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Christophorus 307
The Ice is Right
By
Dirk Vinken
Fabulously frosty: The hotel complex owned by Jussi Eiramo
(center picture) is located off Finland’s Highway no. 4—and is
equipped to accommodate your favorite set of wheels, too
Photos by
Dieter Röscheisen
Travel
If honeymooning in the Caribbean is just too... conventional for your taste, why not choose
the polar opposite? We accompanied a young couple who did just that: In their Porsche Carrera,
they drove past the Arctic Circle to the Far North of Finland, got married in a chapel with
an altar made of ice, and spent their wedding night in an igloo.
Normally, Harry Wilson, a native of Norfolk, England, is a pretty
friendly guy. But today is not a “normal” day. Though it is the most
important day of his life so far, Wilson seems to have lost his
proverbial British sense of humor and is having trouble mustering
a convincing smile. And with the Celsius thermometer showing
subzero temperatures in the double digits, who could blame him?
Moving as little as he can so his thick down jacket can conserve as
much precious body heat as possible, Harry glances sideways and
plays with the two gold rings he is holding in his left hand, which is
numb with cold. But his fiancée Samantha, whom he affectionately
calls Sam, displays no reaction. Instead, she huddles under the furtrimmed hood of her parka and gazes pensively at a reindeer with
clouds of steam billowing from his nostrils; she seems to be wondering if maybe her husband-to-be hasn’t interpreted the term
“white wedding” just a little too literally.
And indeed, the couple has chosen what is probably the coldest
place in the world where you can get married. Granted, there might
be icier places still in Greenland or Siberia, but it’s doubtful if they
boast altars hewn in ice. For their wedding, Harry and Sam have
come to Kakslauttanen in the Finnish part of Lapland, a good 150
miles north of the Arctic Circle. And they have traveled to this exclusivedestinationinstyle—in a PorscheCarrera,tobeexact. Harry
and Sam have known each other for years; their shared passion for
sports cars from Stuttgart has served to strengthen their bond.
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But let’s rewind for a moment. After three days on the road, the last
town of any size the soon-to-be-newlyweds pass through is
Rovaniemi in northern Finland, and their all-wheel-drive Carrera
crosses the Arctic Circle soon after they leave the city limits behind.
Pretty much the only other vehicles they encounter after that are
snowmobiles, racing noisily along paths beside the road or on one
of the countless frozen rivers and lakes—some alone, others driven
by little hordes of tourists, snaking along in a row. Proudly, enjoying the solitude, Harry and Sam continue their journey through the
vast expanse of Lapland. The feeble rays of the sun, which appears
above the horizon for only a few hours during the Finnish winter,
paints the surreal landscape a milky white. By now, the temperature
difference between the comfortably heated interior of the 911
Carrera and the frigid air outside is a shiver-inducing forty-five degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). In the rear-view mirror, the
driver can see the dry snow crystals rise into the air in turbulent little flurries, only to gently float back to the ground a few seconds
later. Every mile they travel takes the young couple closer to the realization of a wonderfully crazy idea.
A shout of “Tervetuloa Kakslauttaseen nauttimaan Lapista!”
greets the travelers when they finally arrive at their remote destination and deposit their suitcases in the lobby. Though they don’t understand any Finnish, Harry and Sam can tell that owner Jussi
Eiramo’s words are friendly. But of course Eiramo, no longer quite A
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Winter wonderland: The hotel complex includes log cabins and an igloo
village. Most of the igloos are made of snow, but some are of glass
and heated. Featuring an altar of ice, the chapel provides the perfect
backdrop for a truly “white wedding”
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Hot and cold: Whether it’s in one of the four restaurants, one
of the double “rooms,” or under a glass dome—the Kakslauttanen
Hotel complex is a study in contrasts
Cool beauty: At night, the spectacular aurora borealis bathes
the landscape and igloos in a magical light
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Additional Information
Kakslauttanen Hotel is located in Lapland’s Saariselkä region.
