It is a large underground cave cut into the permafrost. You risk breaking your neck climbing 30 feet down a slippery, ice-covered ladder, but the trip is worth it. You can see the tunnels and rooms carved into the rock – the rooms have doors where families can store food, like whale meat or other local meat. The temperature stays pretty consistent at -15 Celsius (about 5F).
The rock walls and ceilings are covered in ice crystals and you can see what permafrost looks like – layers of rock, sand and pebbles.
It reminded us of very cold catacombs.
Here is some more information from http://wikitravel.org/en/Tuktoyaktuk:
“The Ice House: This freezer was dug in 1963 in the permafrost underneath the town and has been in use as a permanent fridge ever since. Very eerie but amazing. Used by locals to store meat collected during hunts. There are 19 rooms in total, divided into three "hallways." Strangely, it is coolest in the ice house during the summer months, but in the winter it warms up and meat is taken out to prevent molding."