• Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Consulting
  • Contact Me
  • Guest Posts
  • Links
  • Photo Gallery
    • North America
      • Alaska
      • Rafting the Grand Canyon
      • Taos Timber Frame
    • Central America
      • Belize
      • Costa Rica
      • El Salvador
      • Guatemala
      • Honduras
      • Mexico
      • Nicaragua
      • Panama

freewheelings.com

Life, Travel and Technology for the Unconventionalist

  • Life
  • Travel
  • Technology

Ice Alaska, The World Ice Art Championships

By Brandon Edward

Share7
Tweet4
Pin200
Share
211 Shares

Ice Alaska, The World Ice Art ChampionshipsThe World Ice Art Championships at Ice Alaska is probably the single coolest thing that I’ve seen in Fairbanks this winter.  Ice sculpting underwent a renaissance in interior Alaska in 1988 when organizers decided to revive the spirit of the 1930’s winter carnivals by flying in ice sculptors in from around the world for an event to be known as Ice Alaska.  Believe it or not, for that first exhibition and many years to follow Alaska actually trucked in ice purchased from a company in Seattle, all the way to Fairbanks.  Laughable you might say, and so does everyone else.  Apparently, the processes of harvesting ice had been lost to the years with the coming of modern refrigeration and there was no other way to immediately guarantee the quality of the ice, which was of great concern after the considerable expense of flying sculptors to Fairbanks for the event.  As it were, Ice Alaska, The World Ice Art Championships - 1that first event went off without a hitch and somehow Ice Alaska became renowned for the quality of its ice.  As the story goes, the first sculptures of the 1988 event were shown samples of Fairbanks’ natural ice to the tune of raving reviews.  The rest is history.

Here we are in 2010 and the World Ice Art Championships have been held in Fairbanks at Ice Alaska for the past 21 years.  The event has become the end all be all of ice carving the world over.  I say congratulation to those organizers who sat around some cold little cabin in 1988 and forwarded the revival of Alaskan ice sculpting.  This year more than 1,500 tons of ice will be harvested from O’Grady pond adjacent to Ice Alaska, The World Ice Art Championships - 2the Ice Park arena in Fairbanks to produce some 100+ sculptures from 70 teams representing nearly a dozen countries.  The ice itself has earned the nickname “The Arctic Diamond” and has been exported to countries as far away as Israel. The ice harvest is an event in itself and didn’t ultimately come to fruition until 1998.  The ice harvesting crews are constructed entirely of volunteers and have been since that time.  It is a process unique to Fairbanks and is one that experiences constant evolution.  Today, the ice is cut from the lake with a custom built chainsaw apparatus with bars as long as 60” in length and moved from O’Grady pond to the Ice Park Arena with extendable boom fork lifts.

Here is some more information on the ice harvest..

The competition itself is split into two categories.  There is the single block competition where sculptors are provided just one 3’×5’×8′ (90 cm × 150 cm × 200 cm) block of ice weighing in at almost 8,000 pounds from which to create their sculpture.  Teams are limited to two persons.  In the multi block competition each team of up to four persons receives 10 blocks approximately 6’×4’×3′ (180 cm × 100 cm × 90 cm) and weighing in at over 4,000 lbs each.  Power tools are permitted across both events, but the use of heavy machinery is only permitted in the multi block event.

I’m looking forward to seeing who the winners are, but without further adieu – Enjoy the show!

The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
DSC_0049-1600
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
The World Ice Art Championships, Ice Alaska, Ice Sculpture
DSC_0228-1600
DSC_0238-1600
DSC_0244-1600
DSC_0246-1600
DSC_0256-1600
DSC_0257-1600
DSC_0260-1600
DSC_0261-1600
DSC_0263-1600
DSC_0270-1600

Share7
Tweet4
Pin200
Share
211 Shares

Filed Under: Alaskan Adventures, Featured Travel Top, North America, Travel, United States Tagged With: Alaska, blogsherpa, fairbanks, Ice Art, usa

About Brandon Edward

Greetings, I am the bar keep of this fine establishment. In the tradition of a good bar keep I want to know what you think about the article you've just read and the service we're providing here at freewheelings. Can't find your particular brand of scotch? Maybe we have it in the back, just ask. Use the comments section below.

Comments

  1. Candi Brown says

    March 8, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    Thanks for sharing :) Those photos are beautiful!

    Reply
    • brandon says

      March 8, 2010 at 2:14 pm

      Hey thanks Candi Brown! The photographs hardly do the real thing justice. Ice Alaska is one of the most amazing things I’ve seen. It’s really an event worth flying here for.

      Reply
  2. Amanda says

    March 8, 2010 at 3:11 pm

    Wow.. It’s really beautiful! I better go outside right now and start practising my Ice Art skills.. There is no lack of ice here in Sweden. I don’t think we will ever see anything green again..

    Reply
    • brandon says

      March 8, 2010 at 3:16 pm

      Laugh. I can relate to that. The first snow here was about October 14th and it’s still on the ground six months later along with every subsequent snowfall. I just want to see some grass and rediscover t-shirts!

      Reply
  3. brandon says

    March 9, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    That’s a complicated question. This blog is based on wordpress and the atahualpa theme that I modified myself to create the look and feel. The content is created by means of a boatload of plugins meshed together in the wordpress structure. It was not just created by a program. It is the result of hundreds of hours of work using different programs. Thanks for stopping by.

    Reply
  4. Kevin Maxwell says

    March 17, 2010 at 8:50 pm

    Nice job on the ice harvest link! It address a recent question of mine.
    Nice blog as well. You are prolific.

    Reply
    • brandon says

      March 18, 2010 at 10:49 am

      Thanks. I personally think the ice harvest and its history are as interesting as the sculptures themselves, but on average only 1 out of every 25 visitors or so actually clicks the link. That boggles my mind.

      Reply
  5. Ice Bars Los Angeles says

    April 14, 2010 at 4:43 am

    Awesome photos.The sculptures the artists create each year are incredible. I had never seen this types of championship. Nice job.

    Reply
  6. Rose LaVerde says

    June 10, 2010 at 10:51 am

    Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

A Little Love?

Stalk Me

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never Miss a Post


The Best of Freewheelings.com

  • Finding Into the Wild's Magic Bus
  • Motorcycle to South America
  • Alaska Highway by Volkswagen Bus
  • Salmon Fishing in Alaska
  • Hitchhiking Tales
  • Dog Sled Alaska
  • Tales From Mother India

You check out my sponsers and I get to eat, pretty neat right?

Popular Posts

By Tag

Alaska alaska highway alaska marine highway system ALCAN alternative energy Asia Beaches Belize biogas digesters blogsherpa Border C Border Crossings cordova Delhi Denali Digital Nomad Digital Nomad WordPress El Salvador fairbanks Fiji fishing Food and Drink freewheelings5 goldstream kennel Guatemala hitchhiking Honduras india into the wild Japan Languages magic bus Marine Highway Mayan Ruins Mexico Motorcycle New Zealand Nicaragua Panama prince william sound Rafting Sled Dogs usa volkswagen Working on the Road

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Contact

  • Email
  • Work With Us

  • Guest Posts
  • Advertising
  • Services

  • Consulting
  • Dive In

  • Life
  • Travel
  • Technology
  • Search Me

    © Copyright 2015 Freewheelings Enterprises, LLC · All Rights Reserved