The World Snow Sculpting Championship is being held this week in Stillwater, Minnesota. It started a few days ago when a snow-making machine was brought in from the Afton Alps ski area. They made enough snow to build ten-foot square blocks of packed snow. Then the sculptors began working on the cubes. I strolled through the area on Friday when they were well into their work. I was only there about twenty minutes, then left because it was bitterly cold. It’s not quite as bad today, but the wind chill is 8° F, cold enough to convince me to stay indoors.

Here are some pictures. The teams are from Turkey, Ecuador, Wales, Mexico, France, Canada, Finland, and the United States.