Castle builder Dan Beck places recently "harvested" icicles onto the ever expanding ice palace. The icicles are made nightly using wire mesh and water. Then placed daily on the tower to continue to enlarge the castle. The Ice Castles at Silverthorne are a

Castle builder Dan Beck places recently "harvested" icicles onto the ever expanding ice palace. The icicles are made nightly using wire mesh and water. Then placed daily on the tower to continue to enlarge the castle. The Ice Castles at Silverthorne are an unparalleled creation of walkways, illuminated ice formations, tunnels, and arches all made entirely out of ice with no supporting substructure. These massive and dynamic ice structures will reach up 30 to 40 feet high, and will collectively measure over 10,000 tons. Every day at the Ice Castles is unique and different as the ice formations are constantly evolving, depending on the amount of water added at night, the night time temperature, and snowfall. This is the first year that Ice Castles creators Brent Christensen and his partner Ryan Davis have brought their creative idea to Colorado. The Ice Castles are open Monday Thursday from 11:00am to 9:00pm, Friday 11:00am to 10:00pm and Saturday 10:00am to 10:00pm. They are closed Sundays. The Ice Castles are located on the lawn at the Town Pavilion, in Silverthorne on the east side of the Blue River Parkway, less than 1/4 of a mile from the I-70 Freeway. Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post (Photo By Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via Getty Images)