Midway Ice Castles attraction will not open this winter due to warming temperatures

MIDWAY, Utah (ABC4) — Beloved Utah attraction the Midway Ice Castles will be taking a ‘pause’ this season because of warming temperatures and shorter winters.

VP of Marketing and Engagement for Ice Castles Amanda Roseth told ABC4 that it’s been a difficult decision, but they will be taking a pause in Utah this winter.

“We’ve had unseasonably warm weather, and we realized as a company we need to take a step back and take a pause so that we can continue to innovate and determine how we can build the Ice Castles in a way that can withstand the fluctuating temperatures and the warmer temperatures,” Roseth said.

The goal is to provide a magical experience for guests, with ice made tunnels, caverns, towers, and slides, and the company feels that the past few years have made it difficult to deliver that experience.

“What’s happening is the temperatures are fluctuating too much through the season, and the temperatures are going well above freezing for extended periods of time and melting too much of the castle to be able to bounce back,” Roseth explained.

Photos of last season’s Ice Castles, courtesy Midway Ice Castles

Shel Winkley, a meteorologist at Climate Central, explained that winters are getting shorter. “The season of winter is shrinking,” he said. “It’s the beginning of winter, that winter temperature, that winter chill, is being delayed at the beginning part of the season, but we’re also experiencing spring-like temperatures earlier in the end of the winter.”

In Wasatch County, where the ice castles have been located most years, winter temperatures have raised 2.6 degrees over the past 50 years. “You can see the real-life impacts of that, which is not being able to withstand these ice castles,” Winkley explained. He added that about 50% of our winter days now have above average temperatures.

That may not seem like a lot, but it can have a big impact on Utah. Winkley said, “These are things that we love to experience in the wintertime to take our families, to take our friends to, traditions that we hold on to, that are disappearing or are shrinking just because we are experiencing those warmer winters, especially for Utah. Snow is important.”

Roseth said that Ice Castles is really hoping and striving to return to Utah. “We know that we need to adapt so that we can withstand the fluctuating temperatures that really seem inevitable as we move forward,” she said. “Innovate our building processes so that they can withstand the fluctuating temperatures so that they don’t melt as much.”

Ice Castles was founded in Alpine, Utah, in the front yard of founder Brent Christensen. “He was building this for his kids to enjoy, the neighborhood to enjoy, and it evolved from there to building one at the Zermatt and then now its home has been Midway over the last many years,” Roseth said.

Ice Castles has been operating in Utah for the majority of the past 14 years, since 2011. “That’s where the magic all started, and really, it’s our goal to bring Utah the ice castles that they love and deserve,” Roseth said. “We will work tirelessly to continue innovating, try to find possibly there’s another location in Utah that would be better withstand the ice castle.”