The Icicle Inn is sometimes refered to as the Snowy Village. As usuall there are some shops and a place to rest. In one of the houses there is a machine that lets you watch some Videos all about Aeris' past.
Your final goal is to get past the Purple Guard at the top of the screen. Before you do this, there are two Key Items that you have to find, the Snowboard and the Great Glacier Map.
The Map is on the wall inside one of the houses on the right side of the screen.
To get the snowboard you first need to go and talk to the Purple Guard. When you do this, the Turks will show up, and Cloud gets into a slapping match with Scarlet! When this is over, go into one of the middle houses and talk to the young boy with the Snowboard.
Now that you have got the Snowboard you can walk past the Purple Guard, and move onto the Snowboarding Subgame, which takes you to the Great Glacier.
The controls are very simple, and are explained to you. At this point in the game the balloons serve no purpose.
There are a number of different routes to take, and the route determines where abouts you end up in the Great Glacier.