Part 2 : Winter 1997 - '98
205 Blocks
10 Feet high
One door & window
The first fort of the winter was started very early in the season, on November 16th, and finished in three days. It didn't turn out very well, and was starting to melt (not surprising for this time of year!), so it was soon removed to make way for the next one.
11' High
146 Blocks
1 Door, 16 Windows
This was a bit of an experiment - to see how many windows could be crammed into a single fort. The idea was to make it look like a real skyscraper. But having so many windows, and the fact that it was slapped together in just one day, gave it a very short lifespan of less than 24 hours. Part fell on its own, the rest was removed afterward.
177 Blocks (20-liter)
10' High
5 Windows (1 interior), 2 Doors
For this fort, I used a 20-liter bucket instead of the 12-liter one, to make the blocks. This means that the blocks were now about 67% larger. So, if this fort had been built with 12-liter blocks, I would have needed about 296 of them.
This one lasted 3 days, before it began to melt and had to be torn down.
88 Blocks, 2 stories
8.5' High
This fort introduced a new and very useful technique - upper floors. This first attempt at a two-storie fort didn't fare too well; there was barely enough room on top for someone to stand, and that was after a tricky climb up the external staircase. Spray paint was used to outline the fort, and in the background, you can see this years Christmas tree which someone has stuck in the snowbank.
148 Blocks, 10.5' High
This fort was the only to use sheets of icy snow, between the layers of blocks. The sheets were up to 3 inches thick, easily trimmed to fit in place, and held together very firmly. If I'd had some helpers back then, a very large and impressive fort could have been constructed. But this solo project still didn't turn out too bad. The only drawback was that by the time it was done, the weather turned warm again and it had to be taken down.
The sheets of ice were a by-product of the infamous 1998 ice storm, which caused widespread damage to central (and some eastern regions) of Canada. Such nice building material is very rarely seen in this part of the world, which is too bad because it's possible to build entire forts using just this material.
This was essentially a "triple fort". All three towers were connected, and the middle one was roofed.
89 Blocks, 8.5' High
2 Doors, 6 Windows
This fort could also be considered a sculpture; the windows and doors were arranged, and painted, to form a "happy face".
