COOL CASTLE ART
Rachel Rueckert
The Ice Castles are miraculously made entirely out of ice with no supporting substructure. Their beauty lies in their organic, ever-evolving nature. Their changing ice formations are dynamic, larger than life, and something entirely new and unique.
Photo from the 2009 Ice Castle
When you come to the Ice Castles, you will pay the entrance fee and then continue walking upon groomed walking paths through arches and past towers composed of various types of ice formations. Visitors who come during the day are allowed to return in the evening of the same day, and experience the Ice Castles again at night. We expect to have embedded over 200 compact florescent lights throughout the ice walls and towers.
This creates an amazing and entirely unique evening experience as approximately 360,000 lumens of light emit from nearly 3,000,000 gallons of ice. Come see for yourself the deep, glacial aquamarine blues and whites of the ice castles at the daytime and the illuminated ethereal greens and blues of the evening.
History: After moving his family from California to Utah in 2002, Brent Christensen was searching for new outdoor winter activities for his children. One year he created an ice skating rink in the backyard. A year later he created various formations of icicles. After that he started experimenting with icicles to create a large ice formation in his front yard. His children called it “an ice castle,” and the name stuck. He built into it a cave, tunnels, and a huge slide with a bank turn on to an ice skating rink.
People began driving by the Christensen’s home just to see the unique ice structure in the front yard. The following winter, a local resort asked Brent if he would build a larger ice castle on the front lawn of the resort. Brent built the castle in 2009-10 and in two months the word had spread and about 10,000 people had come to see the “Ice Castle” at the Zermatt Resort. The following winter (2010-11) he built another castle in the Town Square in Midway, Utah (near Park City, UT) and over 25,000 visitors came to see the ice castles in 2010.
A photo of Brent as he begins a new ice castle
About Brent, the Ice Castle Artist: Brent was born and raised in Walnut Creek, California as one of ten children. From his childhood he has always been very creative and mechanically inclined. He developed many of these abilities while fixing and restoring cars and bicycles with his brothers. One year he and his whole family rode those bicycles all the way from California to Utah!
When he was 19, he spent two years on an LDS mission in Boise, Idaho and was asked to learn Spanish to teach the Spanish speaking population in Boise. He still speaks fluent Spanish. He met his sweetheart at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT and they have six children. For Christmas when their oldest children were 4-6 years old, Brent cut two childrens’ bicycles apart, fabricated all his own parts and welded it together to make a child-sized tandem bike. He has a patent pending for a two-wheel drive bike and a patent issued for a bike trailer suspension system used on a trailer for three that he designed to take his toddlers mountain biking with him. His six children now range from 6-23 yrs old. He loves mountain biking with his boys–White Rim and Slick Rock trails in Moab, St. George trails, and the Frozen Hog Race in Alpine.
In the summer Brent spends his time operating a family business, mountain biking with his children, and enjoying the beauty of the Rocky Mountains. In his spare time he invents new ways to build bicycles, small engines, and other outdoor tools.
Hours and Admission
This photo was taken of the entry into during the third week of growth (mid November).
Operating hours for the Ice Castles are:
Monday – Thursday 11:00am to 9:00pm
Friday – 11:00am to 10:00pm
Saturday – 10:00am to 10:00pm
Sunday – Closed
This photo was taken on December 14th, and is of the same ice tower as the photo above. It gives a good indication of progress.
Hours are subject to change based on demand and weather, watch this website for updates.
Tickets are sold on-site, and the prices for entrance are as follows:
- Adult one time pass – $10.00
- Child one time pass (12 & under) – $7.50
- Child under 3 years – Free
- Adult Season Pass – $30.00, unlimited use
- Family Season Pass- $50.00 + $10 for each dependent child.Pass is for unlimited use. (This is for two adults and their dependent children, 18 and under. One of the adults named on the pass must be present for the children to use the pass to enter the Ice Castles.)
If you plan to come to the mountains more than three times this winter, we suggest the Season Passes. Depending on the night time temperature, wind, and amount of snow, the Ice Castle experience can often change dramatically from one day to the next.
The Ice Castle and Red Mountain at dusk.
For example, when we run the water after or during a snowfall, the ice will take on a pillowy type of look. Very cold temperatures will cause the ice to freeze in an almost pebbly way.
What to expect when you come: Entrance into the Ice Castle will be through a walkway that passes under ice arches grown from 30′ towers of ice. Next you will come into a small courtyard with an ice tower that is surrounded by 10′ walls of ice in every direction. From there you will proceed through a series of ice towers, passage ways, and tunnels into a larger courtyard in which our large tower will be growing. By mid January, we hope to have this tower over 40′ tall. The large tower is composed of a series of eight smaller towers, each of which has walkways and tunnels going through and around it. From here you will walk through another series of ice arches and tunnels, making your way out of the Ice Castle.
Overall, the Ice Castle is nearly an acre in size and by the opening date will be composed of approximately 2,000,000 gallons of water. All statements on the height of the ice, the gallons of water used, and the footprint of the Ice Castles are estimates. We believe the numbers to be accurate, but haven’t performed exact measurements.
We hope to see you soon!
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