cool FACTS

• The Ice hotels are built near rivers where workers can draw water, freeze it into large blocks of snow and ice and cut the ice into large blocks before trucking it into place. The Igloos are cut out by hand.Extensive, large-capacity ice hotels take about five to six weeks to build. But when spring comes, all the hard work melts away, and the hotels must wait until winter to rebuild. the Ice Hotel is temporary shelter. Once the outside temperatures climb above 0°C (32°F), the structure will begin to melt.
  

• Ice hotels are large extravagant complex Eskimo igloos. 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..

• Some 10,000 tonnes are used to build the original Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, 200km north of the Arctic Circle in Swedish Lapland (icehotel.com), while 15,000 tonnes of snow and 500 tonnes of ice are used to build the one in Quebec (icehotel-canada.com).

• Ice also gives structural strength to both igloos and the Ice Hotel. Hotel guests do not have to worry that the building might collapse if a blizzard dumps several feet of snow on the roof.
  

• The interior of the ice hotels glitter with elaborate ice furniture, ice bars and even ice glasses. Colorful lighting makes the structures look more like magical snow castles than frigid arctic dwellings.

• Sweden's ice hotel uses geothermal energy to provide its electricity but the other ice hotels don't have that natural resource at their disposal. Instead, they require vast quantities of electricity to create the ice as well as to power the on-going guest amenities such as the toilets , bar etc. And all that energy provides just one night's stay as guests typically spend the remainder of their holiday in nearby purpose-built log cabins.

• 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.