North Pole Weather 3/25/13

The sun rose this morning at 7:31, and will set after 12 hours and 52 minutes, at 8:24 this evening. We’re gaining 6 minutes 44 seconds a day, and the sun on the snow near noon is blinding. I regret to say that while it may be spring officially, there is no melting in sight here. For the ice park, this in wonderful. I personally am a little tired of almost 2’ of snow still on the ground, with more snow today. (It was snowing when I went to bed last night, and by 8 this morning we’d accumulated another 3″.) Still nothing like I hear the middle of the lower 48 is getting, though the south coast of Alaska is scheduled for a foot or more.

Speaking of the ice park, I went through the Youth division Friday. This division is for artists through 18 years of age. I’d say they did a pretty good job.

Fuego, 1st place Youth division. Artists Josh Lundy and Anand
Enkhbold.

Stargate, 2nd Place Youth division. Artist Tane Timling.

Cygnus Olor, 3rd place Youth Division. Artists Joe Plett and Jed Hall.

Ice Sculpture: Places 3-5 Abstract

It’s officially the first full day of spring, but with 20″ of snow still on the ground and temperatures well below freezing it’s had to tell that from the local weather! Mainly photos today, with the rest of the multi-block abstract placers.

Singing in Unison, 3rd place abstract. Vitaliy Lednev, Russia, Mario Amegee, Monaco, Junko Yanagida, Japan, and Speareo Stephens, USA.

On My Way Home, 4th place abstract, multi-block. Tian Zuo Wei, China, Linda Heck, USA, Qun Li Mu, China, and Ling Zhi Zhang, China.

The Dream of the Sky, 5th place abstract. Sergei Zinner, Viacheslav Maksimov, Andrey Koshelev, and Evgenii Gorbunov, Russia

Breaking news: I found out just this morning that there’s an A to Z theme reveal going on, so I signed up at the last minute. My theme? I’m doing my A to Z blogs from my books, both characters and background information. For characters I’ll introduce them quickly, say what point of time they’re talking from since their situations change drastically through the books, and let them talk. The format of background information will vary according to what I’m talking about. Bold type will indicate that more information has been or will be available in another A to Z post. All of these blogs will be scheduled to go live at 6 pm Alaska time.

More Ice Sculptures

Photos again today, with the third through 5th places in the realistic multi-block category at the World Ice Art Championships.

Unstoppable, 3rd place realistic muti-block. Keven Laughlin, Sam Vose, David Bourdeau, Carl Eady, USA

Extreme Ice, 4th place multi-block realistic: Qi Feng An (China) Di An (China) Julio Martinez (Mexica) and Aubrey Newton(USA)

Crevasse, 5th place realistic multi-block. Anita Tabor, Jacob Harding, Gina Eaton, Greg Bartholomew, USA

Although is has not been warm enough to cause significant melting, “Foreign Object,” shown last Thursday, unfortunately lost its head in the wind storm (by Fairbanks standards) Wednesday and Thursday.

North Pole Weather 3/18/13

The sun rose this morning at 7:57 am – past tense, again! It will set 12 hours 5 minutes later, at 8:02 this evening. With the sun 24° above the horizon at noon, and the ground well-covered with snow, it is getting quite bright during the day. No real warming yet; we’re getting into the teens in the daytime and 10 to 20 below at night.

What, 12 hours, and the equinox is not until 3:02 in the morning Wednesday? Well, sunrise and sunset are calculated when the upper rim, not the center, of the sun is on the horizon, and the refraction of the atmosphere must also be taken into account. Suffice it that today the day is slightly longer than the night.

Writing? I need to do some major revisions (still in the thinking-out stage) in Rescue Operation, and write the rest of my A to Z blogs. I’ve just finished L, and hope to get through P this week. (I’m introducing characters and background from my books.) My OLLI classes will increase to 6 a week in April, and I expect to be very busy. Thank goodness they don’t require homework, but it’s a half hour drive each way.

