If you can see Mt. Baker, you are part of The Experience
If ice sculpting sounds like another fun, relaxing, winter-themed version of building a sandcastle, you may need to hear from expert ice carver Heather Brice first.
“Imagine holding and operating heavy machinery for 15 hours straight, four days in a row, in the freezing cold,” Brice said. “You’re also lopsided when you’re hanging onto the grinders because the angles aren’t straight. Your dominant hand gets a lot of abuse because it naturally takes over, which leads to fatigue. And because most of the machinery we use is designed for a right-handed person, you couldn’t switch to your left even if you wanted.”
Brice is explaining to me some of the intricacies that go into the sport (or, in Brice’s case, the art) of ice sculpting. One place to showcase a carver’s artistic talent – and muscular prowess – is at the Ice Alaska Championship, held annually in Fairbanks every February and March. The event welcomes entrants from all over, including Russia and China (though the former participants can’t travel right now due to internal restrictions), and features different categories such as multi-, double- and single-block, collegiate, family, and a youth classic.
John Kohler is executive director of Ice Alaska and helps to coordinate, plan and execute this cornerstone event of Alaska’s winter tourism scene, which attracts 40,000 visitors and locals. Though Kohler’s only been with the event a short time, the sport of ice carving has been around since the 1930s.
As regards competing in Fairbanks, Kohler says, “Artists from around the world are attracted to working in a place with the finest natural material their art form has available to them – and the results are amazing, technically and spiritually.”
Brice – who has a background in wood carving and bronze sculpture – found her way to ice carving when she was 30 after meeting her husband, Steve, who was already an avid ice carver. Different than most carvers who come from a culinary background where they’ve learned to carve smaller blocks of warm, melting ice, or been pumpkin carvers or sand sculptors, she appreciates the major difference between working in an indoor space with manageable materials and working outdoors in the freezing cold with huge blocks of ice.
The ice blocks used in the three different competitions (four person/six days; two person/two days; one person/one day) are harvested locally then hauled to the park where the carving is done.
“We have the best large ice available on the planet. It’s the clearest, has the best structural integrity and is super clean,” Kohler explained. “Many ice festivals use flimsy, cracked ice in 200-pound blocks that are 1/10th the size of our clear blocks.”
In preparation for the cutting, the ice first needs to be “groomed” to be free of sediment and snow to ensure uniformity and clarity as it sets up underneath – which means removing the snow early on, when the ice is still thin.
“There’s a lot of art in making the materials for the works of art,” Kohler said. “We have specialized long chainsaws and rigging that cut the slabs from a couple different ponds. Then we use forklifts and zoom booms to float the ice, gaffe, lift and handle it onto lowboy trailers to move it into storage and then placement during the competition and construction of the ice park.”
There isn’t a “theme” to which the carvers need to adhere, but each carver brings their own design, either sketched out or in their mind’s eye. “I use paper templates,” Brice explained, “which makes it easier for me. Some people can create carvings from their imagination, but I need to be able to see it in front of me.”
Once she’s got the design sketched out and the paper templates ready, the body-straining work begins when the ice is hacked, picked at, sawed and sanded until the piece begins to take shape. But even though it’s a competition, carvers frequently help one another out if something goes wrong – like running short on time, the loss of a team member, or missing the right tools.
“The Brices are more than competitors. They’re innovators,” Kohler said of the duo. “Steve’s machine shop cranks out custom drill bits recognized as being some of the best in the world. He’s proud of one he markets as The Dragon’s Tooth, which is scary looking and turns hard ice into butter.”
For visitors to the competition, it’s hard to imagine what the carver’s bodies are going through as you walk across the fairgrounds bundled up inside your warmest winter parka and exhaling steam into the night. Fans are blowing, and hot boxes rest nearby in case water needs to be used as “glue” to attach the various parts of a sculpture. Bright lights shine on luminescent carvings as carvers focus on every aspect of the piece, racing against time to finish the temporal work of art.
When asked what some of her past favorites have been, Heather Brice notes two with mythological themes: “One year, we created an ice sculpture of a colosseum with gargoyles and a leopard inside. It had inlaid snow floors with a checkerboard pattern. Another was a Medusa theme, with a Pegasus and Grecian columns.”
Hearing her describe them has made me want to head back to Fairbanks to witness another championship, which is happening again in 2025. Kohler suggests the middle of the competition as a great time to go because you’ll see the winners of one category and be able to watch as the competitors in the next group begin.
“There’s a lot to take in,” Kohler said. “It takes time. Plan on dressing for being outside in an Arctic climate. Wear good boots so you don’t slip and fall. Get a season pass so you can return on multiple days and enjoy a variety of competition and new creations.
“And,” he adds with a smile, “enjoying a glass of Merlot afterwards pairs nicely with seeing the competition.” X
