emirates man
apr/may 2015
| STYLE | TRAVEL
33
NIGHTS I
DAYLIGHT CAN L A ST FOR 24 HOURS DURING SUMMER, WHILE TEMPERATURES CAN RE ACH -30°C IN WINTER, BUT THERE’ S MORE TO LAPLAND THAN EXTREME WEATHER. I T ’S A BE AUTIFUL , ALBEIT ISOLATED, UTOPIA
t doesn’t take long to realise that Lapland is like no other place on Earth. One step off the plane in Kiruna – Sweden’s most northernmost town, home to just 18,000 people and twice as many huskies – is all that’s needed to feel
the full effect of the -30°C temperatures. Look up, odds are the sky will be pitch black, irrespective of the time on your watch. You’re told to expect it – Lapland receives just four hours of daylight in winter – yet you’ll still find it astounding. During the shortest of walks from the aircraft to arrivals, the arctic chill will worm its way beneath your many layers of clothing, and you’ll also notice your nose hairs, eyebrows and (if you have one) beard will have already started to ice over, making you look more than a little like Santa Claus. It’s almost fitting – welcome to Lapland. It’s a place that only deals with
extremes, hosting 24-hour sunshine during the summer months, while winter brings a thick blanket of darkness that relents for a few mere hours a day. Sales of blackout curtains and eye masks rocket throughout the summer – as do those for sunglasses, presumably – while going anywhere without an incredibly powerful torch in the winter months is nigh on suicidal. Swedish Lapland is 120 miles inside the Arctic Circle, which adds a frosty layer of context to the freezing conditions, and explains the omnipresent panorama of snow you’ll find if visiting between November and March.
The jewel of the crown in Swedish
Lapland is undoubtedly Icehotel. What started as a madcap idea between friends Yngve Bergvist and Par Granlund in 1990 – to build an oversized igloo that functioned as an art gallery – has grown beyond even their wildest expectations. Soon locals and visiting tourists wanted to experience it overnight, and the concept of a hotel constructed solely from giant blocks of ice was born. Now celebrating its 25th year, Icehotel has put the microscopic village of Jukkasjärvi – home to just 550 people – on the map, and spawned a raft of imitators. The structure is built anew every year with 9,000 tonnes of snow and ice taken from the nearby Torne River – stored in a sub-zero warehouse during the summer months – boasting 55 bespoke, otherworldly suites, designed by various artists. Open from December until April – at
which point Icehotel melts back into the Torne and the resort rolls out its summer packages (think paddle boarding, white water rafting and other adrenalin spiked excursions in waters of the non-frozen variety) – Icehotel brings in a diverse clientele. Even those who loathe cold weather, believe it or not, as Icehotel’s standardised jumpsuits handed out upon arrival somehow reduce the frostbitten chill from hypothermic to nippy. With the temperature regulated to minus
five, there isn’t a television, wardrobe or sofa to speak of. There’s not even a toilet. Instead expect a reindeer hide atop an ice block, as that is all you’ll get. Except, it isn’t. While it
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