Perched on the shores of Lac St.-Joseph about 20 minutes west of Quebec City, the Ice Hotel is built anew each winter using 12,000 tons of snow and 400 tons of ice. It takes about five weeks to complete the complex, which always has the same basic architectural principal but differs from year to year in its precise layout and decor, according to chief executive officer Jacques Desbois.
"The advantage we have is that we can build it section by section," Desbois says, changing the width and length of hallways, for example, or the height of the chambers.
Nearly everything in the building -- walls, ceilings, beds, furniture, drinking glasses, chandeliers -- is made of frozen water.
In the lobby, a massive ice chandelier glistens overhead and towering columns point to an 18-foot-tall ceiling of tightly-packed snow. Rooms are filled with elaborate snow sculptures and small details, like real newspapers and flowers, albeit frozen.
Construction begins in December and lasts five to seven weeks. Local and international artists design room decor with chain saws. It takes about 35 workers to complete the project. Builders tear it down by season's end to discourage theft or unsupervised tours as the hotel melts. Snow blowers help form the hotel's self-supporting arches by blasting snow over stainless steel sections and wooden walls used as its foundation. The metal frames are removed once everything freezes solid, which can take 10 hours or up to three days. Huge blocks of ice are transformed into pews for the wedding chapel, lamps and other furniture. Four-foot thick walls buffer guests from chilling winds — day and night.
Each hotel suite has a unique design crafted by local Quebec artists. The beds are made of a stand of ice with fiber optic lighting that casts a glow about the room. On the ice is a wooden platform on which rests a foam mattress. The hotel guests sleep in mummy-style down sleeping bags topped with deer pelts. Although the room's temperature is from -3°C to -6°C (from 21°F to 27°F), guests sleep cozily through the night. They are greeted in the morning with a wakeup call of hot chocolate.
Need a quick trip to the restroom? While the suites do not have private baths, it is a short walk to the heated portable restrooms in the main hotel.
At night, the bar is a natural meeting place for all those who are taking the plunge and spending the night in the Ice Hotel. Perhaps they feel the need for a little night-cap. Newly invented drinks based on Laplandic blueberry juice will be served out of specially designed glasses. They are made of ice, naturally, so there's no need for ice cubes
How is it possible to stay warm in a hotel room built of ice? The secret is the fact that ice and snow are good insulators. An insulator is a material that prevents or slows the flow of energy in the form of heat, electricity, or sound. In contrast, a conductor is a material that allows the energy to flow. For example, feathers are a heat insulator; aluminum is a heat conductor.
Ice helps keep the Ice Hotel relatively warm. It traps the heat inside the hotel room and keeps the colder air outside. Even if the outside temperature drops to well below freezing, the temperature inside the hotel room remains just a few degrees below freezing. The Ice Hotel is an oversized, complex Eskimo igloo. Igloos are built of snow. During construction, snowflakes that fall on the igloo melt and then quickly refreeze into ice. Once an igloo is complete, the Eskimos place a hot lamp inside and seal the entrance. As the snow begins to melt, it runs down the interior walls of the igloo. When the walls are all wet, the builders remove the lamp and leave the door open. The sudden exposure to the cold outside air freezes the water on the walls, creating a layer of ice. The igloo now has a triple layer of insulation: an ice coating on the interior of the snow walls, the snow walls themselves, and ice coating on the exterior of the snow walls. Ice also gives structural strength to both igloos and the Ice Hotel. Legend has it that an igloo can withstand the weight of a polar bear, if one should decide to visit. Hotel guests do not have to worry that the building might collapse if a blizzard dumps several feet of snow on the roof.
Like an igloo, the Ice Hotel is temporary shelter. Once the outside temperatures climb above 0°C (32°F), the structure will begin to melt.
ICE HOTEL WEB PAGE
