It is working! The Aurora Ice Hotel at Chena Hot Springs Resort, just 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks, Alaska in the heart of America's largest state, is now fully enclosed in a Styrofoam shell, has refrigeration units cooling its walls and is maintaining its structural integrity. The Aurora Ice Hotel was opened for the first time December 31, 2003 at the natural mineral hot springs popular for northern lights viewing. Chena Hot Springs Resort owner, Bernie Karl, hired world ice sculpting champion, Steve Brice, to design and construct the six-bedroom hotel that has been referred to as the most artistic ice hotel in the world. Temperatures in Fairbanks can reach into the 90�s in the summer with 24 hours of sunshine, so Karl purchased R-24 Styrofoam panels manufactured in North Pole, Alaska and had them constructed over the outside of the hotel during the month of April. Daily temperature tests and measurements reveal that internal temperatures are staying approximately 24 degrees Fahrenheit. Karl also placed 14,000 feet of Weresbo tubing in the 6-foot walls of the hotel to keep the snow cold. When it gets warmer out, the tubing will carry minus 20-degree antifreeze through it. �We�ve just built the largest cooler in the world,� Karl says. Guests to the popular hot springs can either take a tour of the ice hotel for $15 for adults, $7.50 for children 5-17, or they can overnight in one of the specialty rooms for $575. Ice hotel guests receive two rooms, one room in the ice hotel and a second one in the Moose Lodge, which is heated by the hot springs, where they can keep their suitcases, take showers, watch television, or use the bathroom since there are no toilet facilities in the ice hotel.

The Aurora Ice Hotel also features a wedding gazebo, where six weddings have been held so far this year, an ice bar with signature sculpted ice martini glasses, five ice chandeliers lit with color changing fiber optics, a jousting knight and other sculptures, as well as six bedrooms, each with its own theme. One bedroom is an igloo with an ice skylight, one bedroom features a polar bear bed, and another a four-poster bed named for Empress Anne, the Russian Empress credited for building the first ice hotel for her jester and his second wife. To see photos of this beautiful structure and more information about its construction, see the web page www.chenahotsprings.com/icehotel.html

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Media Contact: Brenda Hewitt +1 (907) 488-1505 bhewitt@chenahotsprings.com