Queenstown man Blair Whitaker has become housebound, because of all the house tours he has been giving visitors to his new ice house, located next to the car park at the Remarkables skifield.
Two nights into his month-long stay in a snow cave to raise funds for avalanche dogs, Mr Whitaker said he had hoped to snowboard during the day.
"I don't think in the first week I will be getting up the mountain at all ... until I've got it [the cave] to where I want it," he said yesterday.
"It seems like people have been coming to me and I've had a lot of work to do on the cave."
Because of the public's interest in his temporary lifestyle, he has been "giving more tours than actually building".
His home improvements were driven by having to move around like a "contortionist" in order to put his clothes and boots on while keeping his bare skin away from the ice.
"Now it's starting to get more into the comfortable zone, I would like to get enough room so I could stand in it."
"And so I can do my boots up and maybe make the entrance way a little bit easier to get in. It's a bit of a squeeze at the moment, but that's not a priority."
The shallowest point of his home was 70cm high, he said, and bamboo poles were in place to help him determine how much ceiling he had to avoid it caving in.
The Remarkables had received about 10cm of snow over the weekend which, due to wind direction, had fallen on the side opposite to Mr Whitaker's front door.
"I got up once in the night to look at the snow to make sure I wasn't going to get snowed in."
He was hoping for another snowfall in the other direction "to get more snow on top", despite it meaning a sleepless night digging to ensure he would not be snowed in.
"It's all part of it. I always expected to have a few sleepless nights."
With the majority of his gear now in the cave, and the construction of a few "cubby holes", his first two nights were relatively warm inside his sleeping bag, with getting wet being his biggest fear.
"Because it does melt, with the candle and the condensation."
However, despite a small amount of condensation on the outside of his sleeping bag, he awoke dry.
Bidding in an auction for dinner inside the cave with Mr Whitaker had reached $400, with the leading bidder saying they would bring their guitar.
"It should be good. Hopefully, by then, I have enough room for him or her."
