Arctic Christmas Part II: Icehotel

This is Part II of our Christmas adventure. Part I can be found here.

When we left off, my parents, Gavin, and I had met up with Andrew in Kiruna, Sweden and were preparing for our excursion to the world-famous Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, 20 minutes east by taxi.

Jukkasjärvi has apparently always been a tourist destination in the summer, but in the late 1980s, a local guy got the idea to build an igloo resort so that intrepid travelers could enjoy Swedish Lapland in the winter. It was more of a resort than I was expecting. I think I was envisioning a rustic camp with the hotel and maybe a restaurant and lounge. Instead, the Icehotel offers 55 cold rooms and maybe 100 or so warm rooms, three restaurants, an Ice Bar, and numerous activities including dog sledding, snowmobiling, horseback riding, cross country skiing, and ice sculpting.

The hotel is constructed annually in the late fall using ice carefully harvested from the nearby Torne river. Since the Torne moves very slowly, the water freezes with high clarity, making it very attractive. The Icehotel melts every spring, but thanks to some new technology, the resort has recently opened “Icehotel 365,” a glorified freezer that you can sleep in year-round.

When we arrived on the morning of December 24, the resort appeared to be at or near capacity. We had booked a warm room (sleeps 2) and a cold room (sleeps 3) for two nights each, so that everyone in our party could experience both. Well, so four people could experience both and one person who have to sleep two nights on a block of ice. As the person most comfortable sharing a bed with anyone in our party, I had a sinking suspicion I might be the lucky one to spend two nights on ice. But that was far from settled.

The first order of business in the Arctic is to make sure you are warm enough. The Icehotel is ready for unprepared tourists (we saw one guy in shorts, and watched another family pass out unopened boxes of everybody’s first long underwear). Everyone is welcome to borrow thick boots and a survival suit, which is a like a very warm snowsuit used to withstand extreme temperatures (the staff was initially unfamiliar with the term “onesie,” but it’s a onesie). It is really warm, which was important since the temperature was around -20 to -25 degrees Celsius. It made dressing much easier; I pretty much did not take mine off the whole time. Gavin hoped he could just hand his out the window of the airport shuttle as we left.

The Icehotel doubles as an art exhibition, with artists from all over the world invited each year to design and build a unique room. Some of the highlights this year included astronauts, the white rabbit, snails, and King Kong. This inspired dad to come up with his own ideas for next year’s Icehotel, which included 1) a uterine-themed room with a fetus, and 2) several variations on a theme of death and Judgement Day. If you see him around, I’m sure he’d be happy to describe them to you in further detail.

The professional photos of these artistic suites are available here.

There wasn’t a whole lot to do inside, and so cross-country skiing was our activity of choice. Gavin and I brought our skis from Trondheim, and the family rented some from the Icehotel. The Icehotel maintains 10km of groomed ski tracks, 2.5km of which are flood lit (since daylight is limited). None of my family members had ever cross-country skied before, but they picked it up rather quickly.

It was cold! Gavin had filled his CamelBak, but it became unusable because the hose had frozen solid within five minutes of going outside. Our breath froze as light frost onto our hats and scarves. I could feel my eyelashes freezing together, and Andrew’s beard froze. I had to keep my phone close to my body so it wouldn’t get icy.

One added bonus of the Icehotel is that it’s located in one of the best places in the world to see the northern lights. After dinner on Christmas Eve we spotted them, and the show kept up for at least two hours. Gavin has been developing his photography skills this year and was able to get some great shots.

After this it was time to get ready to for our cold night. Andrew, Gavin, and I were elected guinea pigs. The Icehotel provides a bathhouse right next to the igloo, where you pick up an expedition-grade sleeping bag and stow your extra stuff in a locker. We had all been dehydrating ourselves so that we wouldn’t have to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but nevertheless were mapping our the fastest route and our strategy should the need arise.

I was a little nervous about the Icehotel. As you can see from the picture below, the bed really is made of ice, with a thin mattress and a couple of reindeer pelts. We made a quick transition from survival suits to sleeping bags. Thankfully the sleeping bags were warm enough, but none of us slept that well.

Here, Gavin demonstrates the transition from survival suit to sleeping bag:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pwEb6TP34k]

You are not supposed to sleep with your head inside the sleeping bag, because your moist breath can cause ice to form inside the bag. Gavin heeded that advice. I did not.

In the morning Icehotel staff wake you up with a cup of hot lingonberry juice. We were already awake, kinda grumpy, and ravenously hungry – I think the cold must have made us burn more calories during the night. We ate a big breakfast with lots of coffee and promptly requested a cot for our warm room, so all three of us could sleep there the next night (naturally, this demand for a cot dampened mom and dad’s excitement for their own cold night).

We did some more skiing, and since it was Christmas day, attended a Christmas Carol service in Jukkasjärvi’s 400-year-old stave church. I was happy to have an activity that marked the specialness of the holiday.

Since Andrew, Gavin, and I were no longer actively dehydrating, we decided to spend Christmas night at the Ice Bar. All glasses are cut from ice, and drinks are served “in the rocks.” Mom and dad joined us before retiring for their night in the Icehotel.

Mom and dad had some bad luck, in that the fire alarm (fire alarm! in the igloo!) went off twice during the night, seemingly due to frost on some of the equipment. Staff were cagey about how frequently this happens. Mom was her usual cheerful self about it though, since it meant she got to see another night of northern lights. Dad did not want to leave the room.

My overall impression was that the Icehotel is really cool, no pun intended. It’s pretty remarkable how they build this structure every year, with each one being unique and beautiful. I was also struck by the sheer ingenuity of the operation – to build such an amazing resort in a place that’s otherwise fairly inhospitable. I don’t know that I need to spend another night in the ice, but I highly recommend the experience and would be happy to return to Swedish Lapland at a later time.

It was a lot of travel time to get to the Icehotel, so I really thank my family for all the effort they put in to make this happen. Love you guys!