All language subtitles for Building Giants Series 2 1of3 Arctic Ice Hotel 1080p

♪

Narrator:
Deep inside the arctic circle...

Yeah.
No, no, no.

...This team of elite engineers

Is embarking on
an epic endeavor.

Yeah, it's a challenge.

Let's go.

Narrator: They're attempting
to build a unique structure --

One of the largest snow
and ice hotels in the world.

Tjasa:
We work so hard.

My arms are aching.

There's no instruction manual
for how to build an ice hotel.

Ooh!
Aha!

Narrator: Constructed from
more than 15,000 tons

Of snow and ice,

Spanning over
26,000 square feet,

They are pushing to complete
this ambitious build

In an unheard-of six weeks.

Roncoroni:
The rooms are booked.

No matter when we start,

We know that we have to be done
by that day.

Narrator:
To construct this colossus,

The team must battle
extreme cold...

The temperature now is 20 below.

Narrator:
...Failing equipment...

Something is broken.

[ indistinct conversation ]

Narrator:
...And long, dark nights.

Oh.

There's a hole
in the roof.

♪

This remarkable structure ranks

In a league of ambitious
new engineering wonders

That are bigger, faster, taller,

And more advanced than anything
ever constructed before.

This is the inside story
of the extraordinary challenge

Of building these giants.

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪

Northern sweden -- 120 miles
inside the arctic circle.

♪

Here, on the banks
of the mighty torne river,

Lies the small,
snowy outpost of jukkasjarvi.

During the winter,

Temperatures plummet
to minus-20 degrees fahrenheit.

♪

Despite the extreme conditions,

A team of engineers
is assembling here

To build an
extraordinary megastructure --

A remarkable hotel
made entirely from ice

That will enable travelers
from across the world

To experience the harsh beauty
of the arctic winter.

You can get a bit obsessed
by the ice.

Narrator: Creative director
arne bergh wants a night here

To be a
once-in-a-lifetime experience.

♪

The special things we have here
with the nature of the ice

And the snow --
that's what I like.

The light and the darkness
and the northern lights.

♪

Narrator: Arne and his team
plan to design

And build a brand-new luxury
winter retreat like no other.

Bergh: This is a hotel,
but it's much more.

All your senses are involved.

When you enter the building,
it's the smell of winter.

It's an experience hotel.

You go there for the adventure.

♪

Narrator:
The idea for the ice hotel

Was conceived accidentally
back in 1990,

When an exhibition
inside an igloo

Attracted a surprisingly
large crowd to jukkasjarvi.

Bergh: One night, there was
people who had nowhere to sleep,

So we fixed them sleeping bags
and animal skins on the floor

And they slept there.

And one guy was coming out
in the morning,

He had slept great,

And said this was like
sleeping in a hotel,

And that's how
the idea was born.

Narrator: This year, arne aims
to construct the boldest

And most ambitious ice hotel
ever conceived.

I want to say this year,
this is the best ice hotel ever

Because I know that's the
challenge and the inspiration.

♪

Narrator:
This is the icy giant

Arne and his team
must somehow build.

20 interlocking arches of snow
and ice up to 16 feet high

Make up
the hotel's walls and roof.

♪

Inside, an intricately carved
reception hall

Supported by columns
of solid ice

And elegantly lit by three
175-pound ice chandeliers.

♪

At the far end,
a fully functional chapel

All set for winter weddings.

♪

Five smaller corridors lead

To 35 individually designed
guest suites,

Each with its very own
ice-block bed.

In total, the team will use
over 15,000 tons of snow and ice

To build this masterpiece
of ice engineering.

♪

Constructing this giant
in the depths

Of a brutal arctic winter
won't be easy.

♪

Building the ice hotel

Involves a series of unique
engineering challenges.

First, arne's team must extract
hundreds of blocks of river ice,

Each weighing two tons,
and store them in

A temperature-controlled
warehouse.

♪

Next, they'll pump river water
through snow cannons

To create
over 700,000 cubic feet

Of a dense artificial snow
called snice.

