Snowboarder Adrian Günter built his own igloo on a mountain top in 1996; he wanted to make sure he was the first person on the hill enjoying newly fresh, powder snow. His idea caught on with friends wanting to have the same experience. The next winter, Günter made two igloos and the year after he had three. Presently, the company Iglu-Dorf operates in Andorra, Austria, and Switzerland. 3,000 tons of snow is used to make 12 igloos annually. Originally built in the traditional method used by the Inuit; cutting blocks, stacking them on top of each other like a dome was taking too long. To make the progress quicker, the staff blows up large balloons and covers them with snow, deflating them once the powder hardens.
