Photos: Winners of the Breckenridge International Snow Sculpture Championships

Team Germany won the competition with "APEX-zero gravity." Melissa Andrews/Breckenridge Tourism Office

Audio By Carbonatix

[
          {
            "name": "GPT - Billboard - Slot Inline - Content - Labeled - No Desktop",
            "component": "23668565",
            "insertPoint": "2",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
          },{
            "name": "STN Player - Float - Mobile Only ",
            "component": "23853568",
            "insertPoint": "2",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
          },{
            "name": "Editor Picks",
            "component": "17242653",
            "insertPoint": "4",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
          },{
            "name": "Inline Links",
            "component": "18838239",
            "insertPoint": "8th",
            "startingPoint": 8,
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
            "maxInsertions": 25
          },{
            "name": "GPT - 2x Rectangles Desktop, Tower on Mobile - Labeled",
            "component": "24956856",
            "insertPoint": "8th",
            "startingPoint": 8,
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
            "maxInsertions": 25 
          
          },{
            "name": "Inline Links",
            "component": "18838239",
            "insertPoint": "8th",
            "startingPoint": 12,
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
            "maxInsertions": 25
          },{
            "name": "GPT - Leaderboard to Tower - Slot Auto-select - Labeled",
            "component": "17676724",
            "insertPoint": "8th",
            "startingPoint": 12,
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
            "maxInsertions": 25
          }
        ]

The 34th annual International Snow Sculpture Championships brought teams from around the globe to Breckenridge this month to carve 12-foot-tall, 25-ton blocks of snow into art...all by hand. And when all the ice chips had fallen, the judges pronounced Team Germany's "APEX-zero gravity series" the winner on January 24.

The sculptures will remain on display through January 29. But if you were unable to make the drive up I-70, you can see the work right here:

click to enlarge

The victorious German team.

Melissa Andrews/Breckenridge Tourism Office

Team Mexico's "Descendant" got the silver from judges; it also won the Lothar Luboschik Art's Choice Award.

click to enlarge

Team Mexico's "Descendant" was the People's Choice.

Melissa Andrews/Breckenridge Tourism Office

Team India won the bronze for "Mind in Meditation."

click to enlarge

Team India's "Mind in Meditation."

Melissa Andrews/Breckenridge Tourism Office

Viewers also got to vote, and Team Korea won the People's Choice award with "In the History We Remember."

click to enlarge

Team Korea's "In the History We Remember" won the People's Choice award.

Facebook

Here are more scenes from the 34th annual International Snow Sculpture Championships.

click to enlarge

Sculpted kissing swans (we think).

Aaron Dodd/Breckenridge Tourism Office

click to enlarge

A carefully balanced ice sculpture.

Aaron Dodd/Breckenridge Tourism Office

click to enlarge

A human octopus in ice?

Aaron Dodd/Breckenridge Tourism Office

click to enlarge

Ice, ice babies at the Snow Sculpture Championships.

Aaron Dodd/Breckenridge Tourism Office

Learn more about the championships here.