Ice Castles return to Colorado with two locations, a first for the frozen attraction
Another winter, another return of the traveling tourist attraction known as the Ice Castles, but this year, Eagle is the new home in Colorado for the impressive formations of ice. Last year's location, Cripple Creek, will also have the castles, making this the first time two castles have been built in the same state, according to employees.
The castle in Eagle is set to open on Dec. 20, and crews hope the castle will make it all the way into March, so long as the weather cooperates. The dazzling display of frozen architecture was not complete when your reporter in the mountains Spencer Wilson got a behind-the-scenes tour of the construction, but it was still clear this was something special.
Sporting what looked like ice climbing gear minus the harness, Ice Castles Build Manager Anna Closser explained how they build these structures in the first place.
"We harvest our own icicles and then we plant them and run water over them at nighttime to create this," Closser said. "We have to chainsaw and remove extra ice because as much as we try to control mother nature... we can't. So we have to eliminate some of the extra stuff so people can walk through and get to places."
The series of tunnels and enclaves, as well as an ice slide, were still in the making but the overall vision was crystal clear. Marinating that vision takes a lot of effort though.
"It is a little bit like a garden, I always say the castle is like a living organism it grows, shrinks, constantly changing throughout the season."
While other states get to see their own ice castles too, Closser said Colorado offers something special thanks to our (usually) plentiful snow, cold nights, and warm, nice days. Builder Brooke Phillips said the construction is easier in Colorado too, thanks to our snow.
"To make the icicles we make like a mortar out of slushy snow, and without that fresh snow, it is just not as good!" Phillips explained, hanging off of a pillar of ice with crampons digging in.
The slick, cascading pillars link together thanks to the careful growing of ice from people like Phillips. She said she's worked on five castles now and comes away with an appreciation for something different each time. She said the hardest part is trying to explain the beauty to someone who hasn't been.
"You can't just show photos, you have to get here and see it, it is one of those things like a sunset, you can't capture it the right way."
