Adventures 2014 - January: Midway Ice Castles

      A January adventure:  where to go? I had to keep it close to home.  Utah has so many things happening in January.  I could watch Olympic tryouts at one of the Olympic venues that are still operational 12 years after the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics.  Utah scored big with those games, and athletes come from around the world to train here.  There was always Sundance, the premier U.S. film festival held in Park City.  Maybe I could catch a few films, or just sit around and watch celebrities.  Nah, the films would be good, but I am not interested in celebrities.  The Ice Castles in Midway!  Yes, that would be a good choice.  So, I asked my buddy, Stacie, to come with me. Between the two of us, we had three cameras, and took nearly 900 shots.  No, I won't show them all here.  But, you can google ice castle image if you don't see enough here!

Stacie and I with "Snolaf" which for various trademark  reasons cannot be called Olaf.

 

 

 

Utah's Little Switzerland

 

     About 30 miles southeast of Salt Lake City is the Heber Valley where the small town of Midway is nestled into the backside of the Wasatch range.  Mormon pioneers settled the valley about 1858 in two small hamlets: Mound City and Smiths Grove.  When problems with the local Native Americans came about, territorial governor Brigham Young instructed the two communities to build a fort "midway" between them.  Midway Fort soon became to a new group of pioneers from Switzerland.  This was a fairly large group to move into the area, and German was the first language. 

     Today many Midway families can trace their ancestors to the Swiss pioneers. Swiss Days, and Swiss Christmas are two festivals that keep the Old Country feel to the town. While the 2010 Census had the population of Midway at just under 4,000 people, the area has become a bedroom community to the Provo-Orem area 20 miles to the west, and to Park City, 10 miles north. There are also many vacation homes in the area.

 

 

Midway's Town Hall has a cuckoo clock with dancing figures.

 

 

A Real Cool Dad

 

     Brent Christensen now lives in Hawaii.  But for a few years he and his family lived in Midway.  He would try to build elaborate slides and ice towers for his children in his backyard  using wooden structures that he would spray with water.  It worked out....sort of.  When the spring thaw came, Mr. Christensen would be left with a mess of splintered wood all over the yard.  Always working on the problem, he then did away with the wood structures and started to build on ice blocks, to which he would add chunks of ice and snow.

     In an interview with the Associated Press, Christensen stated "During that process, I almost accidentally started thinking about icicles.  At first it was just for cosmetics.  I thought, 'This will look really cool.'  And then, with time, I stumbled on the idea of crisscrossing the icicles, and that when I found...you can actually grow them in certain ways." (Holly Ramer, reporter - listed on ABC News online)

     Christensen would eventually patent his ideas.  In 2014, Ice Castles can be found in Midway, Utah, Lincoln, New Hampshire, and Breckinridge, Colorado (check out the Youtube video of violinist Lindsay Stirling filmed in the Breckinridge Ice Castle.  The piece she is playing is called  Crystallize.)

 

A Hobby Turns Into a Business

 

     Mr. Christensen can't be everywhere, and now he has seasonal employees to build the ice castles.  Starting in cold autumn weather, water is sprayed onto metal racks to start the process of growing icicles. When the icicles get to a certain length and width, they are "harvested" and "planted" in the ground around sprinkler heads where they continue to be watered. 

 

Icicles growing on metal racks waiting for harvest at the Midway Ice Castles

 

 

 With the right amount of water and care, the icicles grow.  PAC pipe is then added to the sprinkler heads to deliver water to the ever growing ice sculptures.

 

Adding icicles to an existing structure.  Water will then be sprayed on them from a nearby pipe.
(Photo from www.icecastles.com)

      

Planted icicles then are watered daily and start to grow wild shapes.

     Expensive lights are also place into the ever growing ice castles and are turned on at night for beautiful bursts of color.

 

 

When in Rome

 

     The Ice Castles make for dramatic backdrops for all kinds of photos.  I found a few online:

 Ice Queen (houstonryan)

 

Father Christmas (Pinterest)

 

 

 

Bride (Jacque Lynn, photographer)

 

 

 

I understand this is a Frozen character

 

 

     Then, Stacie and I found ourselves watching professional models with their photographers:

 

Stacie's camera can do all sorts of color changes.

 

 

:

And then we got really silly!

Now, For a Few Thousand Words

 

      We came in the afternoon as we wanted afternoon sunny shots, dusky shots, and evening shots.  Here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

 

If You Go...

 

       While the Ice Castles are a great family outing, please note that the lines are long, the ground icy, and not the best place for babies, toddlers and strollers.

 

• Buy your tickets online.  This way you can go to the front of a very long line.
• Should you go in the afternoon, exit about 4:30 and get a stamp on your hand.  You can then go have something to eat and return in the evening.  You won't have to wait in line.
• Park in the post office parking lot, if you can.  You are within walking distance of the Ice Castle, a few restaurants and a grocery story.  The post office is across the street from the town hall.
• Don't bring a stroller! The ground in the castle will get pounded down with so many visitors.  This can get quite slick, so the ground crew will break it up.  People can sink in this.  I call it quick snow - think quick sand. Strollers will not get through it.  Babies and toddlers won't appreciate the ice castles anyway.

 

 

My feet sink in quick snow.  It is icy.

 

 



 





 

 

 

Don't forget your camera!