You can once again wander through enormous, hand-crafted, 25 million-pound ice castles in New Hampshire this winter.
The Ice Castles sculptures are expected to draw tens of thousands of people to Lincoln, New Hampshire, this season, said CEO Ryan Davis. The castles, which open New Year’s Day, will include slides, frozen thrones, archways, tunnels, and LED lights that twinkle to music.
This is the fourth year that the ice castles will come to Lincoln, the company’s busiest location, Davis said. This year, castles are also stacking up in Midway, Utah; Dillon, Colorado; Stillwater, Minnesota; and Winnipeg, Manitoba and Edmonton, Alberta in Canada.
“There just is nothing like this on Earth,” Davis said. “To go through a structure of this size that’s all made of ice with the whole thing at night glowing and changing colors, it’s just absolutely beautiful.”
The castles, with icy walls that reach 20 to 30 feet into the sky, are never the same, Davis said.
“Every year is an entirely new and unique design from scratch,” Davis said. “This year we’ll have some unique slides that we’ve never had before, and a lot more slides than we’ve had in the past. There will be some that you’ll just have to find.”
Returning this year are fire performances on Friday and Saturday nights and photo opportunities with an ice princess on weekends.
The castles typically close in March, but the end date will depend on the weather, Davis said.
Adult admission is $13.95-$21, and admission for kids ages 4-11 is $9.95-$16, depending on the day of the week and whether the ticket is booked online or purchased at the door. Door tickets may be unavailable if online tickets are sold out. Tickets will go on sale beginning this week.
Guests should dress warmly and wear boots.
