Two stonemasons have won a snow sculpting prize as part of Team GB’s entry to the World Snow Festival in Switzerland.
Sheffield sculptors Lily Marsh and Steve Roche were part of Great Britain’s four-person team, which won the public vote and came third in the technical judging at the competition in Grindelwald.
They competed against 10 nations with the Spanish team taking first place in the technical category.
Sculptor Lily Marsh said it was “refreshing” to swap stone for snow. “Normally it’s very dusty and it’s much quicker to move the materials so I really enjoyed it,” she said.
The team – led by Christine Close, a sculptor based in France – carved a kraken eating a boat as part of the myths and legends theme set by the competition organisers.
They worked with a large block of snow, starting with a small model.
“We used big chisels on the end of broom handles. A bit like gardening hoes. You use those to stab at it and shave stuff way,” explained Roche.
“And we used a length of chain that had nuts and bolts set in it with two handles at the end like a big chain saw to carve off the really big bits that we needed to get rid of at the start of the design.”
Despite the low temperatures, Roche said the work kept the team warm.
“I was working in a T shirt most days. I was moaning it was too warm. I got sunburned. I had to go to the shop to get sun cream because it was so bright,” he said.
After the judging, sadly the sculptures did not last and were left to melt in the snow, said Marsh.
“It’s quite a liberating thing because often you can get precious about the stuff you make or get worried about it not being good enough and actually it’s quite a good practice to make something and know that it’s definitely going to melt. It releases you from that worry a bit.”