Gawkin’ in a winter wonderland: The festival in Harbin, China, is as cool as it looks

What if there was a place carved completely from the cold – a city of colossal ice castles and towering snow sculptures? Looking at photos from the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival in Harbin, China, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I needed to talk to someone who competed in the festival and who had seen its attractions up close. I had to confirm it was real and, well, as cool as all that.

Canadian artist Morton Burke, in a phone call from Sundre, Alberta, told me that the annual winter wonderland is “beyond anyone’s imagination.” Five years ago, he and his team won a gold medal at the festival for their 4.3-meter-tall (14-foot) sculpture of a four-headed buffalo. It took three days to carve out of packed snow, with the team using nothing but hand tools in bone-chilling temps. “If you’re dressed for 40 below [Celsius], you can be quite comfortable,” Mr. Burke quipped.

Nicknamed Ice City, Harbin hosts the festival for a couple of months every year. Tens of thousands of bundled-up visitors turn out daily. The ephemeral artworks are built from ice blocks pulled from the Songhua River and last anywhere from three days to three months, depending on the weather. “You can make something beautiful, knowing it’s not going to last,” Mr. Burke says.

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