International Snow Sculpture Winners Announced

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International Snow Sculpture Winners Announced in Breckenridge, Colorado

•Team Canada, Yukon wins gold, Team China wins silver and Team Wyoming, USA wins bronze (photos attached, please credit Carl Scofield)

•16 teams representing 9 countries used 65 hours to create the enormous and beautiful snow sculptures

•B.Roll of the sculptures and interviews with the winning teams and spectators can be uploaded from the Breckenridge Ski Resort’s ftp site after 6 p.m. MST tonight:
http://videotransfer.vailresorts.com
username: snow
password: blizzard
folder: snow sculptures

BRECKENRIDGE, COLO. - Jan. 25, 2009 - Sixty-five sculpting hours, determination through variable weather conditions and extremely talented sculptors were the ingredients for success for Team Canada, Yukon to bring their sculpture, “Family Reunion” to life. Team Canada will take home the gold today at the 2009 Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge, Colorado.

"This year's sculptures stood out from previous years given the challenges faced with unseasonably warm temperatures, the meticulous attention to detail and the sculptors really thinking of the blocks as 360 degree sculptures with stories to tell," said Jenn Cram, one of this year's judges, ceramist and the project manager of the Arts District of Breckenridge. "The judging was very difficult this year given the quality of all of the pieces, but Team Canada, Yukon's execution, attention to details and the spiritual nature of the sculpture set it apart from the others."

The sculpting finished at 10 a.m. on Saturday, January 24, and judges took more than two hours to decide on the winners. An official awards ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. today at Breckenridge's Riverwalk Center to announce the winners and present them with medals.

The results are as follows: Gold: Team Canada, Yukon with “Family Reunion” a sculpture of elders dancing around an intricately carved totem pole, swirling their button blankets and calling upon their ancestors to impart their wisdom for the people of today. Silver: Team China with “The March of Spring,” an elaborate and magical sculpture of dancing fairy butterflies and blooming flowers symbolic of spring. Bronze: Team Wyoming, USA with “Trunks Optional,” a humorous yet realistic looking sculpture of an elephant weighing down a diving board while contemplating a plunge into a pond.

Thousands of spectators watched this week as 16 teams from nine countries participated in this FREE event, now in its 19th year. The finished pieces were achieved without the use of power tools, internal support structures or colorants - just the ingenuity of man and a medium that lends itself, if only temporarily, to the persuasion of chisels, saws, chicken wire and even carrot scrapers. The sculptures will remain on display at the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge, Colorado until Sunday, February 1 – weather permitting.

Editor’s Notes: Facts from the Budweiser International Snow Sculpture Championships

•The Breckenridge Ski Resort makes the snow and the Town of Breckenridge Public Works Department loads it into dump trucks and takes it to the event site. The special blend of snow that the ski area creates (higher water content) is known to be some of the best snow in the world to sculpt with.

•The Town of Breckenridge Public Works Department takes great pride in forming the blocks of snow. Front-end loaders take the snow from the dump trucks to the event site. The snow is blown into the blocks by a huge snow blower. After a couple loads, about 4-6 people, “snow stompers,” climb into the blocks and stomp the snow to pack it into the blocks. The people then climb out of the block and another layer gets blown in and the people get back into the block and stomp the snow.

•Produced by the Breckenridge Resort Chamber and the Town of Breckenridge, this prestigious event is not possible with out the help of many community partners and volunteers. More than 1000 volunteer hours are needed over the course of three weeks in January.

•Snow carving in Breckenridge began as a local pastime during the town's winter carnival - Ullr Fest - in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The founder’s of Breckenridge’s International Snow Sculpture Championships are still members of team Breck today.