Have you any details I could use, or even forward a message on my behalf?