Sorrisniva is a wonder of ice and snow
By Eileen Ogintz with Andy Yemma
It’s zero degrees, no sunrise until late January, and the wind makes it seem a lot colder here in Alta, high above the Arctic Circle in Norway. But we are prepared—to visit the Igloo Hotel.
That’s right, it is a hotel made out of compacted snow complete with ice sculptures. Welcome to Sorrisniva, where the final touches are being made for the Igloo Hotel to open later this week. Inside are suites with larger-than-life ice and snow sculptures—maybe you would like to sleep under a sculpture of Icarus, whose wings melted when he flew too close to the sun.
There’s Medusa, Poseidon, Achilles and more in this hotel, the northernmost of igloo hotels around the world. It is rebuilt every year with a different theme, with 250 tons of ice and more than 22,965 cubic feet of snow.
You sleep on a mattress covered by a reindeer hide, inside a sleeping bag. Bathrooms are outside and near the heated Arctic Wilderness Lodge. “It is really quite cozy,” said our guide, Emily Duncan. The hotel is open from Dec. 20 to April 7.
Guests come for bragging rights and the ultimate Arctic experience, spending their day snowmobiling, snowshoeing, ice bathing in the Alta River, learning to ice sculpt, mush a team of huskies and more. There even is a spa and the chance to ride in a reindeer sled, learning about the indigenous Sami culture. Such experiences don’t come cheap: $3400 roughly for a two night experience for two. In summer, you can stay in the lodge and hike, horseback ride, paddle a lightweight boat on the world-famous Alta River and more.
I’ve never worn so many layers and I still can’t feel my toes s. It is our coldest day yet above the Arctic Circle on our two week journey on the Hurtigruten MS Trollfjord to see the Northern Lights. It’s so cold that the ship will leave Alta earlier than originally planned today.
The Plummers, from Melbourne Australia, went to the indoor pool in town “and the girls’ hair was frozen when we left,” joked their mom, Kim.
Though I live in Colorado and love winter sports. I’ve learned a lot about dressing for the cold here—merino wool underwear, hand and toe warmers, glove liners with mittens rather than gloves…layers and more layers! I feel like a stuffed animal when I’m dressed for the outdoors.
The previous day in tiny Honningsvag (just 2800 people live there), we took a bus to the North Cape, famously the northernmost point of Europe reachable by road, the European E69 Highway. We traveled under the sea some 696 feet through the four-mile long North Cape Tunnel.
On our way, we stopped in Sarnes, a tiny fishing village ,where we were treated to freshly caught King Crab. Yum! Incidentally, King Crab is an invasive species — from Kamchatka — but it still tastes great.
In summer we learned, tourists from all over Europe hike, bike and travel by car here to the North Cape. In spring, about 3,800 reindeer are transported by the indigenous Sami people to Mageroy Island. In autumn, when the reindeer must return to the snow-covered plains, they and their calves swim across the one-plus mile strait.
Since the 16th Century, we were told, sailors have used the North Cape to navigate, using the cliff as a reference point. We stood at what feels like the end of the world, looking out at the Barents Sea, posing for pictures at the famous globe that marks the spot. My husband Andy calls it “Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.”
Though tourists have come since 1664, modern tourism started a little more than 200 years later when Oscar II of Sweden-Norway made his way here to 1873, climbing a thousand steps to reach the famous plateau, inadvertently encouraging tourism. Today as many as 300,000 tourists visit a year. (Little known fact: There is actually a peninsula that is nearly a mile farther north but no road goes there, thus the moniker for the North Cape being the most northern point in Europe.)
We warmed up—and did a little souvenir shopping at the spacious North Cape Hall with various exhibits chronicling the history here, including the Cave of Lights, a journey through history and the seasons.
Come in summer and you could hike to the peninsula or see reindeer grazing on the island or tens of thousands of Puffins and other sea birds.
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