Yurt in northen Scandinavia: Tips?

[hierony]

Roof poles: If all you have is small saplings, you use many small (2x2) roof poles. If you have engineering and high-quality graded lumber, you use fewer large roof poles (2x4 to 2x6). Small poles are usually individually cheaper & easier to work with but you'd need more of them--just basic tradeoffs in material availability, design, construction, and portability.

Snow loads: Slippery surface is better (think slides). Wind exposure is good (blows snow away); sheltered in the trees is worse. 'Hot roof' is better--helps melt off the snow. Steeper slope is better--some Kyrgyz/bentwood yurts have steeper roofs if it can be made it strong enough for your snow loads. Baghana/crown ring support poles would really help in heavy snow loads--or you could use bigger roof poles, stronger

tension cable

, and roof pole pillar supports. Also, is your 2-3 ft/6 ft of snow all in one storm or typical ground accumulation?

Moisture

: The winter you describe would have very dry, cold outside air--bringing this air inside and

heating

it while venting the moist air to the outside would prevent moisture issues. In fact, it might be too dry! During the warmer spring/fall months you wouldn't have the dry outside air though--you might want to use a dessicant such as zeolite, calcium chloride, drierite (calcium sulphate) while you're away or a dehumidifier (if you have electricity). Warm moist air contacting a cold surface (such as the outer cover) will cause condensation leading to mold/mildew. Monitoring the humidity and temp levels once constructed would tell you better what is needed...

Cotton canvas is breathable but not slippery and will mold/mildew/rot if not taken care of in a moist environment (frequent drying via wind/sun or warm/hot dry air). Vinyl/acrylic canvas won't mold nearly as easily but wouldn't have breathability to allow moisture to dissipate, so intentional venting (fans?) would be important.

There's a few yurt forum members with their location set to Sweden (Stephanwik, I suspect a few others too). You might try messaging them and ask for their experiences. Also, searching the forums for 'insulation' will get you lots of posts.