The IceHotel

This blog is for those out there who, like me may have some reservations about spending a night on a bed of Ice.

I think that it is important that I say first of all how important my sleep is to me and my girlfriend can attest to how grumpy I am if I do not get a proper nights sleep - hence when I was offered the opportunity to visit the Icehotel and spend a night in an ice suite I had more than a few reservations.

We were due to spend our last night of a four night trip in one of the Ice rooms which I thought was good as it gave me time to psyche myself up for it. I thought that if I took a guided tour round the IceHotel it would help reassure me that it will not be THAT cold and I will still be alive in the morning.

We met our guide at around 14:00 and went straight for the Ice Bar. Having visited the one on Heddon street in London I thought that I had a pretty good idea of what to expect - WRONG! The experience of being in an actual building entirely built of Ice and snow is unbelievable. One very quick vodka cocktail down, I ventured deeper into the hotel. 

All my initial trepidation went flying out the window. Even though it is around -5 degrees, as there is no wind it feels ALMOST warm as compared to the -20 degrees outside. The Ice rooms have to be seen to be believed. I literally walked from room-to-room in astonishment, I took so many pictures that by the end of it my camera did not know what hit it! Each room is designed by an artist and you can see how much care and attention they have put into it! It was like being in an art gallery.

Right - down to business, how did I sleep! Honestly.................? Really well. I had just come back from a northern lights snowmobile tour (which I will blog about next week) and was more than ready for a good nights sleep. We were given special sleeping bags and told to sleep in thermals - no point delaying any further....... "I cant come this far and not sleep in an Ice Hotel". We got in the room, got in the sleeping bag, lay down, turned the lights off and the first thing that struck me was how quiet it was! It is a silence that is difficult to explain, a little eerie but in some way very comforting. I took in my surroundings, shut my eyes and that was that!

For all those who are woken at the crack of dawn by their unnecessarily aggressive alarm clocks - I have found the perfect way to wake up. At around 07:30 we were awoken by a very pretty (sorry Sarah) Swedish girl offering warm Lingonberry juice - Beat that! A long shower followed by a sauna and yet another long shower and I was good-to-go!

"So, would you do it again?" ....................Definitely. Having been initially hating the idea of an Ice room I can honestly say that I would do it again (particularly the part where I get woken up by a pretty girl offering me a warm drink!). It really is one of those things in life that I will look back on and think.........."Yeah....... I'm glad I did that!"

If you would like to experience it yourself click here to find out more.

Comments

[Simon]

Sounds great. I visited the Icehotel about 10 years ago and like you, still remember the amazement of seeing the Ice Suites. I stayed in the bar for a good hour sampling different shades of vodka which that might have helped my sleep. The Lingonberry juice was definately a great start to the day!! Cheers