SNOWMADE

In the world there are twenty International Competitions of snow sculptures, some of which are held for more than 20 years. A parallel circuit is constituted by the competitions of sculptures of ice that sometimes play simultaneously to the first.

The march of approaching starts previous summer, when the first calls start to be present on the Internet or are sent via e-mail to the old participants. We get a date by which we must present a project of the idea we want to carry out; normally the subject is free, only a few times the organisation proposes a theme. Afterwards an official request is sent to the teams selected that provide quickly to book air tickets.

This is usually the only cost borne by the sculptors; some competitions organization provides a reimbursement of expenses that can reach to cover such costs. The number of persons for team may vary from two to four in relation also to work days and the size of the block, normally a cube by three meters that the organisation and the volunteers of the place shall prepare in the previous days, entering artificial snow within large boxes. This stage is very sensitive: the consistency and therefore the workability and resistance of the sculpture depend greatly on the temperature at which the cube was produced, and by the stage of constipation. It is possible to work from three to five days, in some cases night included, especially in the final days or in case of particularly high temperatures during the day. The organisation provides some useful tools for roughing the cube as pale, buckets, ladders and scaffolding, while each team leads from home the tools for detailed working. Only in rare cases there is the possibility of using mechanical tools that usually are expressly prohibited by the regulations. The competitions are many times part of local festivals that cover also other events, anyway after the closing ceremony there’s always a party. The awards are in cash, in paper (a simple diploma) or in objects.