LONDONDERRY, VT -- For Jeff Johnson, this winter has been a labor of love.

"I feel like I come into work every day and I am playing," Johnson said Friday.

As inviting as his description sounds, make no mistake, Johnson and his colleagues are in a grueling line of work.

"It's not really a job to me because I come in and swing a pick ax and get warmed up and then I start climbing and placing ice," Johnson said.

"It is definitely a hard job but I think it is good for the mind and the soul," Sean Gamsjager said.

Yielding heavy machinery, chainsaws and pick axes, the New Hampshire natives are part of the team at Ice Castles, the Utah based company responsible for building a massive ice castle at Vermont's Stratton Mountain Resort.

"The things you can do with icicles and some water are endless and we keep pushing it to the next level," Johnson said.

"I would estimate we probably have about 10,000 to 20,000 tons of ice,” said ice artisan Corey Livingood, who’s overseeing the project. “It is all made by hand placed icicles and sprinklers."

Working since mid-December ahead of Saturday's grand opening, the company is the only one in the world building castles with this technique.

"This all starts from the ground up," Livingood said. “Even the ice we are standing on is a couple of feet thick.”

"In time, we get crazy, crazy ice that forms," Johnson said.

"When it lights up, it is really quite a trance," Gamsjager said.

With dozens of 10 to 20-foot towers and archways covering nearly two acres, the castle winds like a labyrinth.

"Some people are really astonished,” Gamsjager said. “Little kids love it with the slides and the tunnels."

Remaining open through winter, the castle evolves with the season.

"We are constantly working on it, trying to make it bigger and better,” Livingood said. “It is just constantly changing throughout the season."

It is a jaw-dropping modern marvel, perhaps better suited for the pages of a children's fairytale.

"It transcends all ages,” Livingood said. “Everybody loves it"

"Seeing the looks and expressions on people's faces from what we do here makes it all worthwhile," Johnson said.

For more information on the Stratton Mountain ice castle, visit the official Ice Castles website.