International Ice Carving Competition

And the 2018 winners are…
1st Place & Metro People Choice Award – The Baisas Brothers from Canada & the Philippines for Alliance.

2nd Place: Iceuropean – Samuel Girault & Michal Mizula from France and Poland for Magic.

3rd Place & Artist Choice: Team Sakha – Egor Stepanov & Alexey Andreev from the Republic of Sakha in Russia for Talking to the Moon.

The International Ice Carving Competition takes place in a giant tent which will mitigate very warm or very cold temperatures and the ice sculptures will remain in pristine condition for the duration of the Festival.

Up to 10 two-person teams of professional artists from around the world will take 15 blocks of crystal clear carving ice and 34 hours to create their ice carving masterpiece. The competition opens on Wednesday, January 23 at 8 am and ends on Friday, January 25 at noon. The sculptures are scored by qualified judges and the awards are presented at 4:30 pm on Friday, January 25.

Learn more about the professional ice carving artists that are coming from around the world to compete at Boardwalk Ice on Whyte.

What’s so special about carving ice?

Carving ice is made by a special process that freezes water from the bottom up in a Clinebell machine. This process allows the impurities to rise to the top and be trimmed off, resulting in a crystal clear block of ice. Each block of ice is 1M (40″) X .5M (20″) X .25M (10″) and weighs 135 KG (297 LBS).

How do the judges score the carvings?

The carvings are scored by skilled judges and each ice carving is judged on first impression, structure, skill and technique, details, concept and design, creativity and artistic merit.

Canada Cup of Ice Carving

The Canada Cup of Ice Carving will showcase the best of ice carving talent from Winterlude in Ottawa, Ice Magic in Lake Louise and the Boardwalk Ice on Whyte Festival in Edmonton.

The Canada Cup of Ice Carving will be held at Boardwalk Ice on Whyte in 2019.

The top scoring team from each of the 3 International Ice Carving Competitions will receive a guaranteed berth at the following year’s Canada Cup of Ice Carving.