Workers then blast this snice
onto special steel molds

To form the hotel's
walls and roof.

They reinforce
the largest arches with columns

And walls of the pure river ice.

Once the main structure
is in place,

Workers use more ice to
hand-carve each individual suite

And install custom-made lighting

To make this palace of ice
truly shine.

♪

It's never too early to get
ready for the big winter build,

With preparations
starting in March.

Enmalm: The project starts now
in the spring,

'cause that's when the ice
at the thickest it can be.

♪

Narrator:
After a long winter,

The ice
on the nearby torne river

Is now over 30 inches thick
and perfect for building with.

♪

Enmalm:
This is where it's the thickest,

So this is where
we're going to start.

Narrator: They need to harvest
an astonishing 2,000 tons

Of the purest ice blocks
for the build.

♪

So, how do you hack ice out of a
frozen river without falling in?

♪

This is the plan.

First, they drive a tractor with
a specially mounted chainsaw

Out onto the frozen river.

♪

[ chainsaw revving ]

Next, they plunge the chainsaw
through the ice,

Cutting a neat grid,
freeing the floating ice blocks.

♪

A second tractor lifts ice
from the river block by block,

And two forklifts
carry them back to land.

But this operation is risky.

If the ice is too thin
or they cut too much,

They could all end up
in the lethal fast-moving water

Beneath the ice.

♪

Henrik spett is one of
the team members tasked

With extracting
the frozen river blocks.

Quiet before the storm.

Yeah.
Yeah.

It'll pick up around 2,000 tons,
so that's quite a lot of ice.

♪

Narrator:
Ten tons of heavy machinery

Ventures out onto the ice.

♪

This is precarious work.

When the tractor drives around,

You can feel sometimes
that it breaks the ice a bit.

♪

Narrator: The chainsaw's
razor-sharp teeth spin

At over 5,000 feet per minute.

♪

It slices through the ice
like a hot knife through butter.

♪

Henrik must gently guide
the powerful saw

Without ruining
the precious crop.

♪

Now they must fish the slippery
two-ton blocks out of the water.

First, they flip out smaller
chunks of ice to make a hole.

Then they submerge

This specially designed hook
to scoop up the blocks.

♪

One wrong move and the team
could be taking an ice bath.

Enmalm:
Everyone knows the excite part.

No one does anything else.

♪

First block --
up.

♪

Narrator:
One block down, 999 to go.

This is a monumental mission.

♪

Spett: The weathers can change
pretty fast,

Even though it's still March.

Narrator:
Just as they make the next cuts,

Suddenly,
air temperatures plunge

To minus-20 degrees fahrenheit.

[ indistinct conversation ]

In such extreme cold,
the fragile ice is vulnerable

Once they pull it
from the river.

♪

It can become unstable.

Bergh: If it's too cold,
there is tension.

It's cracking on the surface

Because it's warmer inside
the ice than the air outside.

♪

Narrator: As the ice rises up
from the 32-degree water

Into the even colder
minus-20-degree air,

The sudden change in temperature
can cause the ice

To contract so quickly,
it could explode.

Enmalm: Just a few seconds,
and a temperature change

Between zero degrees
and to minus-30, so it's a risk.

Narrator: A risk this brave team
can't afford.

♪

♪

Narrator: In northern sweden,
workers are attempting

To harvest over 1,000
two-ton blocks of ice

From the torne river...

To build one of the world's
biggest ice hotels...

But air temperatures
of minus-20 degrees fahrenheit

Threaten to cause the ice blocks
to explode

As they haul them
out of the water.

♪

Spett:
We have to make sure

That the ice blocks
that we take up --

Everything that we can use
so nothing goes to waste.

♪

Narrator:
They wait several hours

For the temperature to rise.

♪

Temperature has risen a bit now
from minus-30 to minus-18.

♪

Narrator: They race to harvest
as many blocks as they can.

Over the next two weeks,

They fill the warehouse
with 2,000 tons of ice.

♪

But now the team must wait
eight months

Until the arctic winter
begins to bite

To start work
on the construction

Of the hotel itself.

