Entry No. 16 — the Boulder file — filed under: cryonics
Grandpa Bredo's Tuff Shed
In 1993, Norwegian Trygve Bauge shipped his grandfather Bredo Morstoel's frozen corpse to Nederland, Colorado, intending to build a cryonics facility on family land. Plans unraveled quickly: Bauge was deported for visa violations, and his mother Aud was evicted from the property. But Bredo stayed. A local "iceman," Bo Shaffer, has packed roughly 1,600 pounds of dry ice around the body every month since 1995, all inside a Tuff Shed donated by Denver radio station KBPI. Nederland, rather than be embarrassed, embraced the whole absurdity — banning the disposal of frozen dead bodies just to keep Bredo legal, then launching Frozen Dead Guy Days, an annual March festival featuring coffin races, a polar plunge, a beard and costume contest, and frozen salmon tossing. In 2023, Bredo was upgraded to liquid nitrogen storage and relocated to The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.
The story
In 1989, Norwegian citizen Bredo Morstøl passed away from a heart condition, but his grandson, Trygve Bauge, refused to accept death as permanent. A hardline believer in cryonics, Trygve had Bredo packed in dry ice, shipped to California for liquid nitrogen storage, and eventually moved to a steep plot in Nederland, Colorado, in December 1993. Trygve and his mother, Aud, envisioned building a full-scale mountain cryonics facility. But the plan disintegrated fast: federal agents deported Trygve for an expired visa in 1994, and county officials evicted Aud from their unheated, unfinished home for lacking electricity and running water.
Desperate to prevent her father from thawing out, Aud alerted a local reporter, triggering instant chaos at Nederland's town hall. The town council hastily passed an emergency ordinance outlawing the storage of human corpses on private property. However, because Bredo was already resting in his steel sarcophagus before the law existed, he was legally grandfathered in—a pun locals proved completely incapable of resisting. To keep Bredo at minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit, local 'Iceman' Bo Shaffer spent nearly two decades hauling 1,600 to 1,800 pounds of dry ice up the mountain every month, packing it around the body inside a Tuff Shed donated by a Denver radio station.
Rather than hide the bizarre scandal, Nederland embraced it, spawning Frozen Dead Guy Days in 2002—a wild winter Mardi Gras featuring coffin races, polar plunges, and frozen salmon tossing. That era ended in August 2023 when Grandpa Bredo was quietly moved from his hilltop shed to a modern liquid nitrogen chamber at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. While the body and festival have moved on, the legendary original Tuff Shed near 5th Street remains a monument to Colorado's most improbable legal loophole.
What it's like
If you drive up to Nederland hoping for a roadside attraction at the original Tuff Shed, don't bother getting out of the car: the site is private residential property near 5th Street, trespassing is illegal, and neighbors will not hesitate to turn away rubberneckers blocking their driveways. Besides, Grandpa Bredo isn't there anymore—he was relocated to Estes Park in 2023. To soak up the quirky aftermath in Nederland, skip hunting for the shed and hang out along 1st Street instead, where long-time locals still share wild stories from the monthly dry-ice delivery days.
The move: Time a visit around Frozen Dead Guy Days in early March for the full spectacle: watch coffin races down a snow-covered hill, join the polar plunge together, and argue over who has the best costume. It is the rare festival where the backstory is genuinely stranger than the event itself.
📍 Before you go The shed is on private property and not open for casual visits — do not trespass. Frozen Dead Guy Days runs one weekend each March in downtown Nederland; check frozendeadguydays.org for exact dates and ticket info. The festival sells out; buy tickets in advance. Nederland is about 45 minutes west of Boulder on CO-119 through Boulder Canyon. Parking is extremely limited during the festival; carpooling or the RTD bus from Boulder is strongly advised. Dress in serious layers — it is a mountain town in March.
- 📍 Nederland, CO
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: Near 5th Street, Nederland, CO 80466 (private property; best experienced during Frozen Dead Guy Days festival in downtown Nederland)
Hours: Added 2026-06-11 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Carousel of Happiness — Swap the eerie tale of cryonics for a warm spin on 56 hand-carved animals created by a Vietnam veteran, located right in downtown Ned.
- Train Cars Coffee & Kava — Process Nederland's bizarre town history over a hot drink inside three century-old railroad cars parked right on the Peak to Peak Highway.
- Nederland Mining Museum — Discover the town's original industrial obsession before cryonics arrived, including a massive steam shovel that survived work on the Panama Canal.
- Caribou Ghost Town — Head into the windy 10,000-foot heights above town to explore stone ruins that explain Nederland's rugged, isolationist mountain culture.
Good to know
Can I tour or visit Grandpa Bredo's Tuff Shed in Nederland?
No. The shed sits on private residential property, and trespassing is strictly forbidden. Furthermore, Grandpa Bredo's body was relocated to Estes Park in August 2023.
Where is Grandpa Bredo located now?
In August 2023, Bredo Morstøl's remains were moved from Nederland to the International Cryonics Museum at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, where he is stored in liquid nitrogen.
How was the body kept frozen in a shed without electricity?
For nearly 30 years, local caretakers like Bo 'The Iceman' Shaffer hauled up to 1,800 pounds of dry ice up the mountain every month, packing it manually inside an insulated wooden box around Bredo's steel casket.
Is it legal to keep a frozen body on private property in Nederland?
Nederland passed a municipal law in 1994 banning human bodies on private property, but because Grandpa Bredo was placed in the shed before the ordinance passed, he was legally grandfathered in.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Atlas Obscura · frozendeadguydays.org · Roadside America · Westword · Wikipedia · businessinsider.com
last checked: 2026-06-11