Tel.: +358-16-66-7100; fax: +358-16-66-7168
Internet: www.travel.fi ⁄ int ⁄ kakslauttanen
E-mail: [email protected]
The Kakslauttanen Hotel is located thirty-five kilometers
(twenty-one miles) from Ivalo airport.
It can be reached by bus, taxi, or rental car and handles
3000–4000 overnight stays a year.
A night in an igloo for two costs €104 per person including breakfast;
spending the night in a log cabin comes to €94 including breakfast
and dinner. In addition to the igloo village, the hotel complex
young and sporting a gray beard, also speaks English. He tells his
guests that his “ice hotel” has existed since 1988; after all, building
igloos is a deeply rooted tradition in Finland. Besides the prospect
of a memorable stay in an igloo, the bridal couple is looking forward to trying out the popular tradition for which this Nordic
country is probably most famous—the Finnish sauna. The heat
in Finland’s typical wood-fired “smoke sauna”—which takes ten
hours to reach the right temperature—is less harsh and easier on
the system than that in the electrically powered saunas commonly
used in Central Europe. Besides, instead of cooling off afterwards
in a swimming pool, here you can just roll around in the snow or
take a quick dip in a hole in the ice. Let me reassure those concerned
that the fish might consider that an invitation to nibble on their
toes: Not to worry—they usually don’t.
The Kakslauttanen hotel complex consists of twenty-five log cabins
and twenty-two igloos. Five of the igloos are made of glass; Eiramo
enlisted the help of an engineer friend for their design and construction. The glass igloos feature heated floors and a small bathroom—and an unobstructed view of the vast, clear sky above. The
only illumination is provided by the legendary northern lights, the
aurora borealis. Sam is enchanted by the heavenly spectacle. Her
enthusiasm is not diminished by the scientific explanation that this
remarkable phenomenon is merely the result of magnetic forces. So
what? For people who think like that, a Porsche Carrera is probably nothing more than a means of transportation.
encompasses twenty-five log cabins. Each cabin has its own private
yard; guests have access to one of the two large log-cabin saunas.
The main restaurant can accommodate up to 143 people; guests can
watch as meals are prepared in the large oven. Three additional
restaurants provide room for up to seventy more guests. The hotel’s
Finnish “smoke sauna,” the world’s largest, can accommodate up
to 100 people at a time; it has recently been expanded to include
a restaurant.
Things to Do
Summer: Boat tours, fishing trips, bus sightseeing tours, midsummernight tours, excursions to the nearby “gold panning village”
Winter: Dogsled safaris, snowmobile and reindeer safaris, guided ski
tours, cross-country and downhill skiing
A glance at the couple’s 911 Carrera reveals that a thick layer of ice
has blurred its clear outlines, as if Mother Nature were claiming
this exemplary specimen of man-made technology as her own.
Good thing that the Wilsons—now officially married—decided
to book a heated ice dome rather than a classic igloo made of
blocks of snow. At night, the temperature in these unheated “real”
igloos drops to about four degrees below zero Celsius (twenty-four
Fahrenheit). Actually, that is thirty degrees (fifty-five, in Fahrenheit)
warmer than outside, but still... I, on the other hand, have booked
a traditional igloo. Granted, they are equipped with reindeer furs
and the warmest sleeping bags money can buy. Still, after enjoying
a delicious meal of salmon grilled over a wood fire and listening to
haunting Lapp folk songs (performed upon special request), I find
it difficult to leave the cozy warmth of the restaurant and don the
thick down jacket and fur boots that are to keep me warm on my
way to my abode for the night.
And sure enough, as soon as I enter the igloo, my glasses fog up and
I am overcome with doubt that the whole thing was such a good
idea. But my pride and a certain “pioneer spirit” won’t allow me to
back down now. Hastily, I peel off my many layers of clothing,
crawl into my sleeping bag, and tell myself to think warm thoughts.
And it works—I soon drift off into blissful slumber, filled with fanB
tastic images of the frozen fantasy world surrounding me.