Winners of the 2018 International Snow Sculpture Championships
Snow carving in Breckenridge began as a local pastime during Ullr Fest, the town’s winter carnival in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The competition as its known today began in 1990, with the inaugural International Snow Sculpting Competition. More than 45,000 people attend the event annually.
The 28th annual International Snow Sculpture Championships brought the best in ice sculpting from around the world to Breckenridge for the annual competition. Despite some Colorado sunshine, snow flurries abounded from the furious carving of giant ice blocks.
250 teams from around the world are invited to compete, but only 16 are chosen. 2018 teams competing included Argentina, China, Estonia, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, Switzerland, Turkey, USA-Breckenridge, USA-Oregon, and USA-Wisconsin.
Each team, consisting of 4 artists, sculpts for a total of 5 days. Teams scrape and shape their 50,000-pound ice block for an average of 60+ hours without using power tools. Artists are allowed to use hand tools including vegetable peelers, chicken wire, small saws and more.
Here are the 2018 award winners.
Gold
SECRET
by Team Magnolia – Erdene (also the winner of PEOPLE'S CHOICE)
Silver
THINKER
by Team China (also the winner of KIDS' CHOICE)
Bronze
A DANCE DIVINE
by Team Wisconsin – Vogt
Artists' choice
TIME
by Team Magnolia-Tserendash
