The 25th annual International Snow Sculpture Championships gave rise to a temporary outdoor art gallery in downtown Breckenridge, Colorado. Sixteen teams from 10 countries worked for 65 hours over five days to create enormous works of art from 20-ton blocks of snow.
Courtesy Carl Scofield
Carving ended January 31 and sculptures will remain on display through February 8.
Courtesy Carl Scofield
Artists created their sculptures without using power tools or internal support structures, per competition rules.
Courtesy Carl Scofield
Team China's "Winter Fishing" represents a minority people of northeast China who today still live on fishing during the winter, organizers said. Chinese teams have long participated in the competition.
Courtesy Carl Scofield
Team USA-Minnesota's "The Tempest" depicts a Mother Nature figure summoning the power of the eagle's wings to create the tempest that knocked down large portions of the Boundary Waters in 1999, according to organizers.
Courtesy Carl Scofield
Team Lithuania won first place with "The Wind of Eternal Change," which depicts Noah's Ark "floating on clouds above a tremendous downpour that speaks poetically of our changing climate and times," judge coordinator Jenn Cram said on behalf of the five-judge panel.
Carl Scofield / GoBreck
Team Germany-Agrawal won second/silver with its piece, "Yantra." The five-judge panel praised its 360-degree range of precision and execution.
Carl Scofield / GoBreck
Team USA-Minnesota won third/bronze for "The Tempest."
Carl Scofield / GoBreck
Mongolia-Tserendash won Artists' Choice with their piece, "On the Way to the Dream." Artists' Choice voting is only open to fellow sculptors.
