Skywatch Friday: Ice Castles

We drove up to the mountain town of Cripple Creek, Colorado last week.  It's a former mining town that is now home to multiple casinos.


Cripple Creek is hosting the Ice Castles this winter.  It's normally in Aspen so it was nice to have it a little closer to home.  We weren't quite sure what to expect.  There it is sitting up on the hill behind town.  We had to wait for our timed entry so we decided to visit one of the casinos.  (Such a waste of money and depressing environment.)


At our appointed time we made our way to the entrance.


There were a few ice sculptures.


There's my gorgeous hubby!


There were lots of tunnels, towers, thrones, crawl spaces, and nooks and crannies to explore.  Some of them were quite slick--you had to sign a waiver before entering.


The lights were the star of the show.


I got to wondering how in the world they create the Ice Castles so I looked it up.  It look a team of 20 artists eight weeks to put it together by creating up to ten thousand icicles per day and them fusing them together before spraying them with water to heights of 20 feet.


There were slides for the kiddies.


Beautiful!









There's me in one of the crannies that was too dark for a decent photo.  We were in there for about half an hour and then we both started getting cold.


One final glimpse before we exit (through the gift shop).  I'm glad we went, but it wasn't exactly what we expected.  I guess I expected something more castle-like.  Ice Castles will be in Cripple Creek until March 3rd.

Happy Skywatch Friday!


Comments

magiceye said…
Amazing artistry!
Beautifully captured!
February 8, 2024 at 6:08 PM
Joyful said…
Wow! What a beautiful sight.
February 8, 2024 at 10:40 PM
Klara said…
from the first images, I got the impression it was in caves.
lovely photos.
February 9, 2024 at 6:58 AM
Yogi♪♪♪ said…
It looks interesting, and cold!!

Agree that visiting casinos is a little depressing.
February 9, 2024 at 7:27 AM
Photo Cache said…
Incredible exhibit, but looks super cold.

Worth a Thousand Words
February 9, 2024 at 5:55 PM
Lisa said…
An interesting place to visit. Pretty.
February 11, 2024 at 10:32 AM
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