I Did Not Expect Floating in a Frozen Lake to Be This Warm
The temperature was -18°C when I pulled into the parking area near a small lake about 25 kilometres north of Rovaniemi. The ice was 45 centimetres thick — our guide, a Finnish woman named Sanna who had been running this experience for six years, had drilled a test hole the day before. January in Lapland means the sun never rises above the horizon — just a pale blue twilight from 11:00 to 14:00. We were starting at 13:30, which meant we had maybe an hour of usable light left.
I had booked the ice floating experience near Rovaniemi three days earlier, mostly out of curiosity. I'd lived in Lapland my whole life and never once considered climbing into a frozen lake. My father, a reindeer herder near Palojärvi, thought I was joking when I told him. "You'll freeze your kidneys," he said in Finnish. He was wrong.
The setup was simple: a rectangular hole cut into the ice, about three metres by two metres, with a wooden ladder leading down into the water. The lake was about four metres deep at that spot. Sanna had a small kota (wooden hut) nearby with a wood-burning stove, where she kept extra thermal suits and dry towels. She handed me a bright orange dry suit — the kind professional divers use, not an ordinary wetsuit. The material was thick neoprene with rubber seals at the wrists and neck.
The Ice Floating Experience (Product Code: 59425P24)
The dry suit works like this: you wear your normal thermal base layers underneath , I had merino wool long johns and a fleece top , then step into the suit. The neoprene seals keep water out completely. The suit traps a layer of air against your body, which insulates you from the water temperature. The lake water was +0.5°C, just above freezing. Inside the suit, I was sweating within five minutes.
What You Actually Wear , You Stay Completely Dry and Warm
Let me be specific about the gear because this is where most people get nervous. The dry suit Sanna provided was a commercial-grade model from a Finnish manufacturer called Ursuit , the same brand used by the Finnish Coast Guard. The neoprene thickness was 7mm on the body and 5mm on the arms, with latex wrist seals and a neoprene neck seal. Over the suit, you wear a fleece neck gaiter and a neoprene hood. On your feet, insulated neoprene boots that zip up to your shins.
Before entering the water, Sanna had me test the seals by raising my arms and bending my knees. "If you feel cold water trickling in, tell me now," she said. I didn't. She then handed me a pair of neoprene mittens and a waterproof headlamp , not for the water, but for the walk back to the hut in the dark.
The process of entering the water is the only uncomfortable part. You sit on the edge of the ice hole, swing your legs over, and lower yourself down the ladder. The water rises up to your chest, then your neck. The suit compresses slightly against your body. For about ten seconds, you feel the cold pressure of the water , not cold temperature, but the sensation of being submerged in near-freezing liquid. Then your body heat equalises the air layer inside the suit, and you stop feeling anything except a gentle floating sensation.
I floated on my back, arms spread, looking up at the twilight sky. The water was perfectly still , no current, no waves. The only sound was my own breathing and the occasional crack of ice expanding in the cold. A pine tree on the shore had a layer of rime frost so thick it looked like white coral. A Siberian jay landed on a branch about five metres away and watched me with the casual curiosity of a bird that has seen tourists do stranger things.
The Moment I Realized This Was Weirdly Peaceful
I stayed in the water for about 14 minutes , Sanna had a timer set for 15, and she called me out when it buzzed. The first time I tried to move my arms, I realised the suit's buoyancy made it difficult to roll over. You float like a cork. Your head rests about 10 centimetres above the waterline. The neoprene hood keeps your ears dry.
What struck me was the absence of sensory input. In a sauna, you have heat and steam. In a snowmobile ride, you have wind and engine noise. In a husky sled, you have barking and snow spray. Floating in a frozen lake removes almost everything. The water temperature is constant. The air temperature is cold on your face, but your body feels nothing. You just float, staring at the sky, your heartbeat the only thing you can feel.
I thought about my father's reindeer herd, about the calving season in May, about how the same lake in summer would be full of mosquitoes and kayakers. The contrast was absurd. In July, this water is 18°C and full of perch. In January, I was bobbing in it like a human buoy.
