Ice Hotel, Sweden

Situated 200km inside the Arctic Circle, Ice Hotel is, as the name implies, a hotel completely constructed from ice. Every year the village of Jukkäsjarvi in Swedish Lapland is home to the Ice Hotel. The Ice Hotel is the brainchild of a Swede named Yngve Bergqvist. Now in its thirteenth season, the Ice Hotel is rebuilt every year using the massive ice resources of the nearby River Torne (hotel opens every December for business).

Last year 14,000 guests stayed at the Ice Hotel, with 37,000 day visitors. Owned by Icehotel AB the hotel features 60 rooms, 25 suites, a cinema, the 'Absolut' ice bar, the Iceart gallery, the Icechurch and a sauna – there are many winter activities to do or you can just chill out in the Icebar. The interior temperature hovers just around a very chilly -6ºC (20ºF).

ICE ART - THE INCEPTION

Ice Hotel began thirteen years ago out of an idea that had seen an igloo built to house art works created by Japanese ice artists. From a single room structure it has grown into a 5,000m² complex constructed from 30,000t of snow and 4,000t of ice. Every year the Ice Hotel is built from scratch with many international artists invited to exhibit and to design and build the unique setting that makes up the hotel. A hall of ice pillars is complemented by arched snow corridors, graceful ice arches and fibre optic lit ice sculptures.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction work on the hotel begins each October. Vaulted steel pillars up to 5m high are positioned. Thousands of tons of snow are moulded around these pillars using snow canons and front loaders to create the super-structure. These pillars are then removed after the snow has 'set' and used elsewhere. This freestanding structure of snow arches is then reinforced with ice pillars. After this initial construction phase craftsmen and artists are able to refine the interior - carving the walls, creating the windows, doors, beds, chairs, tables and lamps - ready for the arrival of the first guests in mid-December. The hotel will then usually melt from May onwards, with the water eventually flowing back into the river from where it came.

In March, ice is harvested from the River Torne in huge ice blocks, each weighing 2t, in preparation for the following season. The blocks, stored in a freeze house, are crystal-clear due to the pureness of the river water and the fast-flowing current.

ACCOMMODATION

With 60 rooms and 14,000 guests in a season the Ice Hotel has a range of rooms available. Standard doubles, suites and deluxe suites are available, with corresponding prices and services.

All the rooms feature special beds made of snow and ice. These are covered with mattresses and reindeer pelts. Guests sleep in specially designed thermal sleeping bags. The suites are unique rooms that are decorated with ice art and sculptures. The indoor temperature of the hotel is anywhere between -4ºC and -9ºC depending on the amount of guests and the outside temperature. Guests sleep cosily through the night and are greeted in the morning with a wakeup call of hot chocolate.

The Aurora house is another accommodation option. Designed to enable visitors to view the Northern Lights it has a skylight in the ceiling and two bedrooms for up to three people each. There is also a lounge area with refrigerator, water boiler, TV and telephone and a bathroom.

LEISURE FACILITIES

A number of leisure activities are available at the hotel, they generally revolve around relaxation. The Blue and Cultural saunas have hot tubs with drinks and buffet service. For those a little more intrepid there is another sauna which also has an ice-hole in the River Torne. The guests can also have an ice massage.

Other leisure facilities include a cinema and the Absolut Icebar, where the drinks are refrigerated to keep them warm and the glasses are made of ice to keep them cold.

Outside excursions include trips on snow mobiles to sample the local landscape, take a look at the Northern Lights or experience the local Saami culture. A more recent addition to the hotel is the Icechurch, where weddings and christenings take place.

THE FUTURE

The ice hotel idea has already spread; the Ice Hotel Québec was opened in 2000 in the area of Duchesnay just outside Québec, Canada. In 2004, the United States saw its first ice hotel, the Aurora Ice Hotel at the Chena Hot Springs Resort in Fairbanks, Alaska. During its construction, state officials cited the hotel’s owner for fire code violations and did not permit the building to open until smoke detectors and fire extinguishers had been installed in each room.

Although the initial structure melted in the Spring of 2004, it was rebuilt for the 2005 season, this time inside a larger, protective refrigerated structure (the walls have a refrigerated pipe running through them and there is an insulated jacket on the outside to protect from rain and summer heat), with the goal of keeping it frozen and habitable year-round.