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Snow sculpture, snow carving or snow art is a sculpture form comparable to sand sculpture or ice sculpture in that most of it is now practiced outdoors often in full view of spectators, thus giving it kinship to performance art. The materials and the tools differ widely, but often include hand tools such as shovels, pickle forks, homemade tools, and saws. Snow sculptures are usually carved out of a single block of snow about on each side and weighing about 20–30 tons. The snow is densely packed into a form after having been produced by artificial means or collected from the ground after a snowfall.
The annual Winter Carnival at Michigan Technological University has been a tradition since 1922. These sculptures are not carved from a single block, but rather many blocks made over a month. For this reason, they can grow quite large (up to the regulated 28 feet tall and sometimes over 80–123 feet long). Each year a theme is given for the winter carnival and the statues are created in the set theme. Student groups compete against each other in different divisions.
Frankenmuth, Michigan hosts a massive snow and ice sculpture festival in late January with teams traveling to carve from all over the globe. Frankenmuth's Snowfest consists of many ice carving competitions and snow sculpting competitions at elementary, high school, state, national, and international levels.
The Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships in Breckenridge, Colorado, began in 1990. A group of local snow sculptors called Team Breck, which was part of the Colorado State Snow Sculpture Championships held in Breckenridge, joined with the city and Breckenridge Ski Resort to begin an annual competition. In 2009 teams from China, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries competed. The winner was Team Canada–Yukon, led by sculptor Donald Watt.
The US National Snow Sculpting Championship organized by Winterfun USA is the only national snow sculpting championship in the United States. 15 state-champion teams work during a 3-day competition using their artistry to creating remarkable, larger-than-life snow sculptures. Competing states include Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Colorado, North Dakota, Alaska, Florida, Nebraska, Illinois, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.
The World Snow Sculpting Championship is held yearly in Stillwater, MN. This event hosts snow sculpting teams from around the world from countries such as the United States, Mexico, Argentina, Germany, Turkey, Canada, Finland, and Ecuador. The first World Snow Sculpting Championship was held in Stillwater in January 2022. In the United States, the US National Snow Sculpting Championship is the qualifier for the world competition sending the winning team from the National Championship from the year before.
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