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High winds and top honours at ice carving challenge

A total of 15 teams competed for top honours, with teams coming from Italy, Japan, the US and a combined Sweden/Belgium team for the sixth annual De Beers Inspired Ice International Ice Carving Competition.

This year’s winners were Japan/US duo Junichi Nakamura & Shinichi Sawamura with King of the Safari, a detailed elephant’s head.

Bogdan Stanciu/NNSL Photo
Ice carving competition winners Shinichi Sawamura and Junichi Nakamura
March 24 2018

De Beers spokesperson Tom Ormsby said the turnout was the largest ever.

"We had the largest field and largest international field (in the event’s history)”

Ken Diedrich, director of the National Ice Carving Association in Ohio, was one of the judges for the event, and is one of the founders of the Inspired Ice Competition. He’s seen the competition grow year to year.

"It's great we had such an international base, and that international base has grown – we got to see new art from new faces, and familiar faces come out and do more stunning pieces.”

On display in the centre of the windblown Long John Jamboree site, the carvers worked tirelessly from Thursday morning until Saturday afternoon – with a delayed start on Thursday due to the Italian team not being able to make it to the build site on time.

“On Thursday night finished at 11, because they were accommodating the Italian team who couldn't get here on time, so they pushed it back,” said Ormsby

The delayed start meant that the carvers were out until 11 p.m. working on their art, while they were treated to an art show of a different kind.

“At 11 o’clock the Northern lights were crazy and after carving ended, they were all laying on the ice outside the carving area and just looking at the sky for 25 minutes.”

Though the Jamboree was closed until 5 p.m. on Saturday due to the strong winds, the carvers weren’t given respite and were working all day – competition could not be paused.

"Carvers have to go home, they all have flights – we never delay, we deal with what comes and we live by the schedule,” said Diedrich.

The wind damaged one of the sculptures. Angel On The Moon, Mowafak Nema and Nathan McKeough’s sculpture, toppled over – as McKeough was having a picture taken next to it.

“A couple from Ottawa asked if they could take my picture, so I knelt down next to it and I heard a thunk and the whole thing came down and nearly killed me – if I was two feet to the left I would’ve been crushed.”

Fortunately, the judging had completed 30 minutes earlier, and the duo went on to win a silver medal and 7th place overall.

Diedrich commented on the impermanence of the sculptures.

“That's part of ice carving – these guys are all flying home in the next day or two, and these (carvings) are all going to go right back into Great Slave Lake, where they came from. The memory is in their head and in an iPhone somewhere."