Ice sculptors battle the elements during Winnipeg festival

While most Winnipeggers are enjoying these well-above-seasonal temperatures. The folks behind the fantastic ice sculptures at Festival Du Voyageur say the warmer weather presents challenges in creating the frigid figures.

But festival officials say the winter warm streak isn’t cooling efforts to bring the pieces of art to life.

“Last week, I tell you, it was very cold with the -30°C temperatures and the windchill, but really when you’re finishing on a snow sculpture, those are the ideal conditions, just because you’re really allowed to the do the fine polishing much easier in colder conditions,” said David MacNair, veteran snow sculptor.

“-15°C is ideal; you start getting above that, like we are now, you’ve got to work a little slower.”

Atop scaffolding on Wednesday, scraping snow from a massive block, MacNair has spent 36 years mastering the craft of snow sculpting.

He’s one of the numerous artists who will be showcasing their work at this year’s festival but says the warmer weather is an enemy in the endeavour.

“The snow sticks a little bit more once the sun’s out. Like I mean thankfully, today we’ve got some cloud cover, because, with the sun out, it really takes a beating,” he explained.

Environment Canada indicates normal temperatures for February usually hover between lows of -20 and highs of -9°C. But on Wednesday, mercury across the city held steady at around -1°C and it’s expected to stay mild through the weekend, but will likely cool ahead of the festival’s opening on February 17.

There, as part of the International Snow Sculpture Symposium, sculptors from around the globe will be converging on St. Boniface.

MacNair says no matter the temperatures, they’ll be getting a warm welcome.

“Some of them have been coming over, several years – actually a couple of decades for some of them – so it’s an international family that’s developed.”

Christel Lanthier is the snow sculpture co-coordinator for the Festival du Voyageur and she says the undertaking is a massive one and continues even in the current conditions.

“We’re talking about tons and tons and I mean literal tons, of snow,” said Lanthier.

This week artists at Voyageur Park are putting the finishing touches on their masterpieces, emphasizing the cleaner the snow, the better the carve.

“When we build our snow blocks, we want to get the cleanest snow in there possible, if there’s any dirt, anything like that, it will attract the sun and those little dirt spots will start making a hole really fast, especially on warmer days like today,” explained Lanthier.

Lanthier reminds members of the public to keep their distance from the 40 sculptures in the park and around the city, so the pieces last through the festival.

“I would advise not climbing them. Any kind of touching of them — especially in this warmer weather — will advance that melting process.”