World class ice carvers go head to head in Banff’s first Art of Ice competition

By Leah Pelletier, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Rocky Mountain Outlook BANFF — Chisel in hand and an untouched block of ice as a canvas in front of him, Ross Baisas gets to work. There’s eight hours on the clock, and along with his brother Tony Baisas, the seasoned carvers are up against 10 other ice artists to create a sculpture from seven, 300-pound blocks of ice on day one of a three-day carving competition during the debut of Banff’s Art of Ice on Friday (Feb. 6) — part of the SnowDays festival. “My advantage is I can draw (well),” said Ross, a Montreal-based carver originally from the Philippines. “I’ve done drawing when I was young, before I did sculpting, and it’s almost like if I can draw it, I can…

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