Cripple Creek will not host Ice Castles this winter, as city officials confirmed the popular frozen attraction is off the calendar for the 2026-27 season. The decision follows a rough stretch for the ice sculpture park, which opened three and a half weeks late last season, missed the lucrative Christmas rush, and watched its carefully built structures begin melting before the season even wrapped.
According to KRDO, the city announced that Ice Castles will not return to Cripple Creek for the 2026-27 winter season. Event organizers pointed to operational and business considerations, including what the outlet described as challenges caused by mild weather across the country last winter, and said the attraction could come back once conditions improve. Water concerns in parts of Teller County also came up during discussions between the city and organizers, though officials maintain Cripple Creek itself has enough water to host the event.
The timing problems were not abstract. The Gazette reported that last season's opening was delayed by three and a half weeks, so organizers missed the Christmas season entirely — the exact window when the attraction typically draws thousands of visitors to the city. Ice Castles need overnight temperatures to stay below freezing in order to form, and the outlet noted that last year the castles were melting instead of holding their shape.
A Late Opening Hit Local Businesses Hard
That missed holiday window did not just disappoint visitors. The drop in attendance dramatically impacted the lodging, food and beverage industries in Cripple Creek, the same report found, even as the attraction had previously generated a positive economic boost during what are normally slow winter months.
The Denver Post reports that Ice Castles has shifted around Colorado over the years in search of suitable temperatures and amenities. The company previously operated in Dillon before ceasing operations there during the pandemic, and accounts differ on exactly when it landed in Cripple Creek — KRDO's reporting says the event first opened there in 2023, while a separate CPR News account states the attraction moved to Cripple Creek in 2024, two years after the Dillon closure. Ice Castles also plans to scale back the number of locations it operates nationwide this coming season, according to the same city statement cited by KRDO.
A Warm, Dry Winter Across The State
Cripple Creek's cancellation lands amid a broader rough patch for Colorado winters. A meteorologist with the station said a lack of snowfall and a very warm winter contributed to exceptional drought conditions and water stress statewide, in comments to the same outlet. Separately, Colorado recorded an estimated 10.5 million skier and rider visits during the 2025-26 season, according to the Steamboat Pilot — the lowest total since 1991-92, and a drop of about 3.3 million visits from the prior season. That report also found the 2025-26 winter was among the state's warmest and driest on record, with Colorado ski resorts averaging just 129 open days compared with a 20-year average of 144.
Ice Castles is not new to weather headaches. The Utah-based attraction, which also runs locations in New Hampshire, Minnesota and Utah according to CPR News, dealt with a separate warm-weather delay last winter at its Clear Creek installation, where only one of two planned Colorado sites was able to open on schedule while unseasonably warm weather slowed ice-making, as reported by the Denver Post. Crews there had finished the main structures but were still waiting for colder temperatures to complete the finishing touches, the outlet noted at the time.
What Comes Next For Cripple Creek
City officials say the door isn't closed for good. Per the city's statement relayed by KRDO, officials intend to bring the attraction back once conditions become more favorable. In the meantime, Cripple Creek is looking at other ways to keep winter visitors coming through, even without the icy slides, caverns and sculptures that have become a seasonal fixture there in recent years.
