Well, in the end, we didn't go to the Ice Sculpture show.. I've been a couple of times before, though, and I loved it! AND, this year, my friend, Jessica went, and she said I could use her pictures!!
Jessica and her family went up in the early afternoon, to Lake Louise, to the Ice Show, and then after that, met a bunch of our friends to go sledding at a ski-hill, on their way back to Calgary. We couldn't go...too bad for us.
The Ice Sculpting show ended Sunday, January 27th. The ACTUAL carving competition was from the 18th to the 20th.
24 sculpting teams from around the world compete for 34 hours, at The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, Alberta, using With 300 lbs (136 kg) blocks of ice!
The theme this year was "Carve a Song"... awwww! Now I really wished I had've gone!
The results for the International Ice Carving Competition
(as per the
http://www.banfflakelouise.com/Area-Events/Festivals/Winter/SnowDays/Ice-Magic-Festival website) are:
1st Place: Team Chris & Victor - Run through the Jungle
2nd Place: Team GB - I'm Your Puppet
3rd Place: Team Scott & Ross - Sound of an Angel
People's Choice: Team Chris & Victor - Run through the Jungle
Carver's Choice: Team Sakha Ice Art 2 - Song of White Cranes
Fairmont's Choice: Team Dream Team - Melody of the Wind
There's some really good before and after pictures on the Banff National Park Facebook page - they shared Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise's pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/banffnationalpark#!/FairmontChateauLakeLouise
https://www.facebook.com/banffnationalpark#!/FairmontChateauLakeLouise
Last time we went, we went from Lake Louise, into Banff, to the Hot Springs. (http://www.hotsprings.ca/ ) But, this time, Jessica (and entourage) went sledding at Mount Norquay after. (http://banffnorquay.com/tubing/)
In 1904, Mount Norquay was named after John Norquay (a former premier of Manitoba), who climbed the mountain in 1888.
It was also the first ski resort in the Canadian Rockies, opening its first run in 1926. The first rope-tow was built in 1941, and you could use it for the cost of 25 cents for four rides!! (I'm sure the lift tickets change in price annually, but I'm pretty certain that it's worth more than 25 cents!!) (The "Big Arm" chairlift was opened in 1948 and is now the second oldest chairlift in North America.)
Nowadays, you can also going tubing - at "Tube Town." You get an innertube (remember when we used to go tubing? I don't even know where you can find a innertube nowadays - I mean, other than at Tube Town - but we had SO MUCH FUN! )
Remember when you'd hit that pot hole or unexpected jump and fly through the air, and it wasn't (too) scarey because you "knew" that you'd (probably) land on the innertube when you hit/landed?
Some of my best memories were "sledding" down my parents' driveway. It would get so icy that Dad forbid that, but to make up for it, built another hill that crossed OVER the driveway, and ended in the meadow. It was REALLY steep and at the spot it crossed over, the level-ness of the driveway created a launching pad, so you could actually miss the entire lower part of the sledding hill and land in the meadow...
We had one of those tractor tires that was so tall, we had to be lifted on to it, and there were 2 or 3 of us loaded on.. How the human-barricade didn't work, is hard to imagine! We went right off the cliff, through spindling little birch trees - and the next thing I knew, I was waking up with people throwing snow on my face...
Still one of the greatest memories ever!
Based on the stories I heard from just about every little kid I know, and all the parents "mentioning" how sore they are, it sounds like the whole event was a huge success! One little boy told me (all out of breath from excitement) something like: "First - I bounced this way, and then Jaxon said "AAAAAAAA", because we were sharing, and then we slid that way, and then we spun"...
Till Sunday, then.