Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. In Fairbanks today the Ice Alaska event of 2025 has begun. The park opened at noon and has been busy all afternoon. The slides are busy, the snack bar is busy. We are b-a-c-k!
More importantly, to ice carvers it means the World Ice Art Championship, the most intense competition in the world, has begun. The multi block competition began at 8:00am this morning with the first blowing of the horn of 2025. The horn indicating the finish of the competition will blow at 10:00 pm on the 19th of February. The multi block classic involves teams of four artists who use nine blocks of ice to create a massive show piece that is absolutely mind-boggling. The teams have 110 hours to carve and their creations have a height limit of 18 feet. Each block is 6 ft x 4 ft x 30in. The winning team will receive a prize check of $3,500.00.
This year the competition will be intense with 12 teams competing. While walking around the area today, nothing made a lot of sense. There were lots of sculptors working: sanding, shaving, chopping, drawing. Lots and lots of BIG blocks of ice. It almost felt eerie; it will be much busier and understandable tomorrow I’m sure.
It was dark when I left tonight and all the lights were on. I’ll take some night pictures of the park tomorrow-it is fairy tale spectacular. Come pay a visit to the Ice Park and watch these massive sculptures come alive.