Record-high warmth melting sculptures at World Ice Art Championships
Published Saturday, March 8, 2008
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The temperature at Fairbanks International Airport climbed to a record 46 degrees on Friday, and ice sculptors at the World Ice Art Championships were trying to keep their cool.
Or at least keep their masterpieces intact until judging begins.
“It’s been a hectic morning,” said Mary Gauvin, publicity manager for Ice Alaska, noting that the group spent about $1,000 on about 500 pounds of dry ice to help keep sculptures frozen.
“We have gone out of our way to make sure these sculptures stay good.”
Volunteers and sculptors have worked furiously to prevent sculptures from melting by packing vulnerable pieces with dry ice, Tyvec House Wrap and blankets.
“It creates a cooler,” Gauvin said of the insulation system. “Some parts of sculptures are completely covered with blankets.”
Friday marked the third day in a row of above-40-degree temperatures in Fairbanks. The temperature hit 42 degrees Wednesday and Thursday.
The high of 46 on Friday broke the old record of 44 set in 1988, said meteorologist Cary Freeman with the National Weather Service in Fairbanks.
The warm temperatures are the result of a chinook — warm, moist air from the south Pacific coming over the Alaska Range.
While temperatures will cool slightly today, it will still be warmer than normal through the weekend, Freeman said, with highs in the mid-30s and lows in the teens. The normal high and low temperatures for this time of year are 18 above and 9 below, respectively.
At the Ice Park on Friday, sculptors were still working on entries for the multi-block competition, which ended at 4 a.m. today. Judging was scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. today.
Most of the sculptors were sleeping Friday afternoon in preparation for a full night of work, Gauvin said.
The single-block competition ended last week. “Those sculptures are starting to completely fall apart,” she said.
“We’re hoping for cooler temperatures,” she said. “We want all the sculptors to feel like they had a chance to do their best work.”
Though organizers had to close one slide because of a “structural integrity issue,” the kids ice park is holding up well, Gauvin said.
Skiers at Birch Hill Ski and Snowboard Area were enjoying the warm temperatures on Friday, area manager Craig Taylor said.
“We’re rocking and rolling,” he said.
The warm weather hasn’t taken too much of a toll on the snow pack, Taylor said.
“It’s disappearing, but we still have plenty of snow,” he said. “It’s icier in the morning and as the afternoon goes by it gets softer.”
The ski area is scheduled to be open through March 30, he said.
“If we make it that far,” Taylor said.
The Tired Iron River Rally, a vintage snowmachine race scheduled for today on the Chena River at Pike’s Landing, will go on as scheduled, but organizer Craig Compeau said he will ask racers and spectators not to park on the river because of overflow and sketchy conditions just upstream from the race staging area.
“We’re pretty much going to keep vehicles off the river,” he said.
Compeau also is considering moving the starting line for the race downstream where the ice is thicker.
While Compeau was contending with record-high temperatures this year, he recalled last year when the race was postponed twice due to cold weather.
“Weird,” Compeau said, summing up the weather.
Community Discussion
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Why would a spokeperson say something is completely falling apart? Why not say..."We're doing the best we can to maintain the integrity of the sculptures under these extrordinary circumstances." Why would I want to pay money to see something that is completely falling apart? You hear this discussion during warm years, but maybe Ice Alaska should finally, seriously consider moving this up 2 weeks. That's all it would take. Mid-February to mid-March will ensure that this won't happen again. This is not the first year they have been affected by warm weather in early March and won't be the last. If you want to maximize the possibility of admissions...make sure you hold this event when it's cold enough for a long enough period of time for Fairbanks to enjoy it. If they opened in mid-February this year...the judging and lighting would have been done 2 weeks ago and a lot of people would have already had a chance to have seen the works of art. Not this year...
Well, we were planning on seeing the sculptures this weekend but now that I'm reading that they're all covered up I guess we'll wait to see how they fare and maybe go next week instead. It's too expensive to pay the fee and see blankets covering up the ice....
Perhaps this ice park should no longer exist, precious resources are extinguished for a block of ice that will soon melt away indefinately. ~America the home of the bone headed~ Eveything that people do in this state is that in reflection of disgusting Texas.
We went to the ice park last night (about 12 of us!) I take my daughter every year. I'd have to say that this year was by far the most disappointing for me.
Most of the multi-block sculptures were covered up. The majority of the single-block sculptures have either fallen apart or the features have melted to the point where all fine details are gone. In addition, 2 (not one) of the large slides on the south side of the park were closed. In the kiddie park, the maze, the octopus (crawling tunnels) and several of the slides were closed off with caution tape. We only mamanged to find one of the 'ice baskets" to spin the kids in - all the rest were broken and frozen to the ground.
Overall, this warm weather has really wreaked havoc on the park. And, its a shame, because those artists create wonderful creations. In fact, of all the art in town, this is the only "must see" for me and mine.
It wasn't a complete loss. The kids still had a good time. I got a few photos that might be worth sending to the relatives. But, if I had known the shape the park was in, I probably wouldn't have gone.
I seriously think they should consider pulling this competition back a few calendar weeks in the future.
Normally, when its about 40 below, we Alaskans joke "can't wait for that global warming", but, it looks like we are seeing the negative effects now... :(
I think we should blame it on the wolves and get some more chinook helicopters up in the air to killem' all! Old al gore had it wrong..it's not the humans, it's the wolves that are causing these record temps.
I went to Ice Park in 2004. My man and I froze!!! It was -35F!!! You never know what the weather will be like.
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