World Ice Art Championships
Tonight we went to the World Ice Art Championships in Fairbanks, AK. There are more than 100 ice artists participating from over 40 countries in this competition. As we wandered around the park in the dark we could hear and see the ice being shaped by chain saws, hair dryers, and special scraping tools. Tomorrow night is the judging for the Single Block Classic competition and the artists were putting some of the finishing touches on their sculptures.
This will be done in the next 24 hours. The ice supports underneath will be removed and replaced with the legs of the animals.
The over 1,500 tons of ice are harvested from nearby O'Grady pond for the event. There are two competitions, Single Block Classic and Multi-Block Classic. One single block 5ft x 8ft x 3ft (1.5m x 2.4m x 0.9m) is used by a team of 1-2 people in the Single Block Classic competition. They have 60 hours to complete their sculpture and cannot use any mechanical or power devices to move or lift the ice once it is set into place for the contestant.
Mr. Davi never met a hippo like this!
Teams of 2-4 people compete in the Multi-Block Classic Competition. The teams receive 10 blocks that are 4ft x 6ft x 3.3ft (1.2m x 1.8m x 1.0m). It amounts to 46,000 pounds of ice. Some of the sculptures may exceed 25 feet in height so Ice Alaska provides heavy equipment and operators to lift the ice into place. The competition will begin on Sunday 2-27-11 and contestants have 132 hours to complete their sculptures.
My first time on a wooden sled!
The ice park also contains a Kids Park with mazes, slides and sculptures to play upon. We enjoyed racing down the large slide. At the end of the evening we still had a little bit of time left over, so 3 of us headed over to the slide again. We had an opportunity the second time to ride a wooden sled down the slide. It was the first time I had ever ridden on a wooden sled. It was awesome zipping down the slide headfirst. At the end of the slide I was launched into the air before landing in a field of snow!
Teachers Enjoying Big Ice Slide
Video of Ice Park
Check out Michelle Brown's video at the end of her journal!