Prevue September/October 2011 - (Page 55)

ICEHOTEL Sponsored by the Swedish vodka company, the bar is the ultimate, um, icebreaker for cocktail receptions. We met our hosts here while drinks were served in big square ice cubes hollowed out with an industrial drill. FYI: A few Hot Rubies (Absolut Ruby Red vodka, warm lingonberry juice) and dancing to ABBA in a snowmobile suit do wonders for networking. A series of modern wood buildings house the sparkling clean, large YMCA-style showers/changing rooms. There are also 95 “warm” rooms replete with natural wood floors/walls, business desks, good WiFi, flatscreen TVs, and sleek bathrooms straight out of IKEA. Most guests split time in both room types, and everyone in our group happily said: “I’m glad I spent one night in the ice rooms.” Dinner is served in the timber Old Homestead Restaurant, originally built in 1768. Caught that morning, the arctic char was served on a thick plate of ice with shiitake mushrooms, goat cheese and salmon roe. Our meals were as good as any we had in Stockholm’s finest restaurants, combining ingredients absolutely singing with freshness. The ICEHOTEL Experience There’s a powerful, emotional sense of connection with Mother Earth following your first night of hibernation at ICEHOTEL when you walk out into the white landscape. It’s deadly quiet and the lack of electricity and color have a deeply calming effect. The best cup of coffee, ever, is next door. At our morning ice sculpting class, we all chiseled away at ice blocks like a bunch of ruddy-faced Rodins. We raced snowmobiles around the lake and stopped for lunch in one of the wood cabins. And then we raced reindeers that pull sleds around a track. The afternoon ended with coffee around a fire inside a giant teepee with a member of the local Sami culture (ancestral Laplanders), who regaled us with tales of hunting life before and after the invention of the snowmobile. Speaking of technology, ICEHOTEL aims to be carbon negative by 2015, meaning it will produce more renewable energy than it uses. This is a major motivation behind the hotel’s existence, and it already derives much of its energy from geothermal and solar power. Kiruna is home to Nordic Europe’s space program—which will be one of Virgin Galactic’s global space travel hubs—so there’s already a built-in scientific infrastructure in place. A series of “Tech Visits” have been created for visiting groups to learn more about the advanced clean tech innovations, which ICEHOTEL shares willingly. “This is about doing your best and setting an example,” says Dan Björk, director of sales/marketing. “The message is for other mid-size companies to come up here, which is frequently happening, and we will tell them exactly what we have done. It’s Absolut Cool Here’s how it works. Every fall, engineers and a team of ice sculptors selected from hundreds of applicants descend on this little community called Jukkasjärvi. They first erect rows of metal arches and beams, and then specialised tractors with huge chain saws cut out blocks of river ice the size of a Saab. They cover the metal frame with the blocks, and after it all freezes together, they remove the metal frame. The only thing remaining that isn’t H20-based is the lighting. The ice artisans then go into each of the 85 rooms to create the individual decor and beds of solid ice covered with reindeer skins. Guests, by the way, are provided with hi-tech sleeping bags at bedtime. The sculptors also carve out ice chandeliers, a chapel for the 100+ yearly weddings here, and the globally hip ABSOLUT ICEBAR. You’re going to love this. prevueonline.net | 55 http://www.prevueonline.net

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Prevue September/October 2011

Back Bay, Boston
Manchester
Meliá Hotels & Resorts
San Francisco/Denver/Cleveland
HSMAI + Soles4Souls
IRF/MGM Resorts, Las Vegas
Daytona Beach
Sustainability: The Next Big Thing
Central America
India
Sweden
Barcelo Resorts/Samana, DR
Portland

Prevue September/October 2011