Check Out These Amazing Ice Castle Parks in New Hampshire and Vermont
Think Disney World is the happiest place on Earth? Then you haven’t been to New England lately.
In an effort to get you out of the house and get moving, we’ve found the ultimate cure for your winter blues: Children and adults alike can channel their inner Elsa and become the Snow Queen (or King) of New England by visiting one of two amazing ice castles in our area.
Created by Brent Christensen, Ice Castles, LLC, is a Utah-based entertainment company that handcrafts ice for large events. Christensen is a father, and like many of us in the winter, was looking for a way to get his kids outside and away from an annual bout of winter cabin fever. So, he started building an ice rink, which eventually—due to its elaborate structures of slides, caves, and towers—became known as an “ice castle.” He then approached ski resorts with his idea, and it has now grown into a full scale business.
Each completed Ice Castle is handmade with 20,000,000 pounds of ice, and it continues to grow and form new shapes throughout the winter until it naturally starts melting in spring.
According to the Today Show, which covered the castles last winter:
The process starts in the fall, with the installation of elaborate sprinkler systems. When the weather turns cold, water is sprayed onto metal racks to produce thousands of icicles that are harvested and stuck to the ground around sprinkler heads. The icicles are then drenched in water and, depending on the temperature and wind, grow in various shapes and formations. Over the course of a few weeks, towers, tunnels, archways and caves emerge.
“The real artistic part isn’t done by us. When you spray water in the middle of the night, and you have icicles that catch the water, that’s when the art happens,” Christensen told the Today show last year.
This year, there will be four Ice Castle locations: Midway, Utah; Eden Prarie, Minnesota; Stratton, Vermont; and Lincoln, New Hampshire. Stratton opens January 17, and Lincoln opened this past weekend.
$12.95 ages 12 and up, $8.95 ages 4 to 11. Kids under 3 are free. There’s also a slight discount on prices during weekdays through Feb. 20; For more information visit icecastles.com.
A photo posted by Ice Castles (@icecastles_) on
