EDMONTON -- The deep freeze that has settled into Edmonton for the past week hasn’t deterred one man from building an epic igloo.
Chris Schrettlinger has spent the last five weeks building the igloo in his backyard.
The 16-foot wide igloo is comprised of 320 three-inch-thick blocks of ice. Many are dyed with food colouring, to create a dazzling sight when lit up.
The recent cold snap has worked in Schrettlinger's favour.
“It makes it easier to build, because everything sticks together faster it just makes it way harder on me,” said Schrettlinger.
“You kind of got to go layer on layer so it doesn’t cave in on itself. It’s just a lot of long nights, cold nights.”
He built the igloo for his kids, in a nod to his own childhood and his love for winter.
“I just remember what it was like as a kid, like winter was awesome. It didn't matter how cold, you were always outside making a snow fort,” said Schrettlinger.
“So now that I have kids and I'm a grown up kid, this was kind of your dream snow fort when you're like seven. So now I’m a bit older and a bit smarter I figured out how to build one.”
He added that for many adults winter can be a drag, with starting your vehicle being a chore along with shoveling—but he doesn’t see it that way.
“If you get out there, winter’s really not that bad, There are so many things that you can do in winter that you can’t do any other time of year.”
