Cicero, N.Y. — Kimberly Bement and Noel McCarthy learned an important lesson after building an 8,000-pound ice igloo in their backyard last year: keep extra gloves around. Numb fingers take the fun out of it.

So the couple gifted each other new pairs of Gore-Tex gloves for Christmas on the off chance they might get squirrely enough to build another igloo this year.

But as anyone who has stepped outside during this protracted, sub-Arctic Central New York winter can tell you, it’s too darn cold out there to do much of anything, let alone repeatedly dunk your hands into a bucket of slush.

And if you think it’s cold where you are, try hauling 300-pound blocks of ice across Oneida Lake during a howling blizzard.

An igloo for two: Central NY couple teams up (again) to build igloo Kimberly Bement and Noel McCarthy recently finished building an ice igloo in the backyard of their lakefront Cicero home. The couple built one last year; but this year’s model comes with an ice table, perfect for holding a cozy camp stove. (Steve Featherstone/Steve Featherstone | sfeatherstone@syracuse.com)

“We were excited to get it done, but I mean, with each day, you look at the weather forecast and you’re like, are we going to be able to go out and work?” Bement said.

Then, about three weeks ago, despite yet another brutal weekend forecast promising double-digit subzero temperatures, the igloo gods blessed Bement and McCarthy with a calm, sunny Saturday.

“And we’re like, okay, let’s go out on the lake and play for a minute,” McCarthy said.

An igloo for two: Central NY couple teams up (again) to build igloo Noel McCarthy uses antique ice tongs to transport blocks from the ice ‘quarry’ to the work site. (Kimberly Bement/Kimberly Bement)

The pair began cutting and dragging ice blocks about 100 yards from shore behind their Cicero home on Oneida Lake. McCarthy used the same custom-made templates and a jig that he’d fabricated last year to shape and set the blocks.

“It’s a lot of fun, but it’s a workout,” Bement said. “Dragging these big, heavy blocks over here and lifting them up and supporting them and setting them. It’s a CrossFit workout.”

“There was soreness, for sure,” echoed McCarthy.

The igloo consists of six rows of trapezoidal blocks stacked on top of each other, with each successive row narrower than the last, all set at a slight angle to form a dome.

The massive base row blocks are 10-inches thick; the top row, three inches. The structure sits on solid ice, so there’s no risk of it sinking into the lake.

An igloo for two: Central NY couple teams up (again) to build igloo Noel McCarthy hauls a bucket of slush, used as mortar to seal blocks of ice, to the igloo he and his partner, Kimberly Bement, recently finished building in the backyard of their lakefront Cicero home. (Kimberly Bement/Kimberly Bement)

“We were more comfortable setting the blocks this year and letting them freeze up quicker,” Bement said. “Last year, we let them sit for longer before we added each subsequent block.”

The frigid weather is good for one thing: the slushy mortar slopped between blocks freezes up much faster, “perfect for igloo building,” Bement said.

The 2026 igloo is the same size and shape as its predecessor, but with some unique differences. Aquatic weeds are trapped inside some of the blocks, like insects in amber, a result of Oneida Lake’s turbid condition before it froze over.

“We had a ton of wind and when the lake froze, it was really churned up and kind of murky,” McCarthy said. “Then the wind died and it froze up really fast.”

The fine silt trapped in the ice chewed up four electric chainsaw blades that McCarthy used to cut blocks. Last year he needed only one blade for the whole igloo build.

An igloo for two: Central NY couple teams up (again) to build igloo Kimberly Bement and Noel McCarthy recently finished building an ice igloo in the backyard of their lakefront Cicero home. The couple built one last year; but this year’s model comes with an ice table, perfect for holding a cozy camp stove. (Kimberly Bement/Kimberly Bement)

The 2026 model also comes appointed with a table, made of ice, of course, and frozen into place in the center of the igloo. Throw a couple camp chairs around it, put a backpacking stove on top and voila, you’ve got yourself a cozy little love shack just in time for Valentine’s Day.

It was six degrees outside when Bement and McCarthy completed the igloo on Super Bowl Sunday. Inside the igloo, out of the wind and with a fire burning in the stove, it was comfortable enough to sit and relax.

Now that they’ve finished their igloo, and with six more weeks of winter left, Bement and McCarthy are tossing around ideas for their next project. Something fun, but not as strenuous—like an ice-skating rink.

“We’ve got to get the pump out and flood the ice,” McCarthy said.

“We were also talking about doing a curling rink,” Bement added.

In researching the topic, she learned that the dense granite all curling stones come from one island in Scotland.

“I haven’t figured out how to make curling stones,” McCarthy said. “Economic curling stones. I’m not going to Scotland for rocks.”