Icicle Inn

Icicle Inn is a town in Final Fantasy VII located on the frozen area of the Northern Continent, in an area referred to by the Cetra as the Knowlespole. To the north is the Great Glacier, and to the south is Modeoheim (only appears in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-). It is called Icicle Lodge in the Japanese version.

The town functions as a resort because it snows year round. The constant cold temperatures are not due to the location, which is somewhat polar, but because of the town's proximity to the North Crater, where the Planet uses a large amount of Spirit Energy to try to heal itself.

The snowboarding minigame, which is also playable in Gold Saucer after it reopens in disc 2, was made into a full game of its own with the mobile phone game, Final Fantasy VII: Snowboarding.

Storyline
For a time, Professor Gast Faremis and Ifalna, a Cetra, lived in the town to hide from Shinra Electric Power Company. Ifalna told Gast about the Cetra and their ways and clears up that Jenova is not a Cetra, but the calamity that destroyed their race. They have a daughter, Aerith, but their time together is cut short when Professor Hojo leads a Shinra force to capture them.

In Episode 7 of Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, two SOLDIERs, Essai and Sebastian, are kidnapped by AVALANCHE and Veld orders two player Turks to find out what happened. The Turks make their way to an AVALANCHE base, where Fuhito is waiting. He orders one of his Ravens, named Tears, after the Turks. The Turks find and rescue the SOLDIERs from capsules where the Ravens are being produced. As the Turks try to leave, Tears appears and attacks. Though the Turks beat him several times, Tears keeps on getting up. Fuhito personally appears to the player, and kills Tears for being too weak. He turns his gun on the player Turks, who have to fight him. They are rescued by the appearance of a third player Turk, who daringly drives a truck through the wall.

The next Episode, President Shinra orders in a SOLDIER 1st Class, Zack Fair, to help destroy the AVALANCHE base, with help from the Turks. During the mission, Essai and Sebastian are separated from the player Turk and Zack. Kainyuu, another Raven, easily captures Essai and Sebastian. Zack and the player Turk rush into the AVALANCHE base and try to rescue Essai and Sebastian and along the way, Zack easily kills Kainyuu. They are too far gone in the transformation into Ravens and must be defeated, and the SOLDIERs die in Zack's arms. Fuhito and all the important AVALANCHE materials have already been evacuated, so he blows the base up to cover his tracks.

Many years later during Final Fantasy VII, Cloud Strife and his party pass through Icicle Inn while chasing after Sephiroth. The party explores the town, and finds Professor Gast's video research of his work with Ifalna. They find they cannot reach Sephiroth in the North Crater without snowboards. One is found with a boy who broke his leg with it. Just before the party leaves, Elena from the Turks appears, blaming Cloud for Tseng's injuries. After either dodging or being knocked unconscious by Elena, the party snowboards down to the Great Glacier.

Location
Icicle Inn is located to the west on Gaia's Northern continent.

Items Found

 * Glacier Map
 * Hero Drink
 * Vaccine
 * X-Potion
 * Turbo Ether
 * Snowboard (required item)

Snowboarding

 * For the minigame in Gold Saucer see Wonder Square.

The player can first play the snowboarding minigame in Icicle Inn, and doing so is mandatory to advance in the storyline. The minigame is later available in Gold Saucer's Wonder Square with new features. Because of the absence of the scoring system collecting the balloons does nothing in the Icicle Inn course, and it doesn't matter what time the player makes. It is impossible to collect all balloons during a game.

is jump and / is brake. and make Cloud edge the snowboard, taking turns faster than pressing.

Choosing which course (either left or right) to take in an intersection determines the location in where the player arrives at in Great Glacier. The player can either end up in the middle entrance area with a sign, in a forest, in an area with a tree or in a path near the ice cave at the bottom right of the glacier.


 * Left: There will be rocks in the snow, after which snowballs come rolling side to side.
 * Left/Left: There are penguins to dodge at first, after which after which there are sharp corners to take. Leads to the forest in Great Glacier.
 * Left/Right: A cave with icicles falling from the ceiling. Leads to the middle entrance to the glacier with a sign.
 * Right: Rocks stick out the course, and snowballs roll from the sides.
 * Right/Left: Caves with ice crystals. Leads to the lone tree.
 * Right/Right: Moogles run from left to right and there will be igloos with moogles popping up from behind them. Leads to a rocky path near an ice cave.

The snowboarding game in Icicle Inn cannot be played with Tifa or Cid as party leader, even if they can play the game in Gold Saucer when in Cloud's party. If the player tries to go snowboarding as Tifa or Cid, the person at the back of the village tells them that they can't, because there is now a barrier covering the crater.

Grassland

 * Vlakorados
 * Trickplay
 * Trickplay x2
 * Trickplay x2 (Back attack)
 * Vlakorados (Back attack)

Beach

 * Tonadu

Grassland

 * Bandersnatch
 * Bandersnatch x2
 * Bandersnatch x3
 * Jumping
 * Jumping x2
 * Bandersnatch x2 (Back attack)
 * Bandersnatch x2 (Ambush)

Etymology
The katakana spelling of "Knowlespole" seems to refer to North Pole, although "ノルズポル" is strictly a Final Fantasy VII word. It may be intended as a variation of the word, or with a double-meaning, possibly with something to do with.

Gasthaus zum Eiszapfen