♪

The brief summer comes and goes.

♪

It's now November.

♪

It's finally cold enough
for the team to start work.

♪

There are less than
five weeks to go

Until the icehotel is scheduled
to open on December 14th.

With all the rooms fully booked,
arne's team is under pressure.

Oh, I can feel it.
It's, like, quite stressful.

♪

Narrator: Their first
construction challenge

Is to create thousands of tons
of a dense snow they call snice

To build
the hotel's outer shell.

♪

To make snice, they manually
adjust the pressure

Of four powerful snow cannons
to produce a material

Up to six times denser
than natural fallen snow.

♪

Construction leader jocke enmalm
is responsible for building

The hotel's outer structure.

♪

It's perfect.

It's the composition
of the snow.

It's a little, little bit thick,

But it's still very dry,
and that's what we want.

♪

Narrator: But just how do they
make a rock-solid structure

Out of soft snow?

♪

First, the team
must carefully position

Custom-made steel molds,

Locking them together to create
a series of arch tunnels.

Large molds
make up the main hall,

Small molds
make up the corridors,

And finally, midsize molds
form the guest rooms.

Next, workers use
a powerful snow blower

To spray
the special snice mixture

On top of the molds to form
layers over three feet thick.

♪

Overnight, the freezing
arctic temperatures

Should cure
and harden the icy shell.

♪

The next day,
workers slide the molds out,

Leaving an incredibly strong
thick-walled structure behind.

The team must repeat
this process

Until the entire hotel's
outer shell is complete.

♪

Man:
Let's go, yep.

Narrator: The team races
to set the first molds.

The molds are shaped in
the form of a structural arch.

Just like an arch made of stone,
its shape distributes weight

Out to the sides,
making it incredibly strong.

A little bit more
on the left side.

They haul in two-ton ice blocks
to form solid doorways

Between the guest rooms
and corridors.

Finally,
they secure steel plates

To form
a barrier around the molds.

As night falls,

It's time for jocke's team
to bring out the big gun...

♪

...Their 25-ton, 700-horsepower
snowblower tractor.

♪

The monstrous machine uses
spiraled metal blades

To churn up the snice...

♪

...Blasting it up through
an articulating chute

And onto the steel molds.

♪

♪

Workers on top
of the slippery arches

Face the most dangerous
challenge --

They must spread the snice
to an even thickness by hand.

There's even a risk that the
powerful snowblower could shoot

More than just snow at them.

♪

It takes two hours to complete
the first casting session.

♪

The team must leave the casting
to harden

In the cold winter air,

But with only 29 days left
until the grand opening,

Mother nature can be
a fickle partner.

Oh.

There's a hole
in the roof.

A big hole.

♪

♪

Narrator: In arctic sweden,
a team of engineers is racing

To build a giant ice hotel.

Having left the soft snow arches
to harden overnight,

The workers are ready to remove
the first steel molds.

♪

They hook a chain
to the molds...

And gear up to pull them free.

It's vital that the workers
stay underneath the frame

As they pull it out.

A collapsing roof
could be lethal.

Man: Yeah.

♪

With the first row of molds out,
jocke ventures inside

To check whether the new
snice walls have set firm.

The first tunnel
gets the all-clear.

They move on to the next row.

♪

Just as they pull out
the first mold,

They discover a major problem.

A section of the archway has
broken loose, leaving a hole.

It hasn't set properly.

With just 26 days
until the hotel is due to open,

The arch must freeze solid
before they can attempt a fix.

♪

The following day, temperatures
continue to rise above freezing.

It's now too warm
to make more snice

For the hotel's outer shell.

Work onsite grinds to a halt.

♪

It's an unprecedented problem
for arne.

Bergh: We're looking at the
weather prediction every day.

We need below-zero temperature.

So, this is our challenge --

To have everything there
by the 14th of December,

We have to have
a shining ice hotel

For our guests arriving.

♪

Narrator:
It takes five days,

But finally, the temperature
drops back down to freezing

And work on the build
can resume.

