Ice Hotel in North America

[ngg_images gallery_ids=”36″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_slideshow”]

History

The ice hotel opened on New Year’s Day in 2001.

The hotel is located 5 km north of Quebec City, on the first slopes of the Laurentian mountains, in the Charlesbourg borough. It is the first and only ice hotel in North America and is built each December for an opening date in early January.

The hotel has a three-month lifespan each year before being brought down in April. It had 11 double beds when it first opened in 2001. It has now 51 double beds, all made of ice and followed by a solid wood base and comfortable mattress.

It takes about a month and a half to build with 50 workers. The Hotel makes its own snow using a special mixture to adjust the humidity. It is built with metal frames, it is allowed to harden for a few days, and then the cranes are removed. The hotel is made of 30,000 tons of snow and 500 tons of ice and the walls are up to four feet thick.

(Photography by: Rusna Choudhury)