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Fifteen teams from around the world competed in the 23rd edition of Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships, and Team Mongolia won both the Artist’s and People’s Choice Awards.

This annual event, held in Breckenridge, Colorado, takes place this year from January 22nd to February 3rd.

Four-person teams from Argentina, Australia, Baltic-Latvia/Estonia, Canada-Yukon, Catalonia-Spain, China, Ecuador, Germany, Great Britain-Wales, Iceland, Mexico, Mongolia, Singapore, USA-Alaska and USA-Breckenridge worked a total of 65 hours across five days. Fifteen blocks of snow, measuring 12 feet (3.65 meters), and weighing 20 tons each, were sculpted from January 22nd to January 26th, and some artists stayed up all night to complete their works.

The teams had to create their masterpieces without using power tools, internal support structures and colorants.

Team Mongolia won first place, People’s Choice and Artists’ Choice with “Mongolian Warriors,” a piece that depicts 13th-century warriors atop horses.

An official awards ceremony took place Sunday at Breckenridge, Colorado’s Riverwalk Center to announce the winners and present them with medals.

“Team Mongolia evoked the furious energy of galloping across the Mongolian steppe,” said Jenn Cram, judge coordinator and Breckenridge Arts District Administrator. “The piece is powerful with its deliberate attention to detail and the dynamic alignment of planes. We could see that sculpture done in bronze, in marble; it was truly a sculptural piece.”

Team Mongolia wins 2013 Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships, with "Mongolian Warriors." Photo by Nathan Bilow

Team Mongolia wins 2013 Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships, with “Mongolian Warriors.” Photo by Nathan Bilow

Last year’s winner of the Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships was Team Canada-Quebec with “Great Expectations.”

Team Catalonia-Spain won second place with “Banyista Nua” (Homage to Picasso), showing a woman on the beach – an intentional contrast to both the medium and Breckenridge’s winter climate.

Team Estonia placed third at the Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships with “Koit,” a representation of a fairy tale in which, according to the team, two lovers – Dawn and Dusk – meet only twice each year. Team Canada-Yukon took Kids’ Choice for “An Inuit Moral Tale.”

Sculptures will remain on display at the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge, Colorado until Sunday, February 3rd (weather permitting).

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2012 International Snow Sculpture Competition, which is held in Breckenridge, Colorado, each year, came to a close this morning.

Fifteen teams of five sculptors each spent much of the last week carving massive blocks of snow into larger-than-life creations in an effort to gain some recognition for a highly-specialized skill.

All power tools and colorants are banned from the competition making the artists to be creative with their selections, with some using carrot scrapers and chicken wire along with traditional saws and ice picks.

This year, there were teams from Canada, Spain, China, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland and the United States- Alaska, Colorado, Idaho and Wisconsin.

The most surprising entrants- Mexico, Greece, and Australia- were all from warm countries, giving their representatives less opportunity to practice their skills at home.

That has not hurt them in the past, however, as the Mexican team was 2011 winner.

2012 International Snow Sculpture Competition, which is held in Breckenridge, Colorado, each year, came to a close this morning

2012 International Snow Sculpture Competition, which is held in Breckenridge, Colorado, each year, came to a close this morning

The annual International Snow Sculpture Competition is held each year in Breckenridge, Colorado, and has been for the past 21 years.

The event’s organizers arrange for snow to be collected by dump trucks and compacted using wooden frames and snow blowing machines.

The snow is packed in by the strong feet of five to ten volunteers who jump on top of the snow to compress it before more snow is then added.

The finished product is a 20-ton block of snow that is 10 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 12 feet high.

When the competition begins, the teams have 65 hours spread over the course of five days to turn their blocks into masterpieces.

While they all undoubtedly are going for gold, participating is still a feat in itself. Organizers invited 250 teams initially, who then have to submit prospective plans.

The organizers then widdle the group down to the best 15 options that they feel will turn downtown Breckenridge into a spectacle.

The winners will be announced Sunday afternoon and the sculptures will remain standing for at least the next week so that residents can tour around the icy works.

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