A Day Away: Explore Ice Castles in Minnesota, Wisconsin

Just north of Minneapolis lies a cross between “Frozen” and “Brigadoon.” But unlike the mythical musical town that only emerges from the fog every 100 years, this site springs to life every year in the dead of winter, resembling Elsa’s animated realm.

Ice Castles in New Brighton, Minn., features handmade caverns and archways, ice slides, a fountain, an ice maze, crawl tunnels, an ice throne, and a private VIP Arctic Alcove suitable for creating engaging proposals and celebrating special occasions.

The Minnesota site at Long Lake Regional Park, about 4.5 hours north of Cedar Rapids, is one of five such attractions spanning the upper United States. A closer one lies about 3 hours and 40 minutes away in Lake Geneva, Wis., and the others are in New Hampshire, New York and Utah.

The eco-friendly attractions, launched in 2011, are situated near a natural water source, so when the ice melts, the water will flow back into the nearby lake or stream.

According to the Ice Castles website, all of the structures are built from icicles grown on site, harvested, and hand-placed by professional ice artisans. During the growing season, the Minnesota location uses more than 10,000 icicles per day. Each castle weighs more than 20 million pounds and takes thousands of hours to create.

LED lights glow from within, and after dark, they are their own version of the Northern Lights, with a kaleidoscope of colors swirling through the structures.

The locations across the United States generally open in January and lure tourists through February or into March. Right now, the Minnesota site is selling tickets through Feb. 13, while Wisconsin is offering tickets through Feb. 19, so you may have to put this excursion on your calendar for next year.

If you decide to go, it’s important to snap up tickets right away. Zhen E. (pronounced “Jenny”) Rammelsberg of Marion has learned that the hard way.

“The last two years, it would come across my Facebook newsfeed and by the time I would see it, it would be too late,” she said. Even though it feels like winter drags on forever, in reality, window of opportunity is short for reveling in the frozen features.

Each year, Rammelsberg reminded herself to keep checking on dates and tickets for Minnesota and Wisconsin.

“The one in Minnesota is the one that opened first,” said Rammelsberg, who turned 50 on Jan. 24. “We had actually wanted to go to the one in Wisconsin, and that opened up the weekend of my birthday, so I was like, ‘Oh! That’s perfect. We’re going to go to that.’ But once they opened up ticket sales, they sold out. So we ended up going to the Minnesota one.”

It did not disappoint.

Spectacle

She and her husband, Robert Rammelsberg, 55, are avid hikers, and Zhen E. said that while the parking is “a little jaunt” away from the entrance, shuttles are available to whisk guests to the winter wonderland that emerges from the landscape.

“When you’re walking up towards it, you don’t see it for a long time,” she said. “Then all of a sudden, when it comes into view, it’s this grand spectacular, huge ice monument. It’s just amazing.”

The website says each sites covers an acre.

“Yes, it’s very impressive,” Rammelsberg said. “My husband and I like to look at things structurally, like ‘How did they make that?’ So we were trying to figure out if they put supporting structure in there to build it with. They do not. They will use things to aid in the shape of the design, but it is not there permanently.”

She noted that by the patterns in the ice, it looks like they use culvert material to make the tunnels, but take that out once they’re set.

“We asked, and they said, ‘No, these are all made by our artisans, and they just take all of these icicles and stick them together.’ …

“The tunnels aren’t very long — you can kinda see your way out of them, and I didn’t feel claustrophobic,” she added. “But you usually are only walking through a very short tunnel, then you’re into a bigger chamber.”

However, she noted that it doesn’t feel like you’re walking through a building, since “probably 80 percent of the structure has no ceiling over it — it’s all open.”

Lines were long for the slides, so she didn’t queue up, preferring to wait in line to pose for pictures on the regal ice throne. She also gravitated toward a less stationary attraction.

“I thought the fountain was very interesting,” she said, “because you’re in a frozen structure, and so anything that’s going to have water is gonna be frozen, (but) the fountain would have dancing water going up and down. It was just impressive, because I don’t know, but I’m assuming it was heated a little bit. It’s so big you can’t really see into it — you just see the water dancing up out of it. It was just impressive to see this.”

Timing

She bought tickets online for a 3 p.m. entry, so they could stay long enough to see the sculpted ice lit up at night. By day, the lights make the ice look blue and white, like Elsa’s castle in the movie “Frozen,” but the real light show comes out when the sun goes down.

“We stayed longer than the average person probably would,” Rammelsberg said, noting that while they walked more than 10,000 steps and were ready to warm up after a couple of hours, others could probably see it all in 20 or 30 minutes.

“You can stay as long as you want, but once you leave, you’re not allowed to come back,” she said, except for bathroom breaks or to warm yourself from the inside out with hot chocolate, available right outside the perimeter. She added that inside the site, guests will find “many opportunities to sit and rest,” including the ice throne where people perch for pictures.

Rammelsberg is a certified COVID contact tracer and a COVID compliance officer, so she’s keenly aware of safety protocols. And even though she and her husband went on a Saturday — Jan. 22 — she never felt like too many people were there at any given time. Staggered entry times help with crowd control, as did the snow that was falling during her visit, which she and Robert enjoyed.

Masks are recommended but not required, but since it was cold, she said most people covered their face. She also felt safe since the attraction was outside and it was easy to socially distance from others.

“We really researched it,” she said, especially since they chose to stay overnight in nearby Arden Hills, Minn., so they could stay longer at Ice Castles to see the night lights.

“It’s much different seeing it at night,” she said, but after getting some hot chocolate, she admitted they did go through the structures “really quickly.”

And don’t worry about slip-sliding away. The paths are textured, like walking on iced snow, and whenever the surface seems to be getting packed down, workers come through with shovels and picks to rough it back up.

“If you enjoy being outside in the winter, it’s really fun,” she said, and it made for a great escape to celebrate her milestone birthday.

“We wanted to do something interesting,” she said, “because we like to travel, and that’s being curtailed right now, so it’s just kind of fun to have something to look forward to and do.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com