What’s better, technology or tradition? In this video I finally do a test I’ve wanted to do for a long time: I pit a traditional igloo against a modern insulated tent to see if it’s really true that igloos are warmer than tents. Since Colorado snow is dry and powdery (not that windswept, block-cutting Arctic stuff), I “cheat” and use the Icebox igloo building tool to pack fluffy snow into solid blocks and build a proper catenary-shaped igloo. Then I set up the “modern” option: a Crua (Crucola) insulated inner tent inside my Nemo 6-person tent to help block wind—because by itself that insulated tent isn’t meant to handle snow, rain, or wind. I compare warmth using thermometers inside both shelters and outside, and I add small heat sources: a traditional-style qulliq (lamp) I carved (burning lamp oil with cotton) for the igloo, and an isobutane lamp in the tent. I also run CO sensors because any open flame can eat oxygen and create carbon monoxide. After going back and forth for a couple hours, the results were close: the tent averaged about 26°F above outside temp, while the igloo averaged about 29°F above. Not a huge gap—but the igloo did win. The real tradeoff is speed vs weight: building took ~5 hours, but the tool was ~5 lbs; the double-tent setup was way faster, but closer to ~20 lbs and I had to drag it in on a pulk.