How food is stored in a glacier: Canada's most famous freezer (4 photos)

Tuktoyaktuk is a tiny village of less than 1,000 people located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean in Canada. It has a unique refrigerator the size of an entire house, which is used by local residents.





Freezer

People living in and around Tuktoyaktuk have been avid hunters of whales and geese for thousands of years. In the middle of the last century, the residents of Tuktoyaktuk decided that they needed a natural freezer that would ensure that their perishable food remained fresh at any time of the year. This is how a “freezer” appeared, cut into the glacier.



Stairs to the freezer.

The structure is a narrow artificial cave that extends almost 10 m underground. The cave has several passages where locals can store food. The glacier's labyrinths were a popular tourist attraction until local authorities decided it was too dangerous to continually lead tourists up slippery, frozen stairs into the dimly lit tunnel. Today, travelers can only enter the vault if they are invited and accompanied by a local resident.





frost tunnel

Why is such storage dangerous?

Those lucky enough to visit the vault are in for a real treat. The narrow passages in the house are lined with thin ice crystals that sparkle in the light. The ice storage facility is so cold that chunks of ice crunch underfoot every time a new visitor enters.

Visitors and residents of Tuktoyaktuk who descend into the glacier for food should proceed with extreme caution. The space is narrow and slippery. There is a network of ropes and pulleys to help residents remove large pieces of meat from the lower passages. A slippery wooden staircase is the only way in and out of the ice house, where you have to be very careful.



Cameras in the tunnel

Walking through the frozen halls of the house is like a mini-expedition to explore the Arctic. A polar bear, of course, will not be able to attack there, but there are still risks: you can slip and break your leg due to the slippery surface. Many visitors who have marveled at the shimmering ice crystals lining the glacier's walls enthuse that the 10-metre descent into the narrow ice cave is worth the risk.