Lake George Ice Castles debut

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

Viewed on a brutally cold and overcast day last week, the new Ice Castles attraction in Lake George looked very much still a work in progress but build manager Anna Closser said “we’re very close” to opening. Tuesday they announced they’ll open this weekend, Sunday, Jan. 23.

This project “growing” in the Festival Commons at Charles R. Wood Park is not built from ice blocks, like Saranac Lake’s Ice Palace, nor is it carved like the Lake George Winter Carnival’s kid-sized ice slides and area ice bars.

The Ice Castles are built up from “seed” icicles — thin pre-frozen rods that designers “plant” into the growing castle walls and features. Sprinklers set into the structure spew water on the rods, day and night, whenever it’s cold enough. The temperature needs to be lower than 26 or 25 degrees to make ice, Ms. Closser said.

“Everything you see is 99 percent ice,” she says, rather than built structures covered in ice, for example.

“We want a natural look,” she said of the organic build-style. “We see the castles as a living structure. It’s always changing. We add more features as we go. What you see in late February will be different than when it first opens.”

The water comes directly from Lake George, not treated in any way, Ms. Closser said. In spring, when it’s all over, the ice will be broken up, melted and the water returns to Lake George, she said.

Even on a sunless day, the walls of the castle glow blue, and Disney-like. Ms. Closser calls it the “glacial effect” of light carrying through the thick layers of ice.

“We’re lucky with this one,” she said. “We were hoping.” She said at some locations, the ice may take on a more green hue, rather than the nearly incandescent blue the Lake George water is making.

We walked through with ice spikes on our shoes and hard hats in case of falls, as the paths are pure ice. By the time it opens, pathways and “floor” spaces will be groomed for easy walking; hard hats unnecessary. Any loose or hanging icicles are removed, to avoid hazards.

Ms. Closser pointed to walls where there will be arches, a giant ice throne, ice slides, towers, tunnels, LED light shows, even a working ice fountain — as well as private ice “rooms” rented by the hour for wedding engagements, birthday parties or corporate gatherings, she touts.

Guests will enter through the “Colosseum,” an open space with a working water fountain and arched doorways leading to other rooms and paths.

“It’s like a build-your-own adventure,” Ms. Closser said. There’s no set path to follow.

Ms. Closser said 20 people are working on the build — some locals and some, like herself, who came here for the project.

Ice Castles was founded in Utah about 10 years ago by Brent Christensen, who created the design and systems (now patented, Ms. Closser said) to build something fun for his six kids in the front yard.

The Lake George attraction is still hiring, Ms. Closser said. They’ll add more staff when it’s up and running.

She’s been with the company “for seven castles, five years,” Ms. Closser said, most recently in Wisconsin. She started with Ice Castles during what she thought would be a “gap year” after graduating college with a degree in hospitality, she said. “And I just loved it.”

Here since November, Ms. Closser said, “It’s been nothing but great. We’ve had so much support from the businesses, from Lake George and the community.”

See icecastles.com for tix and employment info.

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