2007 Winter Carnival Snow Carving Competition

It was a wonderful morning up on the local ski hill, viewing the snow carvings and visiting friends and family members. Mom drove to my place, then I drove her car as usual. We got to town and realized we'd both forgotten our cameras, so I headed back home for mine. Mom was worried we'd miss the judging, but I convinced her we would make it in time... or at least she went along with me driving back home :o) In the end she was very happy I had taken my camera, and we were well in time for judging. We were there before 10 am and judging doesn't actually happen until 11... well, I guess judging starts at 10 maybe, but is not finished and announced until 11ish.

The winning team receives prize money as well as their trip is paid to go to Quebec the following year to compete in the Canadian Championships. I'm not sure how many times my brother's team has won, but I'd say at least 3 times. (I'll see if I can find out and add it in later.) Well, this year they did not win, but came in 2nd. However, as usual they did get the People's Choice Award which I think they've gotten every time they've competed up there, but this year it was not with the usual "landslide"... it was 24 votes to 21, now that's close. They really do very good work. This year when I had a look at all of the entries, I knew they had competition for the first time in years. The one that took 1st was the obvious competition for them this year and judging must have been hard. The details in both these carvings were incredible!!

Each team of 3 carvers is given a block of snow: 8' wide x 8' high x12' long... and 48 hours to work. They start on Friday morning and finish Sunday morning. Very little sleep is had in that time, though they are given a room(s) up there for when they do get a chance to use them. My brother told Mom they carved from Friday morning until 3am Saturday, then up again at 5 am and carved all day Saturday. I'm not sure how much sleep they had Saturday night (Sunday morning) if they had any at all. They sure are tired by the time all is said and done.

As always, click on the pictures to see larger images. It was a dull day up there and doing some snowing, so the pictures are a bit dark.

"Metamorphosis"
First Place Winner
2007

"Guardian Of The Deep"
Second Place Winner
People's Choice Award Winner
2007

The Snow Blind Team - left to right: Collin, Terry (my big brother) and Rob. Rob is new to the team this year. JJ has been the third on the team for many years, and I don't know why the change, but Rob seems to be a good "fit".

Some shots of the other entries:

I thought this was a great entry and very timely. Polar bears on an SUV (Hummer perhaps?)... going down. IMO, it could have been fantastic and a real contender if they'd done more detail, like hair on the bears, tread on the tires.

"The Faces of Broadway"
Third Place Winner
2007

I'm not sure if this is Jopo and Jopette, the usual clowns for the carnival, or if they are because the theme this year is Carnival On Broadway.

This one wasn't to my taste, but I give credit to the team that carved it.

This was interesting the way they did the women on stage for one side and the faces on the back. There wasn't much for fine detail, but still a job well done.


I remember this one was named Freedom, but I'm not sure why. The detail of the fingernails was good, but otherwise I thought it a bit plain. I think this team has great potential.

Just in case you haven't gotten the "feel" of the size of these carvings, here is one last shot that may help convey that feeling:


In the past we've usually gone for lunch with Terry and his lady, but this year the "old guy" was too tired, so wanted to head back home to the lower mainland. His future wife was going to be driving as she had slept while they worked. So Mom and I drove back down the mountain and had lunch in the food fair of one of our malls. Then went to Wal Mart to get some of my digital photos printed for Mom to take home. Ice cream cones from McDonalds in hand we drove back to my place, then Mom drove herself home. She sure is in great shape for 83 years of age.

It was a very good day!