The colder it gets,
the happier we are.

[ laughs ]

Narrator: They quickly repair
the hole in the roof,

But arne's team is now
12 days behind schedule.

♪

To make up for lost time,

They must now
work around the clock

To get the build of the hotel's
outer shell back on track.

♪

With each casting,
the hotel grows bigger.

♪

But jocke's team can't leave
the taller 16-foot-high tunnels

Of the main hall
unsupported for long.

♪

Enmalm: The main hall is
the biggest part of the hotel,

The biggest room.

There's a lot of weight
in the ceiling.

♪

Narrator:
Over the course of the winter,

The roof can drop dramatically.

♪

It's all down to the nature
of the building material.

♪

The snice that makes up
the arches contains

Millions of tiny pockets of air.

♪

In the larger arches,
the sheer weight of material

Will gradually
force this air out.

♪

Over time, this makes
the bigger arches contract

And the ceilings
sink dangerously.

To counteract this,

The team will stack blocks
of the strongest ice,

Harvested from the river
nine months earlier,

To form 14 columns
that reinforce the ceiling.

♪

Huge ice walls at either end
will provide extra support

And also protect
the hotel's guests

From the harsh winter outside.

♪

Without a moment to lose,
jocke and his team

Level the ground
to build the first ice columns.

They are trying
to put up the columns

As quickly as possible.

Narrator: They set a massive
seven-foot-tall ice block

At the base of each column.

It alone weighs over 700 pounds.

You must be careful
when you handle that.

Narrator: They use
a special hydraulic pusher

To stack smaller
110-pound blocks of ice on top.

It delicately passes
the heavy ice to the workers.

♪

It's crucial
they keep the pillars level

As they build them higher
or they could become unstable.

Enmalm: Everything needs to be
perfectly aligned.

Need to be straight.

If we had a bend
in the structure

And the roof forces it down,

Then it might swing out
to the side.

♪

Narrator: With guests arriving
in three weeks' time,

A deadly toppling tower of ice
isn't an option.

♪

♪

Narrator:
Deep in the arctic circle...

The team
building this giant ice hotel

Is in a race to support
its sinking ceiling

With pillars of ice.

♪

As the teams stack the blocks,
they pour on cups of cold water.

♪

The water freezes quickly
in the arctic temperatures

To act as a glue.

♪

The higher the pillars get,

The closer the tractor pusher
comes to the delicate ceiling.

The second set of pillars
rise up.

♪

But just as they near the top,

They hit
an unforeseen challenge.

♪

The cold weather causes
the hydraulic pusher to seize.

They have no option
but to carefully haul

Each 110-pound block
off the shovel

And into place by hand.

They saw one ice block
to form a wedge

To place on top of the column,

Squeezing it in tightly
to support the ceiling.

Enmalm:
It freezes almost instantly,

And it's basically
one big block again.

♪

It takes the crew over a week

To finish the columns
and huge ice walls.

♪

The hotel's ceiling should now
stand securely

Through the winter season.

♪

It's now December.

♪

The ice hotel is due to
open its doors to paying guests

In just two weeks' time.

Work on the hotel's outer shell
is almost complete.

♪

Now it rests on the shoulders

Of an international
group of artists

And designers to build each of
the hotel's unique guest rooms

And handcraft the public areas.

♪

Luca roncoroni leads this team.

Always use helmet
and high-visibility vest.

Keep a good clearance
from the -- from the machines.

I'm responsible for the team,
so I make sure

They have everything they need
to build the rooms.

Narrator: He must make sure
that all 33 ice designers

Complete their mission
by December 14th

And not a day later.

Roncoroni:
The rooms are booked.

We know
that there's gonna be guests

Coming from all over the world,
so no matter when we start,

We know that we have to be done
by that day.

♪

Narrator:
But just how will they transform

These hardened icy archways
into a beautiful boutique hotel?

♪

To build the intricate
sculpted interiors,

First luca's team must carefully
transport tons of snow

And ice to each suite...

Then seal it inside
with a final wall of snice.

