Cripple Creek Ice Castle opens a month earlier than planned

CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. (KRDO)-- It is truly a winter wonderland at The Cripple Creek Ice Castles. With more than ten million pounds of ice, there are sights to explore for hours.

Local and international ice artisans spent months preparing, building, and sculpting the ice to make the grand opening possible.

Ice-carved tunnels, massive sculptures, slippery slides, and endless towers of ice, each lined with glowing neon lights, that just a few of the things you'll find at the Ice Castles in Cripple Creek.

"We start by outlining the outside space where we want the Ice Castle to be. We then start to grow icicles on our icicle forms. When they get to the correct length, they'll be harvested, implanted into the structure you see," says Jared Henningsen, vice president of operations.

Icicles are more than fifteen feet long and will only get bigger daily.

The ice required daily maintenance to be in top shape for the over one hundred thousand people expected to visit this year.

They run sprinklers every night to add depth and volume to each structure.

"We have an ice health team that comes in every day, and they'll go throughout the castle checking all the icicles," says Henningsen.

Those running the Ice Castles aim to stay open through February, depending on the weather.

The castles will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but will open for extended hours for the two weeks surrounding the holiday break.

Tickets are selling out fast, so act quickly if you plan to go.

Click here for a link to purchase tickets.