Did you know that the Old English word for ice is “ises gicel”, which means “an icicle of ice”. Middle English, 300 years later, cleaned that up and changed it to icicle.

It is a beautiful sunny day today, the second day of the Single Block Ice Carving Competition. The temperature is a balmy -6 degrees. The sun shining through the ice gives it a crystalline quality, strikingly clear and sparkling. Last night was a different story. Our Walkabout crew, Steve, Rhonda and Brian were struggling with -30 degree temperatures

.

The camera equipment does not do well at  extreme temps and was being quite temperamental. Many of the sites were dark and no one was carving because of the cold. The ice becomes very brittle and hard to work with. One carver said he could barely get the bit to go into the ice.

The Enchanted Woods are anything but quiet now.  Single Block is a work in progress today. There are twenty-five entries in the competition this year. That is three times the number of entries we had last year. It’s fun having so many, and

Dean enjoying a break with a cup of coffee

the woods are full and noisy. Many of the sculptors prefer the Single Block carving over the Multi Block and Double Block because of the complete autonomy of the event. They have complete freedom to do what they want.

   1. Daniel Bergin “Musical Escape”
2. Steve Brice “Floating”
3.Brian Carter “Walk The Edge”
4.Jean Collin-Satre “Slipping Through The  Net”
5. Brian Connors “Crusty”
6. Todd Dawson “Barnyard Beach Bum”
7. Steve Dean “Flight Risk”
8.Dean DeMarais  “It  A’int Over Until ….
9.”Tator” Brian Edwards “Uh Oh”
10.Shannon Gerasimchik “Bot Rock”
11. Stuart  Grayson “Feed Me”
12. Daniel  Helmstadter “Cold Chameleon”
13  Edwin Hutchison “Walk In The Park”
14. Christoph Jackson “Hidden Beauty”
15. Troy Jackson “Mind Over Matter”
16. Hiroaki Kimura “Want To Protect’
17. Riley Knaus “Make A Splash”
18. Yoshiaki Kobayashi “Whale Shark In The Sea”
19. Sam Mayes “The Duelist”
20. Rachael Mirth “the Life of the River”
21. Abby Peterson “Against the Wind”
22. David Smith “Catching Dreams”
23. Kevin Starow “Nothingness”
24. James Stugart “Key’P Away”
25.  Miho Takemi “Swim In The Starry Sky”