Igloo on the Ski Mountain

With World Environment Day tomorrow, I thought it would be a good time for an environmentally-friendly ski house...and here's a totally unique one...The Ski House of the Day is Iglu-Dorf, a fascinating ski igloo!

According to their sustainability statement, Iglu-Dorf is completely CO2 neutral...with all of the electric used here coming from hydro and wind power.

Rather than an actual "house," I think I'd describe Iglu-Dorf as a cross between a frozen luxury hotel, a snow-cave and a tiny mountain-top village.  It's an interconnected series of igloos / rooms all built out of the snow and tucked into the ski mountain!

Inspired by his quest for first-tracks, and equipped with just snow and a saw, the inventor constructed his own tiny igloo to spend the night in...but he had so many people ask if they too could spend a night in his igloo, that he decided to make one to share and thus built his business out of the snow in 1995.

Inside Iglu-Dorf there are some incredible public areas...

...including a very cool, open-air snow-surround hot-tub:

 ...plus several private igloo "rooms"...including some standard igloos for families / groups:

...and some romantic igloos / rooms for couples:

.....some of which even include private hot-tubs!

There are actually seven locations of Iglu-Dorf in the Alps and Pyrenees (most in Switzerland) in places such as St. Moritz, Davos and Zermatt.  Incredibly, all of it melts away each spring and is re-built the next winter, with about 3,000 tons of snow each.  Initially they constructed them from blocks of snow piled like bricks...but because that was so time-consuming they now use a quicker method whereby they inflate giant balloons, cover them with snow, then deflate the balloon.  The annual work of rebuilding is also a massive annual work of art, with new designs each year...

...and impressive artwork snow-carvings throughout the igloos:

Part of Iglu-Dorf's energy efficiency is the result of the temperature -- the interior temp hovers at the freezing point (fluctuating only from about 0C to 5C).  They provide guests with sleeping bags and sheepskin rugs to place on top of the snow-beds:

(I know that you back-country skiers sleep on the snow regularly...ok, but for those of us who want a roof overhead, this place is the luxury version!).

 In the igloo's "ice bathrooms" (which do not have showers), you even wash with snow:

.....a unique experience, for sure!

Wait a minute...unique is an understatement.  Sleep on an elegant ice bed, in an candle-lit igloo, with a private hot tub, on top of the ski mountain...and get first tracks at sunrise...wow!

Not only unique and environmentally-friendly, but also in the words of one guest (in a TSR interview on their website) who spoke in French but made it clear that in any language...Iglu-Dorf is "super-cool."