<\/p>\n
Mancos State Park has a new campsite for winter expeditioners \u2013 an igloo.<\/p>\n
It was recently built by some staffers from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region office, after they tested out the design in their own yards. And it\u2019s available to be rented out for $18 a night.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re pretty fun little shelters,\u201d said Nathanael Bokelman, a CPW engineer. He\u2019s built a few igloos by now, both for his family and friends, and now the state park.<\/p>\n
Igloos have traditionally been used by the Inuit people in the far north, and are made of snow blocks formed into a dome shape.<\/p>\n
The Mancos igloo was formed with the assistance of the ICEBOX igloo tool, which essentially is a \u201cthree-sided box\u201d with a center pivot pole to measure out an exact circular shape, Bokelman said. Snow is packed into the box to make the blocks used for the igloo\u2019s construction, and the pole is shortened as the igloo grows taller, since the higher layers have a smaller diameter.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a very geometrical process, Bokelman said. The igloos they build are taller than they are wide, somewhat egg-shaped. (The technical term is \u201ccatenary,\u201d meaning the U-like curve that a hanging chain would make.) For an igloo with a 9-foot diameter, the roof may be about 5 or 6 feet tall \u2013 a true hemisphere would have a roof height of about 4.5 feet, in order to match the base.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt creates a more structural shape,\u201d Bokelman said. \u201cAnd also makes it nice, because you get a little more head room inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
This one took around 3-\u00bd hours to build, and is about 30 degrees inside, said CPW spokesman Joe Lewandowski.<\/p>\n
Bokelman and two of his children stayed in the igloo after it was constructed. His two sons were quite warm in their sleeping bags built to withstand zero-degree and 15-degree temperatures, respectively. Bokelman himself was using a sleeping bag warm enough for 30-degree temperatures \u2013 which might have been chilly were it not for the extra warmth of his terrier, who joined the crew, he said.<\/p>\n
Of course, the igloo won\u2019t last forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe weather\u2019s staying cold and we\u2019re getting snow,\u201d Lewandowski said. \u201cSo obviously when it warms up a lot it will usually melt. There is a little bit of a time element here.\u201d<\/p>\n
But igloos still remain intact for some time, particularly as the walls grow icier. Last year, Bokelman\u2019s lasted through February, at which time his family was forced to dismantle the structure since they were moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey settle, and as the days get warmer they definitely start to sag,\u201d he said. \u201cBut structurally \u2013 they change shape, but the ice and snow consolidate so it actually ends up getting stronger to a certain point.\u201d<\/p>\n