Take a Chill Pill Trivia Quiz

Answer: Washington

Rock on! Big Four can be found in the Cascades Mountains, but you'll only ever get to experience the crazy majesty of this site during the late summer. Why? Well, when winter rolls around, the caves, being in the shadow of Big Four Mountain, tend to freeze over completely, solidifying and preventing access.

When summer rolls around and melts the nearby snows, the water ends up eroding tunnels in the ice, causing beautiful patterns and trails. Found near Silverton, Washington, the trails here are a part of Mt. Baker National Forest.

Answer: Harbin

Considered the Ice City of China, Harbin, found in Heilongjiang Province (bordering North Korea and Russia), typically receives cold airflow from the northwest and, as such, has extremely cold winters. Every January, the city plays host to the world by constructing sculptures and full-scale buildings entirely out of ice pulled from the nearby Songhua River.

A delight for the senses, you'll probably end up experiencing fireworks and light shows, all against the backdrop of an illuminated ice city. Oh, and don't worry about the chilly reception, man!

Answer: Quebec City, Canada

Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier is west of Quebec City on the Jacques-Cartier River and it plays host to the totally radical Ice Hotel, a building made entirely out of ice and snow and constructed to house dozens of overnight visitors. Often, each room has a particular custom theme, almost always carved out of the material on-hand.

When the structure thaws in the spring (and, yes, Canadians do get springtime), it's lost forever; every subsequent year a completely new one is made with a different layout and design.

It was first built in 2001 and, unsurprisingly, is not the only one around the world; there are more in Scandinavia.

Answer: Iceland

Iceland, despite being warmer than its neighbour, Greenland, is still cold despite what many think. Although the island nation is home to many geothermal hot spots, its temperature dips quite low in its North Atlantic location. The Vatnajökull Glacier is good evidence of this.

This glacier, the largest ice cap in Europe, is found in the southeast corner of Iceland and reaches nearly half a kilometer in thickness. Not to mention, Iceland is a pretty cool place to be spending your vay-cay, man!

Answer: Japan

Built in the town of Kesennuma on the eastern coast of Honshu, Japan, Kori no Suizokukan is an aquarium for people who seem to wish something unfortunate on fish. Found in an actual fish market, the 'aquarium' was made to preserve its specimens for all to see. Of course, this meant encasing them in large blocks of ice and illuminating them from the back.

The fish are all local catches, and they're kept below-freezing year-round. Just don't catch cold, dude!

Answer: Svalbard

The Svalbard Seed Bank, found on the remote island of Spitsbergen, Norway, is a globally-used hole carved into a sandstone mountain used to store a world's supply of cultivated seeds-- over four million individual seeds, in fact-- enough to protect the planet from famine...hopefully...if a supervirus wipes out our crops. Think of it like a safety deposit box for seeds; scientists from around the globe place their seeds inside, ensuring the back-up lives forever (or until it's needed). Svalbard is, of course, less than one thousand miles from the North Pole. You can imagine how hard it is to reclaim the seeds.

Answer: The Alps

Sphinx Observatory is found atop the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland, three and a half kilometers above sea level (making it one of the highest towers in the world). Amazingly, the location actually houses a train station lower down-- you can actually take a train inside and then an elevator up to the observation deck. From the top you can see the Eiger-- another famous Swiss peak.

The observatory probably evokes the image of the famous Egyptian landmark, but it was actually named after the summit upon which it was constructed; it's on the eastern side. Maybe the fresh air will clear up your confusion and calm your groove, man!

Answer: Antarctica

Found in the archipelago stretching off Antarctica towards the tip of Argentina, Deception Island is actually the caldera of an active volcano which, coincidentally, gives the location some pleasant hot springs to bask in (if your vay-cay sends you this way, man!).

The ash-strewn, blackened island is warm enough, in some spots, to null out the brisk Antarctic air. While the place is home to a number of unique birds (including the chinstrap penguin), it's also a rare site for Antarctic plant life and, as such, is a scientific hotspot...in a cold spot.

Answer: Nagano

Jigokudani Monkey Park is actually in the volcanic reaches of Jōshin'etsu-kōgen National Park near Nagano, Japan. Here, visitors can lounge around the hot springs while the local Japanese macaques bathe in them, and if that's not a relaxing prospect, man, you need to take a chill pill.

The monkeys live high up in the cliffs for the most part and descend during colder times to warm themselves up in the natural springs; during the winter, the entire place is also blanketed in snow. Because of this, these primates are considered some of the coldest-dwelling monkeys in the world. If they can do it, you certainly can.

Answer: Mount Erebus

While the other three are found in South America, Mount Erebus sits on the edge of Antarctica, rising over three kilometers into the chilly air. Much is still not known about this volcano-- the southernmost in the world. One of the most prominent peaks in the Antarctic, it's tall enough that you wouldn't be able to feel the heat from its exposed crater from the outside...simply because it's too cold out. Erebus, as it seems, was the Greek God of Darkness. Yikes.