Caters News Agency
Chris Marchand built an ice fortress outside his home in Ontario, Canada, with the help of friends and neighbors.
The U.S. and Canada may be experiencing some of the coldest temperatures on record, but one man has decided to embrace the current climate by building a castle made of ice.
Chris Marchand, 38, from Ontario, Canada, came up with the cool idea after seeing photographs of an igloo made from ice blocks and decided to take the idea one step further.
Despite temperatures reaching lows of -31 degrees, the local news editor braved the arctic conditions for around 35-40 hours to construct his very own frozen fortress.
Made from around 400 blocks of ice, Marchand spent more than four weeks freezing and harvesting the blocks in preparation for the glacial masterpiece.
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Chris Marchand’s friends and neighbors enjoy the campfire inside his ice fort.
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Open to everyone in the neighborhood, the icy stronghold has become great place to chill out and boasts walls of colored ice, six feet tall.
If that isn’t impressive enough, the fort has been fitted with a campfire, perfect for cozy nights roasting marshmallows.
“Building the structure was a joy — I did most of it at night after my daughter went to bed. I would listen to my iPod and try to drink a cup of wine before it froze,” Marchand said.
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The ice fort during the initial construction phase.
“Growing up on a lake, my family has always been into campfires.
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“It’s a nice way to have a party, especially in the winter, so the idea was formed to make something big enough to have a fire in without melting the walls.”
Marchand made the fort by compacting a low wall of snow around the perimeter using plywood and his own body weight. The cold freezes the snow hard enough to walk on and it becomes the base for the walls.
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The ice fortress utilizes colored ice blocks to add some flair to the structure.
“On top of each block I added slush, which kept it in place until I could mortar the cracks between the blocks with a slushy mixture of snow and water that I kept in a stainless steel bucket,” Marchand said. “This would freeze solid in a minute or two, so I had to work quickly.”
“It has been unreasonably cold, even for where I live in Canada, throughout December. The temperature only went above (-4 degrees) twice,” he added.
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“I have a 3-year-old daughter, she thinks it’s pretty great and loved helping me out when it wasn’t too cold outside.
“Now that it’s done, she loves having her friends over to roast marshmallows and cook hot dogs on the fire.
Marchand’s neighbors think it’s very cool.
“… We’re pretty close with them and help each other out a lot. The whole project has been a really good way for everybody to connect in a more meaningful way.”
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