Ice castles are constructed by hand one icicle at a time

MIDWAY, Utah — Cold temperatures means construction on the Ice Castles at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center has officially begun, and it’s coming together one icicle at a time.

Ice structures are constructed with thousands of individual icicles that are each crafted and harvested by hand. (Ice Castles)

With ice structures towering up to 20 feet tall, illuminated with whimsical lighting, the winter wonderland resembles the castles in Disney’s “Frozen” and attracts tens of thousands of people each season.

Ice sculptures tower above a child in a green illuminated castle. (Ice Castles)

It all began around 2011 in Alpine, Utah when founder Brent Christensen was attempting to build a winter playground for his kids in his front yard. That’s when he developed the patented process used to create the ice castles that are now an internationally renowned tourist attraction with other locations across North America.

Now, ice artists have begun this years construction by growing and harvesting icicles. According to a press release, artists will grow up to 10,000 icicles each day.

These icicles are individually fused with others using water to hand build masses of ice within the palaces ice slides, tunnels and sculptures.

A child is sliding in an ice tunnel, illuminated in blue and red LED. (Ice Castles)

In addition to the fortresses and horse-drawn sleighs, there will be winter characters available for meet and greet inside the castles.

There is a lot of work that goes into building Ice Castles. But we make sure to add a little MAGIC into every hand-placed icicle. pic.twitter.com/lUGas4Pkhq

— Ice Castles (@IceCastles) October 26, 2022

The frozen playground is expected to open in late December or early January, tickets will be available Nov. 28 at 9 a.m. on the website.

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