MIDWAY, Utah — The magical elements Utah families have grown to love at the popular holiday attraction, Ice Castles, are returning as construction is underway at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center, with some new additions sprinkled in.
When Ice Castles founder, Brent Christensen, moved from California to the "Greatest Snow on Earth" over a decade ago, he knew he had to have some fun with it.
"We were making snow forts and ice rinks and one year I used spraying water and spraying water onto a structure and that kind of led to what we're doing now," he said.
Christensen's at-home snow forts turned into ice castles that can stand up to 20 feet tall, but a project this size requires months of preparation. Starting in August, crews begin bringing in equipment and laying all the irrigation and electrical.
Once it gets cold, talented ice sculptors craft beautiful designs using special chisels and about 20 ice builders grow, harvest, and hand-place the icicles.
"I love just getting in the walls and building we also use chainsaws to carve out cavernous areas and then ice picks to break stuff out," said Assistant Build Manager, Sam Royal.
The icicles take hours to make, but when it gets a little warmer, like it's expected this week, the ice starts to melt and they have to start the process all over again.
"This coming weekend, hopefully we'll start growing the castles again and then we'll just see how the weather holds and if it stays cold," said Christensen. "We'll just keep growing. We need about 4 weeks of solid cold weather."
As the ice castles build, so does Christensen and Royal's excitement about the lights, ice, and magic people will experience this year.
"We're adding some elements of snow, some igloos, and some other things," Christensen said. "I think it's going to be a really fun castle to explore this year."
"It takes a lot of work to bring all this stuff together and seeing people enjoy it is what makes it all worthwhile," Royal added.
Ice Castles is hoping to open sometime in January, weather permitting, with tickets already on sale.
