The sun rose (note the past tense) this morning at 7:48 and will set this evening 10 hours 30 minutes and 42 seconds later at 6:19. We’re still gaining about 6 minutes 45 seconds a day, and the sun is more than 19 ° above the horizon at noon.

Spring activities are getting started. The Yukon Quest is over, and the Iditarod had its ceremonial start in Anchorage Saturday and the Willow restart yesterday.

Here in Fairbanks the Ice Park is open and the single block carving competition has been judged. I got my season pass Friday, but it was overcast and very fine snow was falling. I tried to take some pictures, but in the flat light it was hard to get anything to show. Saturday the sun was shining, and I hope I got some decent pictures of the single block carvings. I’ll post some over the next few days.

The multi-block carving started yesterday and will continue through this week, with the judging being Friday night. I’ll try to get some photos of the pieces being worked on. Meanwhile, I’ve included photos of the 1st place abstract and 1st place realistic single-block sculptures.

Ice Art

This was first place and artists’ choice in the abstract category. The title is “Meteor final destination,” appropriate, since the artists,  Vitaliy Lednev and Sergey Loginov, are Russian. This photo was taken Saturday, in sunshine.

1st real flat 13

This was the judges choice for first place realistic. The photo was taken Friday, in flat light due to overcast skies. The Title is “Locust” and the artists, Junichi Nakamura and Shintaro Okamoto, are from Japan.

Man o'War

This one, “Man o’War,” was Artists’ Choice in the realistic category, though unplaced by the judges. I think the other ice artists were impressed by that unsupported pennon. The artists were Chris Foltz and Jillian Howell, USA.