♪

Next, using a mixture of
hand tools and power tools,

The designers
carve intricate patterns

And shape stunning sculptures

From the crystal-clear
river ice.

♪

Finally, in the main hall
and chapel,

Elite teams of artisans
will turn several tons of ice

Into towering shapes and statues
to transform this cold,

Empty space into
a winter wonderland.

♪

12 days until opening.

♪

A number of rooms are ready

For the first ice designers
to craft their suites.

♪

In the production hall,
luca is under pressure

To deliver the pre-cut blocks
of ice for each team.

♪

If you take an average
of 12 tons of ice per suite,

It's a huge amount
of material going in.

Bergh:
Luca is fantastic.

Almost all the time,
he's awake, he's on the site,

And he's, like,
really supporting everyone

And seeing
that everything is working.

We need 26 and 20.

Narrator: Now with so many
people and machines onsite,

Everybody needs
to stay extra alert.

Roncoroni:
We have, like, big machinery.
We have snow cannons going on.

So, yeah, like, sound and light
coming in different direction.

We all need to be aware
of what everybody else is doing

So that we don't get
in the way of each other

And that we avoid
potentially dangerous situation.

Narrator:
But some of the challenges

Aren't so easy to prepare for.

I'm working with my mother.
[ chuckles ]

♪

♪

Narrator:
At the jukkasjarvi icehotel,

Building each unique suite

Within a two-week time span
is a major engineering feat.

♪

The challenge and the exciting
thing about the icehotel

Is that the rooms
are so different,

And every single room

Requires a different set
of techniques and skills.

So we're doing anything
from building to digging

Or building snow with ice.

Narrator:
Swedish team tjasa and sam

Are working hard
to build their suite.

♪

It's called "wisdom of oak"

And will feature two large trees
made from ice.

I'm working with my son.

[ laughs ]

This is our first project
together,

But I also forced him

To work a whole christmas once
when he was 11.

I'm working with my mother.
[ chuckles ]

I'm a carpenter, so it's a big
difference with this.

You don't really know
what's gonna work.

Narrator: It takes three days
to create the first ice tree.

♪

But now tjasa and sam
face a complex challenge.

The branches of the second tree,
weighing over 700 pounds apiece,

Must hang over
where the guests will sleep.

The key challenge is to support
this big branches.

Tjasa: The guests should sleep
safely here...

[chuckles] during the night.

You have to make sure
that there's no branches

Falling down on the guests.

♪

Narrator: Sam plans to hide
wooden joists out of sight

To hold up the branches.

It's the only way
to make them safe.

First, our idea
was to just use ice,

But we -- it was impossible.

Narrator:
With the supports in the wall,

They can install
the heavy branches.

So, here, we have a shelf
already made for the ice

And a shelf over here
made for the ice.

I think this will be
a working solution.

♪

Narrator: They use a special
manual lifting platform

To hoist the first branch up.

So, maybe a little bit
too high.

I think
a little bit more down.

♪

That's...

You can see
the problem.

We're not even
on the edge yet.

It's a thing
over there.

♪

Yeah.

It's looking good.

Narrator: The first branch
slots into position.

Now for the second.

One, two, three.

It doesn't fit.

But the good thing about ice is
you can chisel it down to size.

Yes.

Perfect.

Both ice branches
may be in place,

But there's still
a huge amount of work to do.

I think the two-week limit
is a little bit like, okay,

It's got to be done,

And for many people,
it will be very little time.

♪

Narrator: As work continues
in the suites...

Intricate sculptures

Begin to take shape
in the main hall and chapel.

♪

As the race to finish the hotel
enters its final stages,

The build team faces
a new challenge --

All of the stunning suites
and sculptures

Will be for nothing
if they're not lit up.

Lighting is definitely
the make-or-break deal.

It's very important.

If you just have ice standing,

It will look gray
or transparent.

It will look very dull,

But using a little bit of light,
it will look magical.

♪

Narrator: In charge
of illuminating the ice

Is chief electrician

And lighting designer
olaf lange.

♪

Olaf and his team
have just a few days to wire

And light 35 rooms.

