Sunday 20 May 2012

9.Ice Castle of Silverthorne, Colorado.USA



Have you ever imagine living in a castle of ice?. Well, it might be a fairy tale to some people but ice castle do exist and they are in Silverthorne, Colorado. The Ice Castles are miraculously made entirely out of ice with no supporting substructure. Their beauty lies in their organic, ever-evolving nature. Their changing ice formations are dynamic, larger than life, and something entirely new and unique.
When you come to the Ice Castles, you will pay the entrance fee and then continue walking upon groomed walking paths through arches and past towers composed of various types of ice formations.  Visitors who come during the day are allowed to return in the evening of the same day, and experience the Ice Castles again at night. 
The ice castle was built and officially opened in public in 2010. It was created by the brilliant minds of Brent Christensen. After moving his family from California to Utah in 2002, Brent Christensen was searching for new outdoor winter activities for his children. One year he created an ice skating rink in the backyard. A year later he created various formations of icicles. After that he started experimenting with icicles to create a large ice formation in his front yard. His children called it “an ice castle,” and the name stuck.  He built into it a cave, tunnels, and a huge slide with a bank turn on to an ice skating rink.
People began driving by the Christensen’s home just to see the unique ice structure in the front yard. The following winter, a local resort asked Brent if he would build a larger ice castle on the front lawn of the resort. Brent built the castle in 2009-10 and in two months the word had spread and about 10,000 people had come to see the “Ice Castle” at the Zermatt Resort. The following winter (2010-11) he built another castle in the Town Square in Midway, Utah (near  Park City, Utah) and over 25,000 visitors came to see the ice castles in 2010.
Inside the castle, you can see the beautiful icy sculpture that was created and it was being sculptured cleanly without any flaws. The castle is much more beautiful at night with the glowing lights of the ice.
The ice castle reminds us of some fairytale stories like the Snow Queen. This is a good place for people who values beauties of the art sculpture. However, the ice castle do not last longer because you can only visit this castle only in winter. But still, it is worth visiting the ice castle.

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