igloos

Mt Rainier park has a policy of collapsing igloos, snow caves and other snow shelters.   

Officially this is due to concern that someone could get hurt / stuck falling into a hidden / collapsed structure -- but I think that is sort of a cover story.

I think a more fundemental reason is that if snow-shelters were allowed to be semi-permanent in the park that this would result in overuse in the areas close to the parking lot, with problems of trash accumulation and meadow compaction on the underlying ground.

I don't think that is completely unreasonable -- considering that the vast majority of "snow campers" around Paradise are Boy Scout troops that arrive in groups of 50+

In the temperate PNW one problem with semi-permanent snow shelters are the waves of above freezing temperatures that hit the Cascades throughout the winter -- so you can't expect a snow shelter to survive a "Pineapple Express".

that's an awesome looking shelter alec.     

Cool digs alecapone.

Thanks for posting that link about the hut discussion andyrew. I was vaguely remembering some of those locations but not sure where the discussion took place.

Traditional Igloo building

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I have used this "Ice Box" form to build an igloo. It takes a bit of practice but it does work and I suspect that if you build a few it would become easier each time. The info I read stated that since they use scintered (packed) snow that they last longer than other shelters using unpacked snow blocks. www.grandshelters.com/

Mt Rainier park has a policy of collapsing igloos, snow caves and other snow shelters.   

Officially this is due to concern that someone could get hurt / stuck falling into a hidden / collapsed structure -- but I think that is sort of a cover story.

...the vast majority of "snow campers" around Paradise are Boy Scout troops that arrive in groups of 50+

I once broke a ski (wooden Bonna 2400) crashing into a very large abandoned snow cave near Reflection Lake.  Just luck that I wasn't hurt.

I've also seen more than one near accident due to uncollapsed snow caves in the initial gully fifty yards below the parking lot along the marked Narada Falls ('Devil's Dip') ski trail.  The Park needs to forbid snow camping there!