Last February, my older brother, my dad, a family friend, and I built a 2/3-man igloo. It took ten hours. We finished well after dark, and by then I was too tired/cranky/cold to want to sleep in it.

On the First Day of Christmas (Dec. 26, St. Stephen’s Day), my old brother built his second igloo, a 7-ft. one-man, by himself, in three hours.

On the Fourth Day of Christmas (Dec. 29), my older brother, my younger brother, and I drove up to the Ski Santa Fe parking lot, parked our cars, and hiked into the woods. The car thermometer read 17° (-8° C). We thought maybe two of us could cram into the one-man igloo, and my older brother would sleep outside in his super-warm winter bedroll. But after perusing the interior, we decided all three of us might be able to fit. So we rolled out our sleeping pads, blocked the entrance with a backpack, lit a candle, and stretched out as best we could. It was actually pretty warm inside the igloo — so much so that we ended up not getting in our bedrolls. We just kept on our winter clothing and spread our bedrolls out on top of us as blankets.

We blew out the candle around midnight and tried to get some sleep. But it was pretty cramped, and sometimes chilly (somehow I ended up with my feet sticking out the door of the igloo), and there was snoring and the occasional drip of water from the ceiling. So it wasn’t a great night’s sleep, but it was an adventure.

Would I sleep in an igloo again? Definitely. But preferably not a one-man igloo packed with three grown men.

Arrival. My older brother kneeling near the doorway. Gear strewn about.

The branch-and-snow-capped ceiling (with candle lantern, goggles)

Departure. ~6:45 am, 13° F (-10° C)

Woods