Travel

Stunning Photos of Giant Ice Castles (PHOTOS)

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Every year, the Utah-based company Ice Castles creates winter wonderlands by "growing" more than 5,000 icicles, which are then sculpted into beautiful structures open to the public. Each castle is made up of more than 20,000,000 pounds of ice, sculpted into tunnels, towers, archways, caves and caverns. This year, the company has built ice castles in Utah, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Canada. (Callie Chinen)

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Every year, the Utah-based company Ice Castles creates winter wonderlands by "growing" more than 5,000 icicles, which are then sculpted into beautiful structures open to the public. Each castle is made up of more than 20,000,000 pounds of ice, sculpted into tunnels, towers, archways, caves and caverns. This year, the company has built ice castles in Utah, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Canada. (Callie Chinen)

Every year, Brent Christensen, the founder of Utah-based company Ice Castles, creates breathtaking ice castles across North America. This year, he has created castles in four locations: Minnesota, Utah, New Hampshire, and Alberta, Canada.

(MORE: Best Way to Celebrate Winter in Every State)

Weighing as much as 25 million pounds each, his castles, complete with towers, archways, tunnels, caverns and even frozen thrones, are made entirely of ice. Christensen does not build the structures with ice blocks. Instead, in the fall, he starts by creating thousands of icicles on metal racks that are then harvested and used as base scaffolding for each castle. Water is then sprayed onto the base over several weeks, causing ice to accumulate and create different structures such as towers and tunnels. Temperature and wind plays a significant role in this process, according to the Ice Castles website, with changing temperatures and wind greatly affecting the final ice formations, making them unique year after year.

Christensen first got the idea for his castles after moving to Utah from California because he wanted to create something for his children in their new cold-weather environment. His first project was an elaborate ice rink that included a 20-foot slide, an ice cave and a castle that he built on a wood structure. After that, he decided to make his creations only out of ice. “Ice just works a lot better,” he said in a statement on his site.

(MORE: Amazing Winter Travel Destinations Around the World)

This year, the first castle of the season opened on December 30th in Edmonton, Alberta and the other three sites opened in January. Visitors can explore these elaborate ice structures until they melt, which depending on weather, could be around the end of February. Tickets can be purchased online.

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