After a good night sleep in the cabin it was time to head back to civilisation. We got a lovely breakfast prepared by the guides, and we went to get the dog-sleds back up and running. We now knew how to get our dogs into their harness and hook them up to the sleds, so we were ready in no-time. After a wonderful trip through the Swedish countryside by dawn we got one last surprise. Just before we were back at base we unexpectedly passwd a moose at about 20 meters distance. It was just laying in the snow and lazily chewing the cud. It looked at us with only a little bit of interest. On first sight it looked like a big boulder, but by turning its head it was still quite an impressively big animal that we’ve met. At base camp we fed the dogs again and brought them back to their own homes. We undressed from the sledding uniforms and then it was time to leave. As some of our group played with the puppies we loaded up our luggage into our completely frozen car, and we got ready to head to our next destination. And it was quite a special one.
I must admit that I’m not that much of a dog-person, but my team and I got along great. They were good dogs.
The Icehotel was only a few kilometers from our Husky tour, but we took a small detour to Kiruna to get some supplies and a nice lunch. As we arrived at the Icehotel the temperature was only a mild -13°C but quickly dropping. So the prospect of sleeping in a room of about -6°C was a warm welcome (hah!). This is the 35th year the Icehotel is build. I remember from way back when, in 1998, seeing it on TV how they’ve built a hotel completely out of ice. To be there now 35 years later is really special and something I’ve thought about a lot in all those years. So at arrival we immediately went to check it all out, the luggage would have to come later (before it freezes solid though).
During the day the Icehotel is more like a museum, with the icy art rooms as exhibition for visitors. Only as the night falls the rooms are turned into proper sleeping rooms. As hotel guests you are free to visit all the locations so we enjoyed a walk through the hotel first. The art part of the hotel is split in three main areas. The 365 area that has rooms the whole year long. A seasonal area with temporary exhibitions and rooms that are completely build out of ice and snow. This part is only there during the winter and changes every year. And then there is the Icebar. A central part of the hotel with this year a space-themed art where you can enjoy a drink from an actual iceglass.
All the art rooms have different artists that chose their own theme and created sculptures. Some of the sculptures were really beautiful while other rooms played more with the ice and light aspect. We stayed in a simple ice-room for the night. These rooms are completely build out of ice, but they do not contain any art. They still look very pretty with nice lighting and ice elements. There are some small catches when sleeping in the room though. Since the whole room is build out of ice there are no, and I really mean none of the usual amenities in the room. So no tables, chargers, or even a bathroom. All this is in a building next to the hotel where you’ll have to walk to in your sleeping garment… through the open air. So the room is really meant to only sleep in. But we’re having dinner first.
Next to the hotel there is a restaurant where we had our dinner. It is clear what clientele they target, as the menu options were very luxurious (and expensive). As a starter I had some good caviar, as main a local fish called Artic Char, and some well decorated icecream with crème as desert. It was easily the best dinner we’ve had this whole journey.
Now it was finally time to relax a bit until it was time to sleep. We gathered in the common area and stuffed all our belongings in lockers, so they wouldn’t freeze in the car. There are some very strict guidelines from the hotel how to prepare and sleep in an Iceroom. You had to take your last shower at the latest two hours before going to sleep. Then you had to put on a maximum of one thermal layer, shoes and a hat. Collect your special sleeping bag and liner from the reception. Walk to your room and get onto the bed, into your sleeping bag and sleep until you had to be out at 8:30 the next morning. This is al great in theory of course, but this is how it actually went.
Most other hotel-guests were really worried about the cold. Since the rooms are made of ice and kept at -6°C to -8°C. But I figured the sleeping-bag you’d get would be rated to -20°C or something and after a night in the open air on Antarctica I know how warm that will be. So I mostly prepared to ditch the thermal layer and just shove it into my sleeping bag. I brought my phone and earpieces for a good podcast and set out for my room. The reindeer hide is a fantastic insulator with its thick hairs and ditching the thermal layer was a good idea. It was comfy and warm inside the sleeping bag. And after a few minutes of listening it was time to sleep. And just as I was drifting away into REM-sleep…
The damn fire-alarm went of! Since I was half-asleep I didn’t even hear it at first and then was really confused where that damn noise was coming from. But yeah, had to get up and go check it out.. or at least get to safety or something. I figured the worst that could happen during a fire in the Icehotel is that I would drown. But after struggling to get the thermal layer back on in a cold room, while stuck in a sleeping bag, I looked out of the door. There I saw a frantically looking night-clerk carrying a big fire-extinguisher. Telling all the guests it was a false alarm. Well, since I was up anyway time for a very cold walk to the toilet and then get back for some actual sleep. But no, it wasn’t meant to be. They had silenced the alarm, but there was probably still a glitch somewhere. So now, every 10 minutes the alarm would sound again. Beeping incessantly in every room. While the poor night-clerk probably scrambled to the panel to silence it again. This absolutely wrecked any sleep you would’ve liked at that moment. This torment went on for about half-an-hour when they finally fixed the glitch. As this all played at around 2:30-3:00 it was (again) a very short night. But the night was still spent at a very pretty location, and it was fun to experience it after all this time.