One block, one hour.... Ice competition

During our time at the ice sculpting competition in Lake Louise there was one hour set aside for brief competition within the competition during the second day. Basically, the sculptors are given one block of ice and one hour in which they can make anything they want. One person from the two person team attends. It was a fascinating display to watch. I'm pretty lucky because I see people carve ice all the time, but I've never seen it done on a competitive level. The new "twist" this year was that they judges did not know who made the ice sculptures. They did blind judging on them.  So all ten contestants had an area designated for them and they began sculpting for one hour. I stayed outside to watch and even made a video. Randy and the two other judges were sequestered inside at the bar. Upon completion of the sculptures, they came out and inspected them. All of the competitors went inside to wait. (I went inside too because it was so very very cold outside, I really don't know how the sculptors can stand being in the cold that long.)

This competition was held at Lake Louise Inn, which was very close to the Fairmount where the 3 day competition was being held. 

It never ceases to amaze me how tall an ice sculptor can make a block of ice. Of course ice is always melting and getting smaller, but it's almost like magic how they make it grow. Also, the artistry involved blows my mind, I can barely color in the lines, much less create a spectacular work of art.  They cut the pieces and fuse them together making one block of ice appear like many blocks of ice. 

Basically, I'm just going to post pictures in this particular blog and you can see for yourself the amazing things people can make out of ice and given they only had an hour, it's pretty incredible. 

 The finished pieces are below.

This was the winner and it also won the people's choice award

This came in 2nd

This was 3rd 

This one was one of my favorites, basically a close 4th.

Lake Louise: The Fairmount Chateau

Once again Randy has taken me to an interesting event. My husband was picked to judge a major ice sculpting competition in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. Let me begin by saying I love Canada. I love the flag, the national anthem, maple syrup, hockey, the one and two dollar coins, and of course the Tim Horton's. There are a lot of things to love about our neighbors to the north but the temperature is not one of them.  They obviously can't help their climate, however it does create an opportunity for fantastic winter sports, which in my opinion are the best kind of sports.

Lake Louise is nestled in the Canadian Rockies. It has powerful views of the mountains and the lake is basically all glacial run off. I hear in the summer it is a beautiful aqua blue color, but while we were here it was obviously frozen and becoming a polar bear's dream. There was ice skating, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, horse drawn sleighs, dog sled tours, and at the end of a 2 km on a path there is a frozen waterfall. I don't know how a place gets much better for winter excitement, that is until you see the inside of the hotel Fairmount.

The Fairmount, has an amazing spa, great food, friendly people, and lots of lovely indoor views of the mountains if you don't want to venture out into it. It is a very relaxing place.  The  spa offers a great deal of services, manicures, pedicures, facials, hydrotherapy, aqua jets, and massage. There is also high tea everyday from noon to four. The menu looked extraordinary, including a "flight of strawberries" but sadly I did not get to experience this.  If you would like to go outside, but are not a huge fan of sports or exercise they also have a sleigh drawn by horses to take you around the lake.

The Chateau is in the midst of Canada's first national park, Banff, this is why it's an ideal location for housing all of the outdoor winter activities. Everyday there was fresh powder. When the sun peaks out the glacier becomes visible on the mountain.

When booking your vacation line your activities up in advance, especially the dog sled. It was completely booked up. The sleigh ride occurs at various times throughout the day, it goes around part of the lake. The ice skating has a really cool ice castle built in the middle of it. 

You can rent skis, ice skates, snow shoes, from the hotel, but it's always good if you can pack your own. The 2km walk included an amazing frozen waterfall, it was massive. There were several off path trails to take that scaled the side of the mountain. Using snow shoes you can go pretty far out into the park. There are bears though, they mostly sleep in the winter, but bear bells are a good idea. 

The finished ice sculptures stay up for about two months every year. So, if you vist the Fairmount the ice will still be viewable for a while. 

This is where we went: 

http://www.fairmont.com/lake-louise/ 

http://www.banfflakelouise.com/Area-Events/Festivals/Winter/SnowDays/Ice-Magic-Festival