Based in Longmont, Grand Shelters is a company of snow-cave-makers who make snow-cave-making tools. The company's Icebox is one of the few igloo-building tools on the market.
After hiking/skiing/snowshoeing to your chosen campsite, you just plop the stake into the snow at your future igloo's center, and the attached pole makes for a perfectly circular footprint for the structure. Attached to the end of the pole is the box part of the Icebox, which looks something like a Trapper Keeper and molds dense bricks out of fluffy snow.
Not only does the tool -- which costs about $170 -- make for a much prettier-snow cave, it also speeds up the construction process considerably. And the resulting igloos are semi-permanent: The company's website touts snow structures that stood for three months. Grand Shelters also makes Velcro-based snow shelter doors for keeping the cold out and the warm in.After hiking/skiing/snowshoeing to your chosen campsite, you just plop the stake into the snow at your future igloo's center, and the attached pole makes for a perfectly circular footprint for the structure. Attached to the end of the pole is the box part of the Icebox, which looks something like a Trapper Keeper and molds dense bricks out of fluffy snow.
Here's a pic of the finished product with the door in place in time for dusk:
Made by Grand Shelters, Longmont. Available online at www.grandshelters.com.
