So you've already climbed to the top of Everest, snorkeled in the Red Sea, rafted the Grand Canyon rapids, and danced at the Carnival in Rio. Why are adventurers being drawn to Canada to sample the latest "hot" tourist destination?

The Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada is built of 4,500 tons of snow and 250 tons of ice, making it unique in North America. Jacques Desbois, founding president of Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada Inc. says, "The construction of Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada is quite an assignment for our team. Snow and ice are challenging materials to work with in order to build such a huge structure in only five weeks."

Construction on the hotel began in early December. By January, the hotel was open for the season, which will last until the spring begins to melt the structure in late March.

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.

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 Quebec-Canada is more than just a series of suites. There are two art galleries in the main building. One features the Inuit way of life, integrating artifacts with ice sculptures. (The Inuit are an Eskimo people native to Canada and Greenland.) The other art gallery presents ice carvings showing the history of winter at Montmorency Falls, near the hotel. The carvings are reliefs, projecting directly from the walls of the art gallery, like a "modern frieze."

The hotel also includes a movie theater and a bar, which serves meals. Hélène Barbeau, the hotel's director of communications, notes that at the bar, the furniture and even the glasses are made of ice. "We don't serve our drinks 'on the rocks,' we serve them 'in the rocks,'" she explains.

While it may seem sad to watch the hotel melt away in the spring, plans are underway to build next year's version with three times as much floor space. And if you want a room, you better reserve one now. The sister hotel in Sweden has a waiting list several years long.

Learn More

• The ice in the Arctic ice cap plays an important role in our environment. Read about the concerns over global warming's effect on the ice cap in the Riverdeep Current article, "A World on Thin Ice?"
  
  
• Sometimes, too much snow can become quite dangerous. Read the Riverdeep Current's "Deadly Snow: Avalanches."

More Links

• Take a virtual tour of the Ice Hotel Quebec-Canada.
  
  
• Read more about the Inuit people at Inuit Tapiriiksat Kanatami.
  
  
• Learn more about Inuit art at Cape Dorset Inuit Art and Inuit Cultural Perspectives.
  
  
• Teachers can find an educational unit on Inuit culture for middle school students at The Inuit Family: A study of its history, beliefs, and images.
  
  
• Two women have spent nearly two months living in the snow and ice as they ski across Antarctica. Follow the Bancroft Arnesen Expedition.