About 60 miles outside of Fairbanks is the Chena Hot Springs complex – they have a hotel, hot springs, sustainable gardens, and an ice museum. It was a surprisingly hot and humid day, so we started off at the ice museum. Everyone had to don huge parkas before going into the 20-degree building. I was pretty glad that I’d thought to bring my mittens and toasty warm knit hat (thanks Dar!). The interior was a cavernous space filled with sculptures by 15-time World Ice Carving champion Steve Brice and his wife, Heather (herself a 6-time champion carver).
Most of the sculptures were amazingly detailed. This carving of knights jousting won the World Championship a few years ago. Each large piece (like the knight’s shield) was carved separately and then “glued” on using hot water. In our low-light photo it looks like a hologram, but I swear it’s life-sized and really impressive up close.
Originally they intended to also use this space as an ice hotel (but they can’t because the building doesn’t pass fire code – no sprinklers). But they still have the four hotel rooms on display so that visitors can check them out. I have always wanted to stay in the ice hotel in Sweden, so I was curious as to what it would be like to sleep in a room that is below freezing. I discovered, not surprisingly, that it would be pretty damn cold.
If you are thirsty, you can order an overpriced appletini in a souvenir martini glass carved out of ice. There are no other beverages served at the bar, though. They tried serving cokes once but soon discovered that coke at those temperatures just turns to slush. (Coke slushies don’t sound half-bad to me). The bar seating areas were adorned with globes that had lights and detailed carvings inside, giving them the appearance of blown glass.
The resort gets most of its electricity (including the power to keep the ice museum running) from two unique geothermal generators powered by the natural hot springs. Their philosophy is to use sustainable practices wherever possible. While we were touring the generators, one of the staff drove by in an ancient Ford truck that has been converted to run on wood-chips. They had a good supply of antique autos lying around the property – even those that didn’t run anymore were still put to good use.
In keeping with the resort’s sustainability philosophy, the kitchens are supplied from several enormous greenhouses that provide year-round fresh produce – tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, and other fruits and vegetables. These hydroponic lettuces take only 52 days to go from seedlings to table-ready.
After touring the property and cooling off in the ice museum, we changed into our swimsuits and gave the hot springs a try. But it was a warm and humid day and with the water temperature a sweltering 103 degrees or more, we didn’t last very long. Too bad they don’t have a hot spring pool inside the ice museum.
how do they keep the ice sculptures looking good? Do they not kind of frost over or evaporate eventually?
ReplyDeleteThey do have problems with so many people letting heat in through the doors. Some of the sculptures near the door are prone to evaporation (kind of like ice cubes that have been left too long in the tray). They had a huge castle tower w/spiral staircase that people used to be able to go up inside but now is off limits because the steps melted. I could also tell a couple of the sculptures had been patched with new ice where parts had broken off. But the stuff further in away from the door seems to hold up surprisingly well. I wish we'd had a chance to see them actually carving something -- that would have been really cool.
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