{"id":23863,"date":"2025-01-26T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dazzling-ice-castles-draw-tourists-to-colorado-and-other-states\/"},"modified":"2025-01-26T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T19:00:00","slug":"dazzling-ice-castles-draw-tourists-to-colorado-and-other-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/dazzling-ice-castles-draw-tourists-to-colorado-and-other-states\/","title":{"rendered":"Dazzling Ice Castles draw tourists to Colorado and other states"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Colorful
Colorful lights shine inside inside the walls of ice at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. \u2013 An annual architectural celebration of ice is up and running again in New Hampshire and several other states.<\/p>\n

Ice Castles, which are both temporary art installations and tourist attractions, feature towers, tunnels, archways and caves, all created by growing, harvesting and arranging thousands of icicles and then blasting them with sprinklers.<\/p>\n

The company behind the displays has expanded since its first installation in 2011. This year it has operations in Utah, Minnesota, New Hampshire and two locations in Colorado \u2013 Eagle and Cripple Creek where the sites include slides, archways, caverns, tunnels and private alcoves. After a mild winter last year, officials were thrilled that temperatures were cold enough to open earlier this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s one of the biggest ice castles we’ve ever built,\u201d said Jared Henningsen, the company\u2019s vice president for operations, of the New Hampshire installation. \u201cWe’re looking at about 25 million pounds of ice spread over two acres.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a winter storm<\/a> brought biting cold and wet snow to the South, visitors to the New Hampshire castle bundled up to explore its twists and turns Friday.<\/p>\n

Julia Jones of Gloucester, Massachusetts, said she travels to northern New Hampshire several times a year but had not experienced the ice castles until her opening-day visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve never seen anything like this before,\u201d she said. \u201cHonestly I didn’t think it was gonna be this big.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jessica Sullivan, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, also was surprised, and not just by the frozen environment. Her boyfriend, Brian Jacques, proposed to her during their visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a beautiful place,\u201d said Jacques, who got the \u201cyes\u201d he was hoping for. \u201cI definitely thought, this is the time and place to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

By day the walls and other structures shine with a pale blue hue. After darkness falls, lights embedded within the ice glow pink, purple and green.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you enter into an ice castle, you’re transitioning into something that’s totally immersive and unlike something that most guests have ever seen,\u201d Henningsen said. \u201cI think it inspires people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A boy peaks into an igloo at the Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nearly-made
Nearly-made ice formations appear a glacial blue during daylight hours at the Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Jessica
Jessica Sullivan holds out her ring finger after accepting a surprise marriage proposal from longtime boyfriend Brian Jacques, of Fairhaven, Mass., at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Visitors
Visitors pose for a photo on opening day at the Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Julia
Julia Jones, of Gloucester, Mass., sits on an ice throne at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A couple shares a romantic moment in a cave at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lights
Lights embedded in ice formations glow at dusk, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Youngsters
Youngsters explore caves at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorful lights shine inside inside the walls of ice at Ice Castles, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, in North Woodstock, N.H. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty) NORTH WOODSTOCK, N.H. \u2013 An annual architectural celebration of ice is up and running again in New Hampshire and several other states. Ice Castles, which are both temporary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,2265,624],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-hobby","tag-lifestyle-and-leisure"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23863"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}