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Desert Ice

By Ron Donoho

HOLIDAY MUSIC. Gently falling snowflakes. Ice skates carving up the rink. Sound like New York’s Rockefeller Center? Try Lake Las Vegas.

This 3,500-acre resort area is 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip——and yes, in the middle of the desert. The ice rink——which can accommodate 60 people at a time——floats on a stage anchored in a 320-acre lake. It uses a 12,000-pound chiller unit to keep the ice frozen. Every hour, an overhead artificial snow machine is turned on to simulate a snowy day or night (even though the average winter temperature is about 65 degrees).

“When we decided to do an ice rink, we were trying to figure out where to put it,” says Lake Las Vegas Resort events manager Sally Dewhurst. “I said, ‘We have this floating stage for concerts,’ and people thought it was a joke, and they looked at me like I was crazy.” That was four years ago.

Now, the rink packs in the crowds, and resort properties like the Ritz-Carlton and the Montelago Village Resort offer skate-and-stay packages. A $1,050 “Sugar, Spice & Everything Ice” package includes two nights at the Ritz, free rentals and unlimited skating, private skate lessons with a pro, a nightly cup of hot chocolate and classes in making gingerbread houses (also learn how to make “ice”ing).