“Branches on the evergreens are dressed in snowy white, as soft the moonlight sparkles, on this blanket of the night. Delicate, untouched and pure, is found the ground below, as gentle moon beams glimmer on the freshly fallen snow.” It is day five of the multi-block competition and more and more progress can be seen every time you take a walk in the woods. Tator’s team has two snarling animals facing each other. Steve’s team has an almost completed elephant’s head. It will be fun watching it being lifted and attached to its body. A couple more teams are progressing with more “lacey” and delicate cutouts. Tomorrow is the final day so it will be fun to watch the last minute hustle and bustle. I thought it would be fun to give you some more information about the various carvers. On Tator’s team: Tator is a chef and an artist and specializes in pumpkin carving. He has competed in Foodnetwork’s Halloween Wars. Steve Cox sculpted many snow sculptures around the Ice Park last year. He owns Creative Ice in Seattle. Daniel Miller is an artist, an author and illustrator from Wilson, Oklahoma. Jeffery Stahl is from Eureka, Illinois. Steve’s team: Steve is a professional carver and artist and has invented hundreds of tools. Steve Dean is also a professional carver and has carved in almost all competitions since Ice Alaska started in 1989. He likes carving at night because the light coming through the ice makes it seem like carving in glass. Chris Foltz is an executive chef at Oregon Coast Culinary Institute. David Smith graduated from Culinary Arts school with honors. He creates with pen, paintbrush, chisel and chainsaw. Karlis Ile’s team: Karlis is a sculptor from Latvia. He works with bronze, stainless steel, granite, wood, ice, snow and fire and sand. His wife Maija has a Masters Degree in Sculpture and has won awards in Japan, China, Russa, Canada, Switzerland and Germany. Mintauts Buskevics has twenty years of experience organizing international ice and sand sculpture festivals. Ainars Zingniks is a professional wood carver and builds historic Viking wood boats. Dean’s team: Dean DeMarais is owner of ICE FX in Dallas, Texas. He has been carving since 1988. Sammy Moore and Josh Nivan are new carvers here. Andrew Thistlewaite discovered ice sculpting in 1996 when he was a culinary apprentice at the University of Notre Dame. James Stugart’s team: James is from Fairbanks and was introduced to ice carving during a high school field trip. Robert Stugart has been competing with brother James for over 10 years. Thomas Stugart, James and Robert’s father makes their team a family affair. Anton Lazukin, in his third year here, is becoming an asset to the Ice Alaska team. Wade’s team: Wade Lapp is here for his second time. He is a wood and sand carver from Kelso, Washington. Kevin Roscoe owner of Cascade Crystal Ice Sculptures in Seattle has been featured on Good Morning America and the Discovery Channel. Brian Carter lives in Charleston, SC and is a former professor at Pacific College of Health and Science in San Diego. We are so thankful for this group of gifted artists who can create such magnificent treasures for us.