Cool Off With Pics of This Epic Ice Hotel

Ice hotels are temporary hotels made up of snow, sculpted blocks of ice, and, in some cases, steel framing. They go up in the cold of winter, and come down once it’s warm enough for the ice to melt.

The walls, fixtures, and fittings are made entirely of ice or compacted snow, and are held together using a substance known as “snice” (snow and ice), which takes the place of mortar in a traditional brick-built hotel.

For more than two weeks each November, visiting artists create the year’s art suites work in the freezing rooms, using chisels and chain saws to carve the rooms they have planned. From then until the structure becomes unsafe to occupy in April.

One of the world’s most famous ice  hotels is called “ICEHOTEL,” in the tiny arctic village of Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, where the hotel has been erected every year since 1990. ICEHOTEL is the world’s largest and longest-running luxury hotel made entirely of frozen water.

Here are a few impressive images from the ICEHOTEL: