Chill! Breckenridge opens ice castle

Ice sits in the bottom of glasses, decorates parties in elaborate formations, makes snowy Colorado roads slick in the winter. It also forms glittery structures, one of which stands tall at Breckenridge Riverwalk Center, on West Adams Avenue. The ice castle opened on December 26 there -- just the third...

By Zoe Yabrove

December 30, 2013

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Ice sits in the bottom of glasses, decorates parties in elaborate formations, makes snowy Colorado roads slick in the winter. It also forms glittery structures, one of which stands tall at Breckenridge Riverwalk Center, on West Adams Avenue. The ice castle opened on December 26 there -- just the third location in the country where it can be viewed.

Ice Castles is a Utah company started by architect Brent Christensen. Each castle begins with formation of 5,000 icicles every day. Once an icicle is placed, it is drenched with freezing water -- and this process is repeated every day for weeks until the castle is finished. The icicles are purposefully placed in order to form the castle; however, with changing temperatures and wind, Mother Nature plays a role in the final outcome of the structure.

The Breckenridge ice castle features giant ice towers, shiny archways, frozen thrones, shimmering walls and glossy tunnels; there is also a twenty-foot-long tunnel. Kids and families can crawl through this tunnel, which is designed to have a Narnia-like feel. The castles and tunnels will literally glow with the help of thousands of LED lights.

Visitors can view the castle from 2 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday until March (end date not yet specified). Admission is $10, $8 for children four-eleven, and children three and under are free. For more details and tickets, to to the ice castle website.

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Zoe Yabrove is a Denver native with an undergraduate degree in creative writing and a master’s in special education. She is a teacher in Denver Public Schools and contributes to Westword to get her writing fix.

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