Snow Festival Part II - The Snow, The Festival

Snow

Of course at the Snow Festival you absolutely expect to have some snow. I was unprepared for the actual amount of snow. I mean blankets of snow, layers or snow.....snow so thick you couldn't tell what was under it. It was also extremely cold. Almost everyone wore waterproof snow pants and snow boots. Some Japanese women, forever the fashionistas, were just in skirts and boots up to their thighs...I don't know how they survived.

The last day we were in town the snow and weather was so bad our flight was delayed because the runways were snowed over. A piece of advice, with the snow comes ice.....there were a few instances where people had slipped and fell and needed help. Good grippy shoes and careful walking are a must.

This was a road. Yes, many, many, MANY people were driving in these conditions. You can't even see the lines on the road!

It's hard to resist making a snow angel.

What is under all that snow?

Huge snow piles everywhere!

The Festival

If you're reading this blog, you probably already have an idea of what the Sapporo Snow Festival entails. Basically, you walk for blocks looking at impossibly large and intricate structures made of snow. People and groups come from all over the world to participate in the Snow Festival. We saw groups from Oregon, Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, and some of the Japan military bases, making snow sculptures. Unfortunately, it was actively snowing the entire time we were there, which meant the new snow falling on the sculptures distorted them and made them look not as great had they been fresh.

I'll let the pictures explain the rest.

Many sculptures doubled as a stage,

The main sculpture celebrating Hawaiian Airlines.

The team from Thailand finished their sculpture.

Malaysia's sculpture.

Singapore puts on the finishing touches.

One of the most elaborate snow sculptures. Easily three stories tall.

Ice house.

...to be continued...