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 , " " . Story . 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 had a daughter , Aerith , but their time together was cut short when Professor Hojo led a Shinra force to capture them . In Episode 7 of " Before Crisis - Final Fantasy VII - " , two SOLDIER s , 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 attacks . Though the Turks beat him several times , Tears keeps on getting up . Fuhito kills Tears for being too weak and turns his gun on the player Turks , who fight him . They are rescued by the appearance of a third player Turk , who 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 , captures Essai and Sebastian . Zack and the player Turk rush into the AVALANCHE base and try to rescue the two and along the way , Zack kills Kainyuu . Essai and Sebastian 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 . Cloud will need to react to Elena ' s punch and the player will be given the option of , , or . Tapping the " Left " button will have Cloud dodge Elena ' s punch and cause her to roll down the snow hill . Tapping either the " Up " or " Right " button will have Cloud knocked out unconscious and wake up later at the Professor Gast ' s house . The player will have to tap a directional button within the first few seconds when the directional menu shows up , if not , the game will have Cloud get punched by Elena . After either dodging or being knocked unconscious by Elena , the party snowboards down to the Great Glacier . Locations . Icicle Inn is located to the west on Gaia ' s Northern continent . Town . Bar . The Bar is located within the Inn . The Rest Room in the bar will have different people inside with different dialogues at different times of the game . Holzoff ' s House . An old woman lives here , stating that her husband left 20 years ago and should be at the foot of Gaea ' s Cliff . This references Holzoff whom the party find later . After Meteor is summoned , she instead talks about a doctor on a Southern Island , referencing the Doctor taking care of Cloud in Mideel . Another woman in the house , who refers to Holzoff ' s wife as " Grandma " and Holzoff as " master " states that Holzoff was an experienced climber who knows every corner of the Great Glacier . Before Meteorfall , the old woman and other woman have alternative dialogue set to run when the other woman is standing by the fire . The woman advising the old woman not sleep next to the fire , and the old woman ' s response of her feeling comfortable , although the characters do not need to be spoken to in order . A man outside the house advises taking the map if spoken to him before going down the mountain . If the player has taken it before speaking to him he will comment on it . In the room at the top is a room containing two items . The one on the left is a Vaccine , and the one on the right is a Hero Drink . On the wall outside this room is a map . The player can look at the map which brings up the map of the Great Glacier ( which can later be viewed in certain areas of the Great Glacier if the player has the item ) , or they can take the map which removes the map from the wall and adds its to the player ' s inventory , therefore unviewable from here in the future . Family House . Snowboard is found here . Quests . Snowboarding . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 .