♪

Remember, that's where
the magic happens.

Narrator:
The pressure is on.

♪

♪

Narrator:
Deep in the arctic circle...

One of the world's
biggest ice hotels

Is scheduled to open
in just a few days' time.

I work 15 to 17 hours a day,
and it's hard work.

It's really
a demanding last few days.

♪

Narrator:
While teams race to complete

The exquisite interior rooms...

[ speaking swedish ]

Narrator: ...Olaf lange's crew
is under pressure to wire

And light them up,

A job that would traditionally
take several weeks.

The idea is that
you would have the guests

Coming into each suite
and just [gasps]

Basically dropping their jaw.

[ chuckles ]
then we've done our job good.

♪

Narrator:
This is how they'll do it.

♪

They wire up nine power outlets

Buried around
the hotel's perimeter.

♪

Next, they'll punch specially
shielded high-voltage cables

Through the thick ice walls...

Connect them
to 15 junction boxes...

Then branch upwards
to reach the ice hotel's roof.

Here, they'll rig
a complex electrified grid,

Feeding all 35 guest rooms

And the hotel's main hall
and chapel with wires

To power hundreds
of individual l.E.D.S.

Finally, they'll hoist
four giant ice chandeliers,

Each weighing 175 pounds,

And hang them from the fragile
snow-and-ice ceiling --

An entire hotel wired and lit
in just seven days.

♪

As olaf drives the cables
through the hotel's walls

And roof from the outside...

♪

...Inside, electricians install
hundreds of individual l.E.D.S.

♪

These shine through sculptures
and icy lampshades.

They carefully conceal each wire
in the walls with snice.

♪

[ laughs ]

Now olaf faces
his greatest challenge.

He must mount the most important
lights of all --

The 175-pound ice chandeliers.

There must be a chandelier
in the icehotel.

Otherwise,
it's not the icehotel.

♪

Narrator: Olaf must erect
a special winch up on the roof.

Lange: This is the winch to
raise and hang the chandelier.

So, we use it to lift it
from the pillow

And then another lock
to keep it in place.

Narrator: These support boards
will help spread

The 220-pound weight
of the winch and chandelier.

Time feels very much longer
when you're up here in the cold

Waiting for something to happen.

Narrator:
Finally, the moment of truth.

Now we raise it up.

♪

It's hanging.
It's shining.

It'd never feel quite finished

Unless we have
the chandelier in place.

♪

Narrator: With the clock
counting down to opening...

Crews battle
to finish the hotel.

♪

Yeah, it's so many that need
their stuff now in the rooms.

In the suites, giant sculptures
emerge from the ice.

There is definitely a buzz
in the air.

♪

So, now it's just a few hours
left to the guests will arrive

To see the whole creation.

You work so hard.

My arms are aching. [ chuckles ]

♪

Narrator: Workers race
to clear corridors...

And put the finishing touches
to the ice beds.

♪

It's taken more than 4,000 hours
of intricate labor

And ingenious
sub-zero engineering...

♪

...But one of the world's
largest snow-and-ice hotels

Is finally complete.

♪

For mother-and-son design team
tjasa and sam,

Completing their suite
is a huge relief.

I hope that the guests
will enjoy it.

Tjasa: I'm super proud
and also grateful

That we were able
to do this room together.

♪

Narrator: Their suite
is one of 35 unique guest rooms

Carefully crafted

From over 120,000 gallons
of frozen water,

Providing guests
with a one-of-a-kind experience

That they'll never forget.

♪

So, we want to welcome you all
to see the icehotel.

Thank you very much.
Welcome.

[ cheers and applause ]

♪

It's a relief
and a great moment.

I think we have
the best team ever.

Narrator:
Guests from around the world

Will now enjoy a spectacular
arctic escape all winter long.

Bergh: I'd like our guests to,
you know,

Experience the contrast
of staying in the icehotel,

Staying in minus-five,

Being out on an adventure
with snowmobiles,

And then going by a fire.

That's what I like, and I hope
that everyone else does.

♪