Sanna told me later that most people stay in for 10-20 minutes. Some stay longer if the weather is calm. The record for her group was 31 minutes, set by a Norwegian man who claimed he was "comfortable." I believed him. After the first five minutes, your brain stops registering the situation as cold. It registers as neutral. I could have stayed longer, but the air temperature on my exposed face started to feel sharp , the wind picked up, and the -18°C air on wet eyelashes created tiny ice crystals.
Getting out was easier than getting in. I climbed the ladder, and Sanna helped peel the suit off my upper body. My thermal layers underneath were completely dry , not damp, not sweaty, dry. I walked the 30 metres to the kota in my boots and base layers, and Sanna had hot lingonberry juice and gingerbread waiting by the wood stove. She charged €12 for a bowl of salmon soup with rye bread , reasonable for a remote location, and genuinely good.
Who This Experience Is NOT For
Who This Is NOT For
Anyone with a serious fear of water or claustrophobia in tight suits. You are fully submerged except your head, and the suit fits snugly. If the idea of floating in dark water with ice all around you causes genuine anxiety, this is not the activity to push through. Also not for anyone who cannot handle brief cold shock , the first 10 seconds of entering the water are uncomfortable, even with the suit. And finally, not for travellers who want action , this is the opposite of a snowmobile ride. It is still, quiet, and meditative. If that sounds boring, book a husky safari instead.
I checked my phone after I dressed. The battery had dropped from 87% to 34% in 45 minutes of sitting in the cold , even in my jacket pocket. I learned that lesson the hard way, and I mention it in my Lapland packing list guide for a reason: carry a power bank, keep your phone in an inner pocket, and don't expect it to last.
What I Wish I'd Known Before Ice Floating
First: book the earliest time slot available. In December and January, daylight is limited to a few hours of twilight. The 13:30 slot I booked gave me natural light for the first 10 minutes, then headlamp-only for the last four. The experience is still surreal in the dark, but the photos are better with twilight. If you book the 10:00 slot, you get the best light.
Second: wear thin merino wool base layers under the dry suit, not thick fleece. The suit traps air, and thick layers compress that air layer, reducing insulation. I wore a thin Icebreaker long-sleeve top and leggings, and I was warm. A friend who tried it with a thick fleece said she felt cold spots where the fleece compressed against the suit.
Third: bring a thermos of something warm for after. Sanna provided lingonberry juice and gingerbread, but I wished I had coffee. The walk from the lake to the kota is short, but the temperature drop when you step out of the suit is immediate. Your face and hands feel the cold intensely for about two minutes before the hut's stove warms you.
Fourth: the experience costs about $145 per person (€135 at current rates), which includes the dry suit rental, the guided session, and hot drinks. It is not inexpensive, but it is genuinely unique , I have lived in Lapland for 34 years and never heard of anyone doing this outside a tourist context. The Sámi and Finns do not float in frozen lakes for fun. This is a tourist invention, but a well-designed one.
Fifth: combine it with other winter activities on the same day if you are short on time. The ice fishing experience happens on the same type of lake, often at the same location. Some operators offer a combo package: fish through the ice for an hour, then float for 15 minutes. The contrast between sitting still on a bucket waiting for perch and floating weightless in the same water is genuinely interesting.
Sixth: pee before you put the suit on. There is no way to undo the seals once you are in. Sanna told me about a German tourist who did not listen and spent 12 minutes in the water "very uncomfortable." I took her advice.
I went back to the same lake two weeks later with my father. He refused to get in the water , said it was "city people nonsense" , but he sat in the kota and drank coffee while I floated. When I came out, he admitted the suit looked warm. "Maybe in summer," he said. He will never do it. But I will. I have already booked another session for March, when the sun is back and the sky is clear. The husky safari I did the next morning was more active, more exciting, and more traditionally Lapland. But the ice floating was the one thing I told my friends about first. It is strange. It is quiet. And it is the only way I have ever felt warm in a frozen lake.
