Edmonton has has an "Ice on Whyte" winter event for several years. It started out as something for families - ice slides, some sculpture, etc. But with the big ice castle in Hawrelak Park for the last couple of years, Ice on Whyte has moved to being just about the ice carving. This year, 2019, it is hosting the 2019 Canada Cup of Ice Carving, with artists from Canada and around the world.
This event has had a lot of bad weather luck, with unseasonal warming happening at just the wrong time. The new "Sand on Whyte" sand carving event has similarly had trouble with rain. This winter has been no exception. The display started on Thursday January 24. Very early that morning the temperature was -21C, so things were looking good. But, by afternoon Thursday it was +1C, so a bit of melting was happening. Today, Friday, it has hit +4C, and considerable melting has been happening.
I believe a lot of the problems have been caused by the venue - everything is inside some tents, along with a firepit, bar, etc. Add to that a lot of warm bodies walking around, and you can see the ice dripping. What's more, where the blocks of ice were "glued" together during the cold, the gluing has come undone and pieces (like arms) are dropping off.
(My apologies if I got some of the credits here mixed up - I didn't take pictures of the signs in front of the statues!!)
By Van Isle Ice: Ken Harper and Mike Dunlop, from BC, Canada
|
|
By Russian Bears: Eduard Ponomarenko and Valeriy Batalov, from Russia
|
By Steve and Scott: Steve Buzak and Scott Harrison, from Edmonton and Calary, Canada
By Chainsaw Ninjas: Niels Brouwers and Thomas Weijenberg, from The Netherlands
By The Baisas Brothers: Ross Baisas and Antonio Baisas, from Canada and The Philippines
By Heilongjiang Fine Arts Carving Academy: Jianjua Wang and Shuai Wang, from China
|
By Ledus: Karlis Ile and Maija Puncule, from Latvia
By Malmex: Julio Martinez and Kee Gawah, from Mexico and Malaysia
By Team Sakha: Egor Stepanov and Alexey Andreev, from Republic of Sakha, Russia
By Double Dutch Trouble: Wilfred Stijger and Edith Van de Wetering, from The Netherlands
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
