Don’t want to break your bank or leg skiing? There’s another wintery way to dazzle the whole family: Step inside the Dillon Ice Castles. Back for a second consecutive year, the towering, hand-built ice sculptures mystify guests of all ages.
To create the frosty masterpieces, it takes 20 to 40 artisans two months to grow, harvest and spray water on bundles of 10,000 icicles a day. Visitors explore among cascading spires, icy archways and tunnels, chilly slides, frozen thrones and more. Some towers reach 40 feet high. A special formation this year is a “Wishes for Well” fountain; all coins tossed in by guests will be donated to charity:water, a nonprofit that provides clean drinking water for communities in developing countries.
At night, colorful LED lights sync with music to illuminate the twinkling maze of ice with beautiful light shows. “[It’s] something out of a fairy tale,” says media relations coordinator Melissa Smuznyski.
Ice Castles began in 2011 after Brent Christensen built ice sculptures for his kids in their Utah yard. This year, the frozen sculptures are installed at six locations across the U.S. and Canada. The Dillon Ice Castles are open till early March. Tickets for specified arrival times are required.
