Bâlea Lake
ROMANIA
Bâlea Lac Ice Hotel & the Transfăgărășan Highway
By AARON
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
“Avalanches? I know how to survive an avalanche, I will tell you” said our hotel host, Alex as he took us on a deep snow hike outside of the Bâlea Lac Ice Hotel.
“All you have to do is dig a hole and then hide in the hole as the avalanche goes over you, then you just come out after it has passed.” This would not be the only advice our very hospitable host Alex would give us over the next 16 hours, but I’m getting ahead of myself…
Lyndi and I woke up the morning of February 28th to our last day in the town of Brașov, as we had secured a rental car via Casa Wagner and had reservations that evening at the Bâlea Lac Ice Hotel, located at the top of the Transfăgărășan Highway.
After touring the Black Church just outside of the main square where we were staying, we secured our rental car and headed out of the city for the 120 km trip to the hotel. The drive was fairly uneventful, other than the crazy driving antics of Romanians (they LOVE to ride people’s bumpers till they can pass you) and a red fox sighting set among the stark white landscape of Romanian farmland, we eventually made it to the gondola that would take us up to the ice hotel.
Now the gondola in the wintertime is a fickle beast. While there are set departure times, they won’t leave until they have a minimum number of people secured. By the time we arrived, there was only one departure time left, and as luck would have it, there was a group of snowboarders waiting to head up to the top as well.
Once we arrived, we were greeted by Alex, our ice hotel host/bartender/survival guide, and along with another couple we headed to the main building to debrief on our experience for the evening.
So the ice hotel itself opens up around 6pm, but you can’t go to your rooms until 9pm as the bar is open to all guests till that time. Lyndi and I were wondering how we were ever going to stay up that late as we were wanting sort of a quiet, early evening, but little were we aware, the power of the sirens call that is the Bâlea Lac Ice Hotel…
After storing our bags in the main chalet hotel, Alex took us and the Romanian couple also staying there (also named Alex and his girlfriend Vanessa) on an hour-long hike in the deep snow to one of the tunnels that make up the Transfăgărășan Highway (the road is closed October-June).
The highway was created back in the 1970s as a response to the Czechoslovakian invasion by the Soviet Union. The Romanian president wanted to ensure his military quick access across the Făgărăș mountains, should the Russians invade Romania as well. The construction came at a cost though, as hundreds of soldiers lost their lives constructing it in the high alpine elevation, reaching over 6,500 feet.
Definitely one of the highlights of the day, we trekked through the deep snow in blizzard-like conditions, only to enter a kilometer-long tunnel where we were blanketed in darkness and absolute silence. We walked the length of the tunnel, at times using our cell-phones as a light source, while Alex talked about the history of the road as well as informational gems such as, “I don’t wear gloves in the snow, so that the blood rushes to my hands, keeping them warm” and “Avalanches? I know how to survive avalanches…”. True? Absolutely not. Entertaining? That’s a hard yes. And while Alex may not have been our top choice should we find ourselves stranded deep in the Făgărăș Mountains, he proved to be a more than capable host.
Now here’s where things get interesting:
- The Romanian couple that was also staying at the ice hotel were there, unbeknownst to Vanessa the girlfriend, to get engaged at the Ice Church (yes, they have one of those too).
- Alex, the boyfriend let us in on this little secret so that we could celebrate with them after.
- It was also Alex’s birthday at midnight that evening, and apparently Romanian culture dictates that the birthday boy (or girl) is the one that pays for everything, completely opposite of our b-day practices.
- Remember when Lyndi and I wanted to “call it an early night”??? Yeeeaaahhhh, that didn’t happen.
What DID happen though was a myriad of things. Vanessa and Alex got engaged, so we met them at the ice hotel around 8pm to celebrate. We also met a group of four Slovenian alpine hikers who not only said they really like Americans (whaaaaat?), but they also debunked Alex the Host’s sage advice on winter survival.
Naturally the ice hotel was cold, so I ended up wearing a giant sheepskin jacket, and of course you have to take Jaeger shots out of shot glasses made of ice.
Next thing we knew it was 9pm, so the ice hotel shut down and we went to bed.
Just kidding. We decided to take the party back to the chalet, where what ensued was a birthday/engagement celebration of epic proportions. Alex our host was pouring glasses (not shots, glasses) of whiskey, to be paired with beers, more Jaeger shots and let’s not forget champagne, because hey, we were celebrating. All the while Alex the birthday boy refusing any sort of money (despite our best efforts) for any of the drinks.
The last thing I remember is us heating up a pot of boiling water to throw in the air outside and watching it immediately turn to ice, while the hotel staff gathered around the one TV to watch what appeared to be a really bad Romanian soap opera. Being -20C it was probably good that we were drunk as the walk back to the ice hotel was COLD and although there were plenty of blankets and sleeping bags, we woke up the next morning freezing our toes off as we stumbled back to the chalet, dehydrated and me with a massive headache.
So we found ourselves on the 1st day of March hungover, cold, and having to drive back 120 km to Brașov, where we would soon meet a man that would put Alex’s outlandish winter statements to shame.
For we were to do an overnight snow hike with Cosmin: bear attack survivalist, expert tracker, political problem-solver, photography expert and “watcher of people while they sleep”. Lyndi will have fun writing this next blog…
