Thanks to the recent heavy snowfalls that have brought great conditions to Scotland’s ski slopes, the famous Kiltarlity Ice Hotel in the Scottish Highlands has opened for winter 2007-8. Rebuilt every year since 1989, the Ice Hotel is believed to be the world’s oldest.

“We get a special kind of snow here in Kiltarlity that’s ideal for building ice hotels,” said master builder Alexander Thorne (12). “We are hoping to copyright ‘the wettest snow on Earth’ as our trademark.”

As in previous years the hotel has been designed as a multi-function space, designed for open plan al fresco living with designers working to maximise the natural ambient light of the Highland winter.

Traditional building techniques passed down through the generations for thousands of years are used in construction.

“I spend a lot of time studying Inuit culture on the Discovery Channel in order to perfect my design,” said Alexander, “…although mostly I like the polar bear documentaries.”

Climate change has been an increasing concern for the ice hotel’s designers, and Assistant Master Architect Robert Thorne (6) agrees that global warming is a worry.

“It used to be that we would build the ice hotel and it would last until the next day,” he said, “but now it tends to melt within 24 hours.”

The Kiltarlity Ice Hotel opened for the season today, and is expected to close for the season tomorrow.