The 2008 Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Competition

The 2008 Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Competition, held in my hometown of Breckenridge Colorado.  Teams from around the world carve a sculpture out of a 10x10x12 block of snow and compete for various awards.  This is the second year that I have been here for this event, and like last year I volunteered a few hours here and there to help with the event.  As of February 3rd, all but one of the sculptures are still standing.  The Team Germany sculpture collapsed about 2 hours after judging finished.  They were fortunate to have remained intact for the judging - they ended up winning 3rd place and the Artists' Choice award for having such a techincally difficult sculpture.  First place and the "People's Choice Award" went to Team China, who had only 2 sculptors on their team (most teams had 4 people working on the sculptures), Second place went to Team Yukon.  The "Kids Choice Award" went to Team Ontario.  I think that this year was even better than last year - the detail on the sculptures seemed much greater and overall they were more impressive.  The sculptures will be cleared out on Feb. 4th so that the area they are held in can return to its previous state as a parking lot.  Here are pictures of all the sculptures tho, so they can be remembered in all their glory.