Ice Castles, Colorado town appear ready for return of winter party

A little town west of Colorado Springs is eyeing the return of a big attraction this winter.

"We are in the process of finalizing the agreement" with Ice Castles, Cripple Creek Mayor Annie Durham said.

Preliminary steps were being taken, she said — job postings and earth work to prepare the colorful, fantastical complex of ice thrones, towers, tunnels and slides. Ice Castles made a debut in Cripple Creek last winter after previously setting up in Summit County.

"We are excited for them to return, because it definitely served an economic benefit to the city," Durham said.

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The mayor described Ice Castles as "overwhelmingly successful" upon its melt-off in March. That was after an 11-week run that started Dec. 19.

With locations also in Utah, Minnesota and New Hampshire, Ice Castles have not always opened before Christmas, as is the Utah-based company's goal. Formed by stacking individual icicles and spraying water to freeze them, Ice Castles depend on cold temperatures for building and staying firm. Five- or six-week runs have come to be expected, company founder and owner Brent Christensen previously told The Gazette.

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Conditions in high-elevation Cripple Creek turned out to be better than expected, Christensen said at the close of business in March. He said visitation to the historic, remote casino town built from the Pikes Peak gold rush was also exceeded. He told The Gazette more than 100,000 people had flocked to Cripple Creek and said the location performed better than any other.

Beyond saying the company anticipated announcing Ice Castles locations in the coming weeks, Christensen did not respond to a request for comment. Asked in March about a possible return, he said "we'll definitely, definitely want to come out."

Other than the weather, Ice Castles locations depend on several factors. They depend on municipalities willing to take on traffic and parking — and to provide water and power for building the sculptures and lighting the embedded, multi-color LED bulbs.

The city of Cripple Creek reported spending about $18,000 to court the attraction last year. That was said to represent 25% of the cost for resources, including an estimated 8 million gallons of water. Another 25% came from local casinos, while Ice Castles pledged to cover 50% of the bill.

Costs for this year were still being finalized, Durham said. Asked about the price for the city last winter: "Definitely the community made that money back."

As for the water commitment: "I do acknowledge it's a significant amount of water," the mayor said. "However, especially when Ice Castles was being built, when the majority of water was being utilized, our public works director was up at our lakes keeping an eye on the levels, and according to him the levels never really changed."

Another stated, logistical factor for Ice Castles is a nearby waterway to take back the melting structures.

"It's the downflow I was worried about, erosion and different things," Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said. "But really that didn't seem to be an issue I saw or was briefed about."

He was briefed as part of post-event talks involving first responders, public works, local businesses and residents. The county saw increases in traffic and accidents in the first winter of Ice Castles, but "it didn't have as many impacts as we had feared," Mikesell said.

He spoke more about the impacts to businesses from Woodland Park, to Divide, to Victor and Cripple Creek.

"The amount of tourism coming through helps the whole county," Mikesell said. "My worry was businesses shutting down in the winter; that's your tax base. So I really see (Ice Castles) as an economic win for the county, and I'm all for it."

Jeff Hellner has opened a third business in Cripple Creek, the District Kitchen and Saloon, in hopes of catching Ice Castles visitors who stopped into his coffee shop and gift shop last winter — and in hopes of easing visitor complaints about a lack of restaurants between the casinos.

At the coffee shop and gift shop, "we just saw a giant increase" between winters with and without Ice Castles, Hellner said. "Probably about 100% increase in sales."

Last year, Hellner founded the Gold Camp District Impact Group to diversify and grow the area's economy. It was the group behind the popular troll sculpture coming to Victor last summer.

Ice Castles was but the next step toward a broader goal, Durham said.

"Cripple Creek is focusing on being a destination," she said. "Ice Castles really helps bolster the family-friendly opportunities available to tourists in Cripple Creek outside of the casinos."