I’ve been getting out to the ice park, and I’ll have more photos Tuesday and Thursday. For today I’ll post a pair that aren’t really sculptures, but part of the festivities the evening they announced the winning artists, and lit a bonfire to celebrate. I saw the bonfire site earlier – branches surrounded by a column of ice walls, with vents to allow plenty of air to reach the blaze. The surprising part was how much of the ice walls were left a week after the fire. It’s definitely still winter here, however brightly the sun is shining.

Reminder: Horse Power is FREE on Amazon through midnight Pacific Time today.

Ice Sculpture Multi-Block

Here are the top two winners in each category (realistic and abstract) of the multi-block competition of the World Ice Art Championships. I have to say some could fit either category. I am surprised (and pleased) at how well the USA did this year.

Hunting Dragons, 1st place realistic. Steve and Heather Brice and Steve and Justin Cox, USA.

Winter Breeze, 1st place abstract. Stan Kolonko,
Chris Uyehara, Jerry
Perun, and Wei Sen Liang, USA

Foreign Object, 2nd place realistic. Chris Foltz, Woojay Poynter, Jillian Howell, Amelia Rombach, USA

Hope, 2nd place abstract. Ivan Zuev,
Aleksandr Parfenov,
Mikhail Vasilenko, Eduard Ponomarenko, Russia

World Ice Art Chapionships Multi-block 2

Here are the sixth through the tenth placings in the 2012 World Ice Art Championships, along with a few shots of the general layout of the competition site.

Sixth place went to “Geoflames,” sculpted by a USA team.

Seventh place was “Playin’ in the Garden,” again by a team from the USA. This one had a “viewing window” (actually three atop each other) to indicate the best place to see the sculpture. This photo was taken through that window, also carved from ice.

Eighth place went to “The Super Raven Guide.” The two carvers were from Russia, and it took me a while to see the raven’s head. I was trying to make it an aurora, and it may have been intended to evoke one. Most of the sculptures were done by teams of four. This and the fourth place “The Land Calls” a couple of days ago were carved by 2-person teams.

Ninth place and Artist Choice was “Spring.” I’ve used this one before, but it’s worth using again. The artists on this one were from China.

Tenth Place and Governor’s Award was “Olde #7 On The Bridge To Nowhere.” The artists were from the USA.

The ice as cut from the pond has a layer of cloudy ice  near the surface, where snow and ice intermingle. Although most sculptors cut this off, it can be used with interesting effect, as on this pedestal.

Finally a wider view of part of the competition area. Snow is being blown off  “Mother” in this picture. I’ll have at least one more blog on the kids’ area of the ice park by daylight, and I might get to see it at night, lit up, next week. If I do, I’ll get some pictures. The sculptures are incredible bathed in colored lights in the dark. If you’d like to see a particular piece under the colored lights, leave a comment. No promises, but I’ll try.

Multi-Block Ice Sculpture 1

My internet access is via a phone line (DSL) so I am well aware that pages with lots of photos tend to load slowly. This is one reason I’ve broken the World Ice Art Championships into several blogs. (The other is that the awards for Tourist Trap are keeping me pretty busy marketing, and several short blogs are easier than one long one.) Beside, who wants to look at that many photos at once?

First place in the multi-block competition was “Prickly Reception,” by a team from Japan. Don’t ask me how they managed the porcupine. I did find out how they achieved the leopard’s frosty spots: shave out the ice, saving the shavings. Then pack the shavings back into the hollows and heat.

Second place was entitled “Rebirth of Elements.” Three of the carvers were from Russia; the fourth was from Monaco.

Third place went to “Tiger Marriage Desire.” One of the carvers was from the USA, and the other three were from China.

Fourth Place was “The Land Calls.” Both sculptors were from Russia.

Fifth Place (and one of my favorites) was “The Gallery.” One of the carvers was from the Phillipines; the other 3 were from the USA.

One question I’ve had was answered yesterday. We’ve had over a foot of snow since the carving started — why don’t the sculptures all have snow caps? The answer? Leaf blowers!