1967 Est.

If you were inside the Brown Ice Palace skating rink the noise was deafening.  It always came as a surprise whenever the built up snow cascaded off the roof and it was over with in an instant.  Outside the cause of the noise would reveal itself and sometimes cars were an unwanted and unexpected casualty.

Winter snow storms in Aspen can drop more snow in a day than most places on earth see in an entire winter season.  This can cause considerable damage to poorly designed roofs, garages, barns and even basement windows.

The Brown Ice Place revealed a design flaw a few winters after its construction.  I guess it did not immediately reveal itself since some winters, even in Aspen, can be mild and drop little to no snow in big doses.  In the winter of 1967 the flaw revealed itself in a big way.  After a couple of weeks of heavy snow building up on the roof much in the same manner that it does in the high country, eventually it would have to go somewhere.

Engineers were called in to make sure the roof could handle the weight of the snow and it turns out it could.  Plans were made for people to go up on the roof to shovel off some of the buildup but that was quickly canceled after an assessment of the risk concluded that the snow could go at any moment.  Lefty Brinkman and his maintenance crew turned the inside temperature of the building down to help prevent the snow from becoming even more unstable.

No matter what they did, the snow continued to build up.  Sadly, in all the planning and mitigation work, they failed to close off West Hyman Avenue along the block that the Ice Palace was on.  That evening the snow let go and cascaded down on to Hyman Avenue, covering a number of parked cars and even going as far as into the yards of the houses across the street.  It took nearly a week for the City of Aspen to clear the street and dig everything out.

Following the great “Brown Ice Palace Avalanche” steps were taken to prevent similar disasters in the years that followed.  There were still occasions when the snow would build up enough to slide of the metal roof of the building but the maintenance crew made sure that it never got the chance to accumulate too much at any one time.

Now more commonly known as The Aspen Ice Gardens, The Brown Ice Palace still stands as a testament to Ruthie Brown who built it for the people and community she loved.