- wool socks
- long underwear
- scarf or comparable neck wear
- tuque or hat (tuques with pompoms are not recommended for sleeping)
- mittens or gloves
- winter coat
- boots that are easy to slip on and off for late-night bathroom visits
- bathing suit for the outdoor hot tubs
Some of the above items can be purchased at the ice hotel.
As for what to wear to sleep, Montreal Ice Hotel management recommends guests change into fresh clothes before retiring in the sleeping bag. While long underwear are recommended, Montreal Snow Village promoter Guy Bélanger claims that garments as unspecialized as standard cotton pajamas and cotton socks can be worn for a comfortable night's sleep since Montreal Ice Hotel sleeping bags are resistant to temperatures as low as -30°C (-22°F), which more than compensates for the warmer ambient temperature ranging from -2°C to -5°C (23° to 28°F) maintained in rooms, suites and polar igloos. Bélanger goes as far as to say you could be completely naked and still be warm enough to brave the night. However, he cautions that there may be some discomfort in going to the bathroom overnight since guests need to walk to the snow village's heated chalet to relieve themselves, hence the recommendation that visitors bring boots that are quick and easy to slip on. The chalet is where the locker room, showers and common area are located.
What If I'm Too Cold Overnight? What Can I Do?
The Ice hotel's heated Snow Village Chalet is equipped with a dorm section which serves a a backup should guests not be comfortable in their respective ice suites, rooms or polar igloos, though Bélanger suggests that visitors usually don't end up in the dorm area because they're too cold, citing that about 5% of Lainio Snow Village visitors in Ylläsjärvi, Finland* do cut their subzero stay short in favor of the heated area. But not for the reason you'd expect. Rather than complaining about the cold, these guests reportedly cut their night short over the sensation of being trapped, feeling constricted in a space that to them, felt too small. Interestingly, that figure corresponds with the estimated prevalence -- 5%, give or take three percentage points depending on the source -- of the world population believed to be afflicted with claustrophobia, the intense fear of enclosed spaces.
*The Montreal Snow Village and Ice Hotel belong to the same chain of ice hotels as the Lainio Snow Village, representing the first North American installation belonging to the chain.
