Igloo Facts

- The term “igloo” comes from the Inuit word “iglu” which means “house”.

- Igloos were usually temporary winter shelters built by Inuit hunters for their families while on a hunting trip.

- Skilled Inuit hunters could be build an igloo in about an hour.

- Some igloos would even have windows built from a block of ice or seal gut

- An igloo could be any size, but normally, they built them just big enough for the family

- Although other countries such as Alaska and Greenland had igloos, the structure was predominantly seen in central and western Canada

- To see a real igloo being built, watch the 1922 silent film documentary “Nanook of the North”

- The only tools required to build an igloo are a snow spade and a saw. In traditional times these implements would have been fashioned from bone.

- A full-grown man can stand on an igloo without collapsing it

- A properly-built igloo can withstand hurricane force winds on the open snow.