Ice castle - Loon Mountain New Hampshire

The third weekend in January a group of us decided to visit the Ice Castles @ Loon Mountain in Lincoln New Hampshire. We got to Loon late afternoon but while it was still light out, the Ice Castles are very interesting and cool to observe. A few people, not from our party decided to partake in the Zip-Lining that crosses the small river located next to the Ice Castles. A short ice slide is also build for the kids and young at heart to slide down and through a short section of ice.

While they are very amazing to see I would recommend coming at dusk or after dark to truly observe all the effort that has gone into creating these ice formations. After dark is when the true awe inspiring shines through. Reds, Blues, Purple, Green brightly light up the night inside the ice illuminating what was just reminiscent of the icicle that dangle from your rooftops at home into so much more.

Wandering near the far back of the Ice Castle formations there sat a man in crampons and a Petzel Headlamp. He went on to explain that while some of the formations happen from the running water pumped through the ice and to mini structures atop the peaks. That they have an icicle garden behind the whole thing where they grow the new icicles and during the cold cold days and nights they take five gallon buckets full of slush and actually manually form the structures that bridge across to form a icicle cavern and some of the intricate overhangs around.

If you find yourself anywhere near Lincoln NH or the other locations that this event is being put on I highly recommend making a point to take it in as it can only last so long