A team from Wales and The West Country will be in Breckenridge, Colorado for the 26th annual International Snow Sculpture Championships which take place between 26th and 30th January 2016.
The Championships will see 16 teams from all over the world descend on the famous mountain town where they will be tasked with turning a 12-foot and 20-tonne block of snow into a work of art.
Using just their bare hands and a selection of hand tools, the teams of four will work tirelessly for 65 hours over the course of five days as they sculpt their piece of snow into a masterpiece worthy of being crowned the highly-acclaimed winner.
These other team are from the Yukon in Canada, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Mexico, Ulaan Baatar in Mongolia and Ukraine, along with several US enries.
This year, the Great Britain team will be led by experienced sculptor and International Snow Sculpture Championships veteran Ollie Annaly, who will mentor the team as they craft their carefully planned Tale of Two Dragons design. Team GB will be joined by teams from countries such as Germany, Canada and Mexico who are all hoping their sculpture will scoop first place.
The enormous blocks of snow are built ahead of the artists arriving in Breck so the blocks have time to settle and compact under their own weight before being ready to be carved. Using diggers and a huge blower, snow is transferred from trucks into wooden moulds where a team of ‘snow stompers’, climb onto the block and stomp the snow to help pack it down. The process is repeated until the mould is full and packed into a sculpt-able block.
The grand finale will see the winners crowned at the award ceremony on 30 January and the sculptures will remain on display for the public to marvel at until 7 February 2016.
