A closer look at the breathtaking figures made from International Snow Sculpture Championships
The 32nd Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge have come to a close, at least in terms of the carving part.
The viewing portion is very much up and running. Although, there's not much time left to see the sculptures.
After approximately 94 hours of hand-carving the 25-ton snow blocks in a cleared parking lot, the 12 blocks of snow have been transformed into incredible works of art and were judged against each other.
Team Germany - Bavaria took home first place and the gold medal for their sculpture, "Sub-Zero-Gravity."
The piece includes three rectangles inside of each other, the smallest seemingly floating in space (but actually just a marvel of snow carving engineering).
Second place went to Team Breckenridge (hometown heroes!) with their sculpture of Ullr, God of Snow/Skiing. The large face has exquisite detail and includes a cold wind being blown from the statue.
Third place was given to Team Lithuania for an incredible feature of clouds and waterfalls, once again mixing incredible engineering with articulate snow sculpting.
This figure also won the Artist's Choice Award, voted on by the teams for what they believed was the most impressive.
The People's Choice Award went to Team Snowblind, the champions from last year for their piece, "Forest Jam" featuring an Ent with a guitar, and a bear with bongos on the back. It's a part of the reason 10-year-old Carter Campbell said these need to be seen in person, pictures and video simply don't do it justice.
"You can see different details and learn about them, and you can go around them to see the back!" Campbell said. "Because that one has a bear playing a bongo!!"
The sculptures are free for the public to view, but the event ends Feb. 1st. So hurry up while there is still time!
