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That evening I stayed in the Snow Castle, or Lumilinna, Finland's answer to Sweden's world famous Ice Hotel. Sweden's famous creation is built with blocks of ice, with the water sourced from a nearby lake, frozen for later use. The Snow Castle however is made from snow, and is completely opaque. In actuality, the "snow" used is simply frozen water which has been piped in. I'd have to say that I was a little disappointed by what I saw, the structures still looked a little rough, and not ready for public showing. Still, it was quite striking, and the ice sculptures littered throughout were excellent.

That evening I dined at the Snow Restaurant. Initially sitting by myself, I was quickly invited to sit with the only other patrons there, a large friendly group there on a business dinner. The company made the evening much more enjoyable. While the ambient temperature within the restaurant is said to be around -5c, being pressed up against a table composed entirely of ice makes your lower half considerably colder. The food was quite nice, but not worth it's high price. Still, you're paying for the experience. I would later learn that both the Snow Castle and the Ice Breaker tour (see tomorrow's entry) are owned by the Sampo banking group. As such, value for dollar and individuality are not qualities their tourism operations possess.

After dinner I retired to the plush, heated reception building; one of the only permanent structures in the castle. Not being a weekend, there was only one other group staying there. I met the others in the reception - another friendly business group. This lot were from Holland, and they quickly invited me for a round of vodka shots, and a couple rounds of charades.

Soon though it was time for bed. Essentially a giant igloo, the bedrooms are meant to sit at around -5c. However the outside temperature that evening was around -30c, so the inside temperature was probably closer to -10 to -15c. The room itself had a comfortable raised mattress, with a thermal sleeping bag on top. You slept in your thermal underwear, with your regular clothes placed underneath the bag to keep them warm.

By far the most troubling part was getting undressed/dressed. You have to take off your shoes to get your pants off, but with a snow floor there’s no way you can stand on it barefoot, therefore you had to balance precariously on the bed. This made things very slow, as you tried to balance in the freezing cold, while attempting to remove multiple layers with near-frozen hands. Next you hop into the washable sleeping skin, and then wriggle into the sleep bag itself. The whole process takes at least 5 to 10 minutes, by the end of which you are thoroughly cold and physically tired. The sleeping bit wasn’t so bad, with only my face and neck getting cold. I was so tired from the last few days though that I fell asleep almost straight away.

The toilet block is situated about 100-150m outside away from the main bedroom structure. After the effort it takes to get inside your sleeping bag you hope like hell that you don’t need to go later on. Unfortunately I did, as at around 2:30am the vodka shots began to hit home. I also woke up pretty thirsty, so I headed to the reception hall for some water and hot chocolate. I stayed in there, hoping to have the new fluids pass through so I wouldn’t have to endure the discomfort of having to go to the toilet a second time.

I passed the time chatting with the very friendly girl working the desk. We got on very well, she was happy for the company, while I enjoyed the warmth. She gave me all the inside details of the Snow Castle, such as how it's made, and basically why Sweden's Ice Hotel trounces the Snow Castle. After a while I went had a lie down on one of the wooden benches while I was waiting and fell asleep for about an hour. After I woke up I headed back to my room.

I woke the next morning generally refreshed, but very cold. After breakfast I was driven to the plush Cumulus hotel for my complimentary sauna. I was so exhausted by the cold and lack of sleep that I stayed in there for a good 2.5 hours. Being a fancy hotel, their sauna was especially good.

Overall I wouldn't say I enjoyed my time at the Snow Castle, but it was certainly an experience. 

Snow Castle at night

Main Bedroom structure with ice sculptures

Snow Castle in the day