Stockhorn, Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
Iglu-Dorf Stockhorn
Above Erlenbach im Simmental, on the shoulder of the Stockhorn, a village of snow is dug out each winter and left to disappear each spring. It is not a hotel that closes for the season. It ceases to exist, and is built again from nothing the following year.
Sleeping chambers are carved into compacted snow, with sheepskin and insulated mats laid over an ice plinth and expedition-grade sleeping bags on top. Interior temperature holds a few degrees either side of freezing regardless of the weather outside, which is the whole point of building in snow. Washing facilities are housed separately in heated units.
Evenings follow a fixed shape: a walk up, fondue in a communal snow chamber, an outdoor whirlpool under whatever the sky is doing. The cable car from the valley reaches the ridge in stages, and the view from the top takes in the Thunersee and the peaks behind it.