January 2010 Archives

Plenty of people showed up this weekend to see the results of the hours of work artists put into snow sculpting in Breckenridge this week.

The weather was beautiful, melting the sculptures a little and softening the detail quickly but pleasant conditions for viewing.

The winning team made this gloved hand gesturing and was from Lithuania. The second place was the Canadian team from Ontario and its Asian woman. The third place when to the Aztec looking gateway made by one of the Mexican teams.

From the last post you can see how the forms help volunteers create the giant blocks of snow the Town of Breckenridge makes for the annual snow sculpture competition. 

From these 10x10x12 foot tall blocks have the look of marble, but carve like a hard block of ice cream. The temperatures in Breckenridge are so cold at night in January that the quality of our snow is some of the best in the world for snow sculpture. It's hard and consistent because it's man-made with the help of Breckenridge Ski Resort.

When the weather is sunny, the sculptures need to be protected from sun and melting during the work week, which accounts for the spinikers and other flying colors.

Artists come with their own tools which include floor scrapers, big razor blades, chains, spades, chisels, and cheese graters.

Often, they are working from a three dimentional model that they are trying to create on a big scale.

The final details are added on the last night, Friday, when everyone usually works late into the dark. The competition ends at noon on Saturday, and the awards are announced later in the day.

Snow lasts longer at high altitude. So, while new snowfalls have been coming down in inches not feet this winter, the conditions are very good on Peak 8 as you can see from these photos.

January is a great month to ski because the mountain is less crowded than it was during the holidays and often the weather is glorious. As you can also see from these photos. The sun shines, and there's not a cloud in the sky. Mornings and night can be very cold, but by mid day the temperature is easy to be out in.