Challenge 50 - STAY IN AN ICE HOTEL

What a finale to my year of madness and memories!  Spending a night on the top of a 2000m alpine mountain, with only ice and snow protecting us from the elements and in the company of 22 of my ever-so-slightly-bonkers ski buddies.


The highlights were many and memorable:-

- watching the sun set over the mountains as the last cable car descended taking with it all remnants of civilisation, comfort and warmth.
- sitting in the ice bar wrapped in reindeer skins, sipping warm Jager Tea and gluhwein
- soaking in a hot tub under a cloudless sky with icicles forming on your eyebrows and hair - followed of course by an obligatory quick roll in the snow a la swedish.
- stargazing while lying in the snow to the sound of Pie Jesu, contemplating the meaning of life, celebrating the wonder of nature and being humbled by our insignificance.
- admiring the spectacular creativity of the ice artists who had sculpted every wall and surface into dream-like scenes of dragons, unicorns, moons, stars, giant hands, forests etc..
- waking up in the morning alive and still with feeling in our extremities.











The lowlights were few and funny:-

- it was chilly to say the least, -10 degrees outside and a balmy -3 degrees in our toasty igloos - where are the hot flushes when you need them?
- being expected to share our romantic petal strewn igloo with 2 random German strangers - and declining - that challenge was definitely not on my list!
- running from igloo to hot tub dressed only in swimsuit, woolly hat and snow boots, while avoiding the would-be paparazzi lurking in the shadows (you know who you are!)
-drying (aka exfoliating) yourself with a frozen solid towel remembering not to bend over in case your bottom sticks to the walls.
- waking in the morning to a blizzard and having to plan a Shackleton type expedition to find the toilet facilities.



    
I could not have asked for a better way to finish the year, or for better people to share it with - thank you for coming along for the ride (especially if that was the first time you had slept in a sleeping bag! - what an introduction to camping!).  Thanks too to the Iglu-Lodge guides for their good humour, tolerance and patience.


www.iglu-lodge.de



The adventure is over - back to normality/reality/sobriety/sanity/senility. My challenges are complete.........

...........   OR ARE THEY?