Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
Chronicle Staff Writer Zander Frost writes: I took an impromptu guided tour of the Lake George Ice Castles Monday morning, courtesy of event manager Brad Buehlhorn.
Although the castle did not open to the public until 4 p.m., onlookers were already on hand, taking photos and trying to sneak peeks inside.
The excitement is palpable.
The castle is striking from the outside, but you don’t get an idea of the intricacies, or scale, until you go in.
Entry and exit are paths through tall ice walls, almost like walking through a crack in an ice canyon. Mr. Buehlhorn said the exit is designed to make a statement.
Immediately after entry, Mr. Buehlhorn showed off a frozen courtyard, complete with a water fountain display, and a walkable tunnel that will have live ice carvers working while the castle is open. They’ll continuously add designs over the castle’s life — perhaps into March.
Darkness clearly adds another level to the ice castle experience. Multicolored lights are frozen into the structures throughout. There’s also an ice “pixel wall” with a moving light display.
Without the lights, everything is a pale blue. The easy comparison is Narnia.
The amenities made me wish I was about 20 years younger — the ice slides, paths, and crawling tunnels are a kid’s dream.
Mr. Buehlhorn pointed out sprinklers that run at night, to continuously add and maintain layers of ice on the castle.
Each fountain is surrounded by a mushroom-like residual ice bubble. The only time they can’t run is when it’s below 0 degrees, as water can freeze before it reaches the surface.
Mr. Buehlhorn said they released 58,000 new tickets to the public Wednesday Jan. 19, and had sold 52,000 as of Jan. 24.
That is in addition to the 10,000 pre-sale vouchers purchased in December.
He said they plan to keep the castle open “as long as Mother Nature allows,” through St. Patrick’s day, if possible.
Ticket prices for weekdays are $20 ages 12 and up, $15 children 4 to 11; weekends, $27 and $22.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.icecastles.com/new-york.
The website strongly encourages pre-purchase. It says prices for on site purchase — if available — might be higher.
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