Ice mountain goes up in Rovaniemi on Arctic Circle

Ice World theme park to be set up at Santa’s Village

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There it is, Behind the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi in Finnish Lapland, a growing ice mountain.
      The structure is currently about ten metres tall and growing, but already now the top of this latest attraction at the Arctic Circle already rises higher than the orange sun that glows faintly in the November afternoon.
     
In the coming days, artificial snow machines and fire hoses spraying cold water will add mass to the size of the mountain so that it’s peak will reach a height of 13 to 15 metres by the weekend.
      “On one side of the ice mountain there will be a wall ten metres high, where it will be possible to project a cross, or a picture of a couple to be wed. Below the wall there will be an altar”, says Teijo Romppainen, whose brainchild the ice mountain is.
      His ideas are not limited to the peak, however. An entire Ice World is going up at the Arctic Circle, as a place for recreation.
      In an area slightly larger than a football pitch, there will be a log sauna made of ice, as well as overnight accommodation facilities, a miniature golf course, a restaurant, a labyrinth, and a slide.
      The attraction is run by Romppainen’s company Ice Park Finland. The budget is in the “six figures”.
     
Romppainen is not disclosing details about construction techniques, or the budget for the mountain. “Many have tried to build a large ice mountain before, but they have not managed to get the structure to work.”
      He first put forward his idea on a television programme. The business idea by the blind detective story writer convinced businessman Toivo Sukari that it could work, and he promised to finance the mountain to the tune of EUR 60,000.
      There was already an attempt to set up such a mountain in Lampäälä last year, but the mild winter prevented that from happening.
      The location was moved further north this year.
     
About ten workers are working day and night setting up the Ice World. The opening will be on Saturday, November 29th, as part of the official launch of the Rovaniemi Christmas season. Once it is completed, Romppainen does not plan to let it melt even for the summer.
      After April, it will be covered with tarps and heat insulation to wait for next winter, when plans are to make it even bigger than this winter.


Links:
  Ice Park Finland

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