BRRRRRRRR.....

Are You

Ready For This??

Motorcycle

Off to bed early the night before the Winter Magic Festival which begins early on a saturday morning in mid January. A real enthusiast wants to be there and see the 300 pound blocks of ice delivered, three are left at each work area.

As a spectator you hope it's not too frigid, however the competitors hope for a cold day. If it happens to be a bit warm, the sun will cause the sculptures to lose their crystal clarity and become opaque. This distracts greatly from the sparkling beauty of the shapes and forms.

The carving begins at 9:00 and they have until 3:00 to finish. Some finish sooner if all goes well and their creations don't collapse. Others suffer calamities, quickly assess the damage, and decide if they should continue with the same plan, or turn their work of art into a completely different form. It's amazing how they can totally change to a new idea if they have to. I suppose they have those ideas tucked in the back of their mind....just in case.

Photo below is of an olympic figure skater.

The competition is stiff and the carvers have their plans well thought out, the prize is substantial. And they are vying for a championship title.

They begin by stacking their blocks accordingly to suit their plan, using water to freeze them together. Soon the roar of chain saws fills the air as each begins to cut into the ice, getting a vague unrecognizable shape before they start chipping out their intricate detailing.

One wanders up and down the block, trying to keep warm as well as watching each carver work, trying to guess what it will be as they hack away at the huge rectangles of ice. If you don't mind ice chips and flakes flying all over you, you stand right up close, that's where I like to be. There are some who prefer to stand back a ways.

What an array of tools they use!! Chain saws, icepicks, knives, buckets of water, even regular household irons, most have 2 or 3 plugged in at once, and a flat area that heats up. They use the heat to quickly melt parts into shape. I've seen them cut a really long narrow rectangle, they melted the edges off by laying it on the hot sheet, then began rolling it, and made a perfect cylindrical shape. Those were the ski poles for the skier shown in the photo above. One is held in awe as the intricate shapes form before your eyes.

Oh yes they go through several pair of gloves too, however you often see them working gloveless, and it makes your own hands colder to see them do this. Some of the contestants are relaxed and able to talk easily, answering questions as they work. Others you can tell need their concentration and don't talk much. As the day goes on and some of the works begin to collapse (this happens more often if the day is warm) you begin to agonize with the contestants. Crossing your fingers and watching anxiously, even whispering silent prayers for them. The crowd cheers when a contestant manages to save his collapsed sculpture.

This contestant's work collapsed, he saved the eagle that you see in the background, but the rest of his sculpture broke. This was in 1998, it was a warm day, up in the 40s, and all the contestants were having trouble.

The festival is growing each year, I just read an article in the paper that this winters' festival (year 2000) has 50 contestants entered. Some coming from as far away as Japan. This years' event is the actual Ice Sculpting Olympics, not the trials. It will be a two day event instead of just one. Local competitors will be joined by nationwide champions. Each carver participant has scored at least a bronze medal (70 of 100 possible points) in a National Ice Carving Assoc. qualifying contest. Since they have two days of competition, I'm wondering if they will work on one sculpture for the two days or if they will do a different one each day.

There are other things to do while the contestants are sculpting, there is "frozen turkey bowling"... so funny to watch. It's hard to hold on to a frozen turkey long enough to throw it down the icy path towards the pins. How hilarious this is! There is also a horse pulled wagon ,full of hayfor a "warm" hay ride. You can play basketball throws which is about nine of the huge blocks of ice, three stacks of three high , each angled a different way with holes cut in them big enough for a basketball. Different points are gained depending on which hole you manage to throw the ball through.

Also there is a big area with sculptures from recent competitions that have been kept "on ice" and you can walk the path and look at them. These are not crystalline, they have become opaque due to time lapse but still have their own charm, as seen in this sailboat.

It is a bone chilling day to be sure, but oh so exhilerating to watch. Once winter sets in, and Christmas passes, I begin looking forward to this event, and hoping alternately for a cold day for the competitors,, and a warm day for us eager spectators.

Brrrrrrrrrr.... What a cold day!! I'm always glad to get home , get a nice cup of hot chocolate or peppermint tea and wrap up in a nice warm quilt. It takes a while to thaw out let me tell you.......brrrrrrrrr ::::laughin:: [email protected]

Send me a quick note, let me know if you've ever been to one of these events, or cooler yet if you are an ice carver. Hey you,,, yeah you, the one that was getting ready to click outta here without so much as a how-do-you-do...... I want to hear from YOU too!!! ::smiles::: Jus me, Janice