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(above) The Winter Carnival night parade; (below) Bonhomme de Carnaval, mascot of the annual festivities. to dull the chill. Though we're tempted to stay, the suites await. Unlike the world's other ice hotel, in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, which is recast from the same mould each season, Quebec City's 35-room structure is newly designed year after year. Master ice sculptors carve each of its 15 suites, in themes such as arctic adventure, undersea world, rose garden and Roman temple. Ours, the Lady Ice, contains elaborately sculpted ice furnishings and a three-dimensional snow goddess emerging from the snowy wall. The headboard of the fur-strewn bed (which we discover is actually a foam mattress and box spring on top of the aforementioned block of ice), recalls Superman's Fortress of Solitude: long ice crystals, illuminated from beneath, glow blue-green in the dimness. A drink at the ice bar later, we trade snowsuits for swimsuits and soak in one of the outdoor hot tubs. Our hair and eyelashes freeze in the rising steam, and though the snow falls softly around us, the cold couldn't feel further away. That night we sleep like babies, snug in our mummy bags, waking to the porter placing a thermos of coffee at the table by our feet. It smells delicious as I drink it down black, feeling more alert and invigorated than usual for 8 a.m. I could get used to this. There is more than a metre of snow on the ground when we strap on snowshoes to explore some of the Duchesnay's 80 kilometres of trails. The lakeside resort is a dazzling winter playground under a canopy of snowdraped trees. Hundreds of guests from the city and further afield are here to spend the weekend skating, cross-country skiing and dogsledding across the frozen terrain. Still, I can't forget the words of Marylene Labrie, Duchesnay's associate director of customer service, over breakfast as she welcomed us to the resort: "In 2008, I climbed the snow to the roof of my house. This year," she said, wrinkling her nose, "very little." It would be the first of many disparaging remarks we'd hear about the lack of white stuff since 2008, Quebec City's 400th anniversary year, which was marked by a record 5.58-metre snowfall. It's amazing that what to me seems the perfect 10 of a (top) courtesy ©MTOQ/V'lan Communications, (right) ©MTOQ/Luc-Antoine Couturier p22-27_Quebec.indd 25 WESTWORLD >> W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 25 12-10-19 9:52 AM