(CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo.) — The wait is over for the opening of one of Colorado’s most popular winter attractions, the Ice Castles in Cripple Creek. A team of ice artisans spent eight weeks building the frozen attraction and tickets are now on sale.
The ice castles are built with 25,000 tons of ice and a little bit of magic, and it takes a team of about 20 artists to transform Cripple Creek into a winter wonderland. After two winters away, the frozen attraction is back in colorful Colorado and even attracted visitors from out of state.
“It’s kind of like the North Pole, to be honest,” said Hayley Sawyer, visiting from Midland Texas. “You know something that you see where Santa is at or something like that so I think it’s a great experience for the kids, adults, something that’s just magical.”
The Ice Castles in Cripple Creek originally anticipated an open date in early January, but colder temperatures made opening before the holidays possible. The winter wonderland is made up of ice-carved tunnels, caverns, fountains, slides, frozen thrones, towers, and crawl spaces. The acre-sized winter playground is illuminated at night by color-changing LED lights embedded inside the ice.
“Our favorite part is honestly just watching my son, his eyes glow when he looks at the lights and just how amazing these structures are,” said Timothy Mercardo from Colorado Springs. “It’s kind of your power watching him enjoy it.”
Leading up to the opening, ice artists grew 10,000 icicles. Those icicles were then fused and sprayed with water over and over until the ice castle reached a height of around 20 feet.
From 2017 to 2020, the ice castles were set up in Dillon over the winter. In 2021, organizers announced that a planned move from Dillon to Silverthorne was unsuccessful.
The attraction has not been held in Colorado since then, but has found its home this winter in Southern Colorado.
“We’ve been wanting to come back to Colorado the whole time and Cripple Creek has been amazing to work with,” said Brent Christensen, Founder of Ice Castles. “There’s several ingredients, we need water and we need cold temperatures, which we have both of those. The water here is great so the ice comes out nice and blue and then the third party that is our partner, in this case, it’s Cripple Creek, and they have been very, very cooperative and helpful.”
Cripple Creek is known for its annual Ice Festival, which is scheduled for Feb. 17 through the 25th. Tickets for this beautiful